Category: Annual Meeting 2021

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The annual meeting of the Waterbury Congregational Church, United Church of Christ of Waterbury, Vermont has been called for Sunday, January 31, 2021, following worship. The meeting will take place online using Zoom. The link is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87241248285?pwd=bVlpb2Rvblpsd3IvdHZkUkNzU0U0dz09 We will consider action on the following:

Article I. Presentation, discussion, and action on the minutes of the January 26, 2020 Annual Meeting.

Article II. Presentation, discussion, and action on the reports of the officers, boards, departments, and organizations for the year 2020 (excepting the FY 2021 budget).

Article III. Presentation, discussion, and action on the FY 2021 budget proposal.

Article IV. Presentation, discussion, and action on the proposed slate of board members and officers for the year 2021.

Article V. Presentation, discussion, and action on the Trustees recommendation to distribute any investment gain in 2020.

Article VI. Other business.

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The meeting was called to order at 11:24

I. Presentation, discussion and action on the minutes of the January 27, 2019 annual meeting and the October 13, 2019 Congregational meeting.

The minutes of the January 27, 2019 Annual Meeting and the October 13, 2019 were accepted as written. The motion to accept was made by John Buck and seconded by Polly Sabin. The motion passed unanimously.

II. Presentation, discussion and action on the reports of the officers, boards, departments and organizations for the year 2019 (excepting the FY 2020 budget).

The motion was made by Polly Sabin and seconded by John Buck. Rev. Plagge mentioned that the CE report and slate of officers was just published today.

The motion passed unanimously.

III. Presentation, discussion and action on the FY 2020 budget proposal.

Charles Grenier moved to approve the FY 2020 budget proposal. It was seconded by Dean King. C. Grenier mentioned that for the last 30 years the church has taken money from the Trustees to balance the budget. Years ago the budget simply included such a transfer from the endowment to the operating budget as a line item. This year the amount we anticipate transferring is back as a line item at $20,000.

Employees were given cost of living raise. A larger amount was given to Choir director and Organist to bring them closer to what other churches pay. It was noted currently that pledges are more than 30% of the amount in previous years. But that the number of pledges are down by about the same amount.

The motion passed unanimously.

IV. Presentation, discussion and action on the proposed slate of board members and officers for the year 2020.

P. Plagge made the motion to approve the proposed slate of board members and officers for the year 2020 and Cindy Senning seconded. Peter mentioned that he was this years nominating committee and stressed how important that someone else take on this role.

The motion passed unanimously.

V. Presentation, discussion and action on the Trustees recommendation to distribute any investment gain in 2019.

Dean King made the motion that the gains, realized, unrealized, and earned during 2019 on the Church’s endowment be allocated as follows to the following funds:

45% to General Endowment in support of annual operation expenses
45% to Firm Foundation in support of future capital improvement projects
10% to Enrichment to support the church’s wider mission

The motion was seconded by Russ Snow.

Dean noted substantial gains this past year and stressed that this the church’s money for all of us to decide on how it is utilized.

Harriet Grenier asked how the Firm Foundation is handled. Dean explained it is a virtual transfer of funds only and that all of our endowment monies are handled as one lump sum.

The motion passed unanimously.

P. Plagge, spoke about the replacement of the sign board that is in the front of the church. He has asked Steve James to do the work. P. Plagge has applied for grant funds through Beautify of Waterbury. This is an initiative program of Waterbury Revitalizing designed for properties affected by the Main Street construction project. Betsy Ainsworth asked about repositioning the sign. P. Plagge stated that if we were to reposition the sign, it would have to be double sided. Elaine Snow suggested using some money from Amy’s garden fund.

VI. Other business.

P. Plagge moved by acclamation gratitude for all our staff members and for Ned Davis for all they do through out the year.

Polly, thanked Deb Utton for taking care of Amy’s garden this pass summer.

Jeff Lower made a motion to adjourn meeting and seconded by Polly Sabin.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:44

Respectfully submitted,
Jill Loewer

A year ago, when writing the report for the year 2019, I talked about how it had been a year of transition for the church’s Christian Education program, with the CE director and a long-time board member both retiring after many years of service. I hoped to swiftly move through the period of transition and quietly settle into my new role as the Christian Education director. Well, obviously that was a nice, but unrealistic dream. As the whole world discovered, 2020 would be a year that would test us in many ways, particularly in our ability to flexibly pivot to new ways of doing things. 

We started the year 2020 by continuing to use the curriculum from Progressive Christianity. We had a plan to look at a number of people whose lives could teach us lessons about how to live in community with others, including Wangari Maathi, Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, Greta Thunberg, and others. We did have a plan….really. And then March 2020 happened, and everything changed. 

When the decision was made for our church to move to a remote system of meeting, Peter and I did much thinking about how to make this work for our church school children.  After a few technological stops and starts, we have settled into a moderately successful system where I lead a separate Zoom meeting with children while their parents are worshipping in the main Zoom service. While this is obviously not ideal, and I can’t wait to see their faces in person, it has allowed us to have some great discussions about the events of the world, and how those events affect each of us personally. 

When discussing the theme for the current CE year which would start in September, Peter and I decided to focus on “Story.”  Stories are relational; they are what make us human. All the major religions are built on stories.  The Christian bible is “a collection of intense narratives about the biggest stuff in human life.” (Jonathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal)  Our church children started the new church school year by talking about the structure and purpose of stories. We looked at a number of American Black folktales from the slavery era, such as The People Could Fly.  Our reliance on technology actually became a benefit, as we were able to watch and hear a number of wonderful professional storytellers right in our Zoom meetings. After studying a number of these, the children then started to write and illustrate some stories of their own. One of these, The Wild, Wild Woods, was shared with the congregation during a service. We ended the calendar year 2020 by bringing to life perhaps the greatest story in Christianity – the nativity story.  Thanks again to everyone who helped to make our Christmas pageant video possible.

As I write this, we have no immediate plans to change to an in-person system of meeting. We will continue our year’s theme of “Story”, with an initial focus on Native American stories. Be on the lookout for more creations from our church school children. Who knows what 2021 will bring!  Sincere thanks to Peter and the Board of Christian Education – Kritsin Wolf, Ben DeJong, Dan Senning. None of this would be possible without you.

Here are a few of the highlights of our church school in 2020:

• Ash Wednesday/Lent 
  • The children led the congregation in a litany for Ash Wednesday in which they asked for our help to make the world a better place. Then they marked us all with “Stardust.” 
• During the first few months of the pandemic lock-down, church school children drew pictures and wrote notes to send (anonymously) to congregation members.
• The church school children wrote and illustrated an original story, via Zoom. We put it into video form and shared it with the congregation during the Sunday service Story Time. Kids would draw pictures, hold them up to the camera and I would take a screenshot, which then got put into a slideshow, which then became a video. Ah, technology! 
• Peter and I began meeting regularly, via Zoom, with a new confirmation class of six confirmands.  
• We met the challenge of presenting a Christmas pageant, in spite of our remoteness. Each family was given a scene to perform and film. The spirit with which all met this challenge was truly inspiring. Thanks to all!

Respectfully submitted,

Lori Morse