I’ve been wanting to do a column on the Congregation Council for some time, and this seems like the right one. This is a group of people that is very close to me in more ways than one; looking back on my experiences at Mindekirken over the last four years, I’ve spent quite a bit of time with this group! Here is the Council as it stands this year:

Pastor: Ole Amund Gillebo

President: John Casey 
Vice President: Magne Hatlevik
Secretary: Thelma Joy 
Treasurer: Katharine Kragh

Deacons 

Kari Friel 
Earl Grefsrud (Chair) 
Anita Kerssen
Jill Nokleby
Cindy Peters 
Kristine Rafshol
Lena Schjoelberg
Stuart Seorum 
Ron Starr 

Trustees

Allan Heide
Judy Kerssen 
David Madson
Otto Nilsen
Hans Sandom
Priscilla Sorknes (Chair)
Lynn Tesch
Irene Vigtel
 Elsie Jo Woolcott

As you can see from the above listing, the Council divides into three groups: The Officers, the Deacons, and the Trustees – and of course the Pastor, who is a voting member of the Council without really falling in any of those three groups. The Council meets monthly, typically at 7 PM on the second Tuesday of each month.

The two Boards, the Deacons and the Trustees, symbolize the two sides of a church here on earth: the spiritual and the temporal. Each of the boards has a Chair elected from within by its members, and also a secretary to take and prepare minutes from their meetings. Each of the boards meets at 6 PM on the evening of the Council meeting, with the purpose of preparing resolutions for presentation to the full Council.

The Deacons deal with the spiritual matters of the church – the worship service, Missions, and all the other charitable causes in which Mindekirken is or could be involved. They also arrange for pastoral coverage when our regular pastor is on vacation or otherwise unavailable. They sometimes end up dealing with some issues that you might not expect, such as their current efforts to increase the number of people available for Usher and Altar Guild duty.

The Trustees concern themselves with the areas in which finance or property are involved with the church. This ranges from preparing our annual Financial Guidelines, to examining the monthly Financial Statements, to even such mundane but essential matters as counting the Sunday offering each week! Basically, anything that ends up involving money falls under the purview of the Trustees.

I will go into the duties and responsibilities of the Congregation Officers in a future column, as I’ve very thoroughly used up this one! I also want to give you a feel for what goes on in Council meetings, but that will have to wait also. There is one thought with which I would like to close, though: If you have opinions on a matter regarding Mindekirken, the people to talk to about it are the ones on the list above. As a representative governing group, the Congregation Council has the obligation of dealing with issues that are important to the church’s members. However, we can’t do that if we don’t know what matters to you. If there is are issues of importance to you, we would very much like to hear about them. Communication makes for a stronger and happier fellowship among us.