Council Notes July 30,2025
Council was called to order by President Rich Hollenbach. Council Minutes of the June regular council meeting were approved as written. The Treasurer’s Report from June and the preliminary report from July were approved as written. At 58% of the 2025-year, our receipts are at 59% and our expenses are around 58%. Pledged member giving is at 58% and unpledged member giving is at 67%. The deficit for the month is $6,589.31 and the year to date budget deficit is $19,089.58.
President’s Report: We have VBS coming up on Monday and it should be a great week to share the gospel with our children.
There haven’t been any further discussions with Grace in Hatfield as they continue to figure out their plan to call a new pastor.
Rich’s seminary education continues, and his candidacy is progressing. Rich will be away for two weeks in August taking Greek at the Gettysburg campus.
Pastor Ethan and Rich met to discuss ideas of what we should focus on this coming year. A few ideas were discussed and will be finalized on “Listening” as our focus. It takes a lot of planning and work by Rich to handle the music and Zoom recordings.
Pastor’s Report: Pastor Ethan has led and presided at worship regularly at Faith and Jerusalem. He continues to do shifts at the Lansdale Hospital as the Volunteer Protestant Chaplain. He has been regularly volunteering at Mitzvah Circle and has now officially been on-boarded to volunteer at Manna on Main Street.
He has met with Pastor Karen Sease to update her on Grace/Faith partnership conversation. We also broadly talked about the overall future of Faith. He met with Pastor Bradley Gow (Head of the SEPA Vitality team) on July 3, 2025. We discussed vitality and talked about the importance of shared ministry. Jerusalem and Faith are one of a handful of partnerships within our synod. So, he wanted to learn more about our partnership.
Rich (as president and head of the WM team) and I met on July 23, 2025, to discuss a broad plan for the year. Our theme for the year will be “A Listening Faith”. There will be Bible study and Book study throughout the year. More info will be coming soon.
Upcoming Vacation: September 11-13th: Sister’s wedding in Milwaukee, WI; September 19-21st: wedding in Colorado. Rich or supply pastor will be leading worship; November 23, 2025: Brother is running the Philadelphia Marathon, and I want to support him. Rich or supply pastor will be leading worship.
Ministry Team Reports:
Christian Education: Vacation Bible School: True North, Trusting Jesus in a Wild World is scheduled for August 4 through 8, 9 am – 12 noon. Thank you so much to all the volunteers for sharing their time and Jesus’ love for this spiritual growth event for our children, and we appreciate our congregational members for all their food donations. God Bless Everyone! There will be a special dedication for our volunteers on August 3 during 9:30 am worship service.
Parent Night Out/Youth Fellowship (PNO/YF): We will not be meeting in August for this age group due to Vacation Bible School and summer vacations; our next event will be on Friday September 19 from 6 pm to 9 pm in the Fellowship Hall.
Young Adult Group (ages 12 to 17): Our July 20 meeting was cancelled due to illness and summer vacations. Our next meeting scheduled for Sunday August 17 from 6 pm to 7:30 pm, will be in the Fellowship Hall and outdoors for some fun activities like kickball led by Bryan Foster. Our Youth Group lesson will be “Fruits of the Holy Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23).
Sunday School: Through August 31, 2025, Sunday School will be during Worship Service as usual in the Fellowship Hall. Rotating teachers are Kate Waldman, Anna Friedrich, and Gail Achilles. On September 7, our classes will be back in the Sunday school room, and we will be using the Sparkhouse Whirl Bible Lectionary Series curriculum. September 7 is also Rally Day; the children will present a short presentation on the fruits of the Spirit which they learned over the summer months at 9:30 am Worship Service. We also invite everyone to enjoy the ice cream bar during coffee hour.
Monday Night Bible Study (MNBS): Our small group will resume on Monday September 8 via of zoom from 7 pm to 9 pm. The zoom link is printed in the weekly bulletin and the Mustard Seed. We will discern which study we will move forward with at this first meeting. So, bring your suggestions please. Anyone interested in joining, contact Gail Achilles or just pop in on us anytime on the zoom link. All are welcome.
Communication: Vacation Bible School banner is posted out front of church; the front sign is changed monthly.
Hospitality: Coffee hour—8/3 coffee light; 8/10 VBS leftovers; 8/17 coffee light; 8/24 Finance and Stewardship; 8/31 coffee lite.
Long-Range Planning: Coordination with the Nourishing Vocation Project. Scheduling a meeting.
Property Team: Abandoned car in parking lot: There was a car that was abandoned in the back of the church’s parking lot. The police told us to just call a towing company and have it removed. 5 points automotive was called and they removed it on 7/29/25.
Potholes: A letter was found in the church archives pertaining to Morgan Street. It was from a lawyer in 1978 that asked that the church transfer ownership of Morgan Street to the township. That letter was brought to Montgomeryville planning and zoning. They informed us that the lawyer was the township lawyer, but they had no record of this happening. They said they would investigate it and give us a call. They most likely won't end up finding anything. So, we plan to patch the potholes as soon as the weather cooperates.
Social Ministry: Social Ministry Project for June/July: Collecting Personal Care Items and a few miscellaneous items for the Coatesville VA Medical Center. Collection totals are not available yet. We will support Vacation Bible School’s Project which is World Vision Operation Kid to Kid will be able to supply, with our donations, warm winter clothing/blankets for those in need in America. Social Ministry Project for the year 2025: For January - July, God’s Global Barnyard “noisy coin collection” has received a total of $353. $50.00 was collected in July.
Special Funds: $50 fee to fix Pastor’s W-2 tax form.
Stewardship: Our Stewardship Program will be kicking off our theme for the year which is “A Listening Faith.”
Worship & Music: Substitute Organist, Pat Keen will be off for a few weeks and resumes later in August. To keep within our budget, we need to have 5 more services this year without her playing the organ.
OLD BUSINESS Constitution Update: Needs a few changes based on feedback from council review before being sent to the congregation for review. Will need to wait until after the Churchwide Assembly in July to see if there are any additional changes / updates needed.
NEW BUSINESS 2024 Clarence has requested to resign from council due to his on-going health issues. Council accepted Clarence’s resignation and will not fill it.
New theme for the coming year, “A Listening Faith.” There was talk of having a conversation/hymn breakfast in the Fellowship Hall for Worship Service, October 19, 9:30 am. More details forthcoming. Council is endorsing this new theme for the coming year.
Next Meeting: Wednesday, September 3, 2025, at 7:00 PM.
Council was called to order by President Rich Hollenbach. Council Minutes of the June regular council meeting were approved as written. The Treasurer’s Report from June and the preliminary report from July were approved as written. At 58% of the 2025-year, our receipts are at 59% and our expenses are around 58%. Pledged member giving is at 58% and unpledged member giving is at 67%. The deficit for the month is $6,589.31 and the year to date budget deficit is $19,089.58.
President’s Report: We have VBS coming up on Monday and it should be a great week to share the gospel with our children.
There haven’t been any further discussions with Grace in Hatfield as they continue to figure out their plan to call a new pastor.
Rich’s seminary education continues, and his candidacy is progressing. Rich will be away for two weeks in August taking Greek at the Gettysburg campus.
Pastor Ethan and Rich met to discuss ideas of what we should focus on this coming year. A few ideas were discussed and will be finalized on “Listening” as our focus. It takes a lot of planning and work by Rich to handle the music and Zoom recordings.
Pastor’s Report: Pastor Ethan has led and presided at worship regularly at Faith and Jerusalem. He continues to do shifts at the Lansdale Hospital as the Volunteer Protestant Chaplain. He has been regularly volunteering at Mitzvah Circle and has now officially been on-boarded to volunteer at Manna on Main Street.
He has met with Pastor Karen Sease to update her on Grace/Faith partnership conversation. We also broadly talked about the overall future of Faith. He met with Pastor Bradley Gow (Head of the SEPA Vitality team) on July 3, 2025. We discussed vitality and talked about the importance of shared ministry. Jerusalem and Faith are one of a handful of partnerships within our synod. So, he wanted to learn more about our partnership.
Rich (as president and head of the WM team) and I met on July 23, 2025, to discuss a broad plan for the year. Our theme for the year will be “A Listening Faith”. There will be Bible study and Book study throughout the year. More info will be coming soon.
Upcoming Vacation: September 11-13th: Sister’s wedding in Milwaukee, WI; September 19-21st: wedding in Colorado. Rich or supply pastor will be leading worship; November 23, 2025: Brother is running the Philadelphia Marathon, and I want to support him. Rich or supply pastor will be leading worship.
Ministry Team Reports:
Christian Education: Vacation Bible School: True North, Trusting Jesus in a Wild World is scheduled for August 4 through 8, 9 am – 12 noon. Thank you so much to all the volunteers for sharing their time and Jesus’ love for this spiritual growth event for our children, and we appreciate our congregational members for all their food donations. God Bless Everyone! There will be a special dedication for our volunteers on August 3 during 9:30 am worship service.
Parent Night Out/Youth Fellowship (PNO/YF): We will not be meeting in August for this age group due to Vacation Bible School and summer vacations; our next event will be on Friday September 19 from 6 pm to 9 pm in the Fellowship Hall.
Young Adult Group (ages 12 to 17): Our July 20 meeting was cancelled due to illness and summer vacations. Our next meeting scheduled for Sunday August 17 from 6 pm to 7:30 pm, will be in the Fellowship Hall and outdoors for some fun activities like kickball led by Bryan Foster. Our Youth Group lesson will be “Fruits of the Holy Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23).
Sunday School: Through August 31, 2025, Sunday School will be during Worship Service as usual in the Fellowship Hall. Rotating teachers are Kate Waldman, Anna Friedrich, and Gail Achilles. On September 7, our classes will be back in the Sunday school room, and we will be using the Sparkhouse Whirl Bible Lectionary Series curriculum. September 7 is also Rally Day; the children will present a short presentation on the fruits of the Spirit which they learned over the summer months at 9:30 am Worship Service. We also invite everyone to enjoy the ice cream bar during coffee hour.
Monday Night Bible Study (MNBS): Our small group will resume on Monday September 8 via of zoom from 7 pm to 9 pm. The zoom link is printed in the weekly bulletin and the Mustard Seed. We will discern which study we will move forward with at this first meeting. So, bring your suggestions please. Anyone interested in joining, contact Gail Achilles or just pop in on us anytime on the zoom link. All are welcome.
Communication: Vacation Bible School banner is posted out front of church; the front sign is changed monthly.
Hospitality: Coffee hour—8/3 coffee light; 8/10 VBS leftovers; 8/17 coffee light; 8/24 Finance and Stewardship; 8/31 coffee lite.
Long-Range Planning: Coordination with the Nourishing Vocation Project. Scheduling a meeting.
Property Team: Abandoned car in parking lot: There was a car that was abandoned in the back of the church’s parking lot. The police told us to just call a towing company and have it removed. 5 points automotive was called and they removed it on 7/29/25.
Potholes: A letter was found in the church archives pertaining to Morgan Street. It was from a lawyer in 1978 that asked that the church transfer ownership of Morgan Street to the township. That letter was brought to Montgomeryville planning and zoning. They informed us that the lawyer was the township lawyer, but they had no record of this happening. They said they would investigate it and give us a call. They most likely won't end up finding anything. So, we plan to patch the potholes as soon as the weather cooperates.
Social Ministry: Social Ministry Project for June/July: Collecting Personal Care Items and a few miscellaneous items for the Coatesville VA Medical Center. Collection totals are not available yet. We will support Vacation Bible School’s Project which is World Vision Operation Kid to Kid will be able to supply, with our donations, warm winter clothing/blankets for those in need in America. Social Ministry Project for the year 2025: For January - July, God’s Global Barnyard “noisy coin collection” has received a total of $353. $50.00 was collected in July.
Special Funds: $50 fee to fix Pastor’s W-2 tax form.
Stewardship: Our Stewardship Program will be kicking off our theme for the year which is “A Listening Faith.”
Worship & Music: Substitute Organist, Pat Keen will be off for a few weeks and resumes later in August. To keep within our budget, we need to have 5 more services this year without her playing the organ.
OLD BUSINESS Constitution Update: Needs a few changes based on feedback from council review before being sent to the congregation for review. Will need to wait until after the Churchwide Assembly in July to see if there are any additional changes / updates needed.
NEW BUSINESS 2024 Clarence has requested to resign from council due to his on-going health issues. Council accepted Clarence’s resignation and will not fill it.
New theme for the coming year, “A Listening Faith.” There was talk of having a conversation/hymn breakfast in the Fellowship Hall for Worship Service, October 19, 9:30 am. More details forthcoming. Council is endorsing this new theme for the coming year.
Next Meeting: Wednesday, September 3, 2025, at 7:00 PM.
