08/24/02 Training

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Hi Ownbey Folks and others interested .....

On Saturday 8/24/02, Bill and Marie Pearce and Don Redding attended the above training from the Ownbey Class. I attended the morning session for officers. It was informative and provided a good forum for seeing what other classes are doing

If you want to see a full discussion of the meeting, go (below) to the Ownbey Sunday School Web Page at  http://donredding.com/church.htm and click on "08/24/02 Training."

In short, we discussed

1. Wired 4 Ministry
2. Keep Mission, Vision, and Values in Mind
3. Theology of Class Material
4. Adult Ministry Team - Stay in touch and with Barbara on SS happenings
5. hospitality and importance of name tags, greeters, etc.,
6. Hot Wednesday as a means of meetings,
7. web pages,
8. Sunday School Communications and newsletters,
9. Health and Happiness, $$$ for bragging,
10. officers' position descriptions,
11. there is no policy for Sunday School collections - do what we want,
12. Book Cost Reimbursement
13. up coming joint SS sessions
14. Sunday School details - class rooms not final until middle of next year, Use of short devotionals on Stewardship at each of the four Sunday School class meetings in September in  lieu of one long session,class starting times varies,class officer  starting times varies,skipping classes in Summer and on Labor day,reporting form for attendance and collections no longer multi part form,list of teachers, and list of officers.

Following are my notes from the meeting

I attended the morning session for officers. Here are some of the highlights:

1. Before the specific session for officers began, David Dulin discussed Wired 4 Ministry (click to see) classes with 101 for new members, 201 which is  two hours for Sunday School classes etc. to "discover our God-given Spiritual Gifts,"  and 301 for "In depth exploration into one's unique calling from God." Barbara encouraged SS classes to consider 201 especially and it can be taught over two SS classes or one longer  class. Homework and exercises involved.
2. Mission, Vision, and Values Statement - asked us to keep this in mind in operating our Sunday School.  If you want to see it,  I will have a link to it on my web page soon and it will follow here when I do: Values
3. Theology of class materials. We are to keep in mind the United Methodist Distinctives and should "thoughtfully and critically review ...  sources ... " of materials used. See the statement by clicking on Theology
4. Adult Ministry Team - New this Year is having members of this Team "assigned" to specific SS Classes. Marie Pearce is our representative. We are to keep her and Barbara informed of class  developments. See membership by clicking  AMT (page 12). One task they are performing now is helping each class review their Class Description. Tell Don Hammer if you have suggestions for Ownbey. You may see the description at http://www.mpumc.org/about/schools.html#ownbey or on our page at   http://donredding.com/church.htm
5. Hospitality:
1. Mentioned the new task force underway for when new building ready.
2. In meantime, there was much discussion of what needs to be done now including better building maps for visitors of where SS classes are now, use of name tags for class members especially in large classes, importance of name tags for visitors, follow-up on new member list, role of greeters before Sunday School  hour.
3. (By the way Ownbey is scheduled for April for greeting before Sunday School.) See Schedule of Greeters.
6. MPUMC Web Page:
1. (I promise I did not bring this up or say even 1/10 of what I might have said. I promised the Lord before the session not to mention the web page and did not enter the discussion until it was well underway. We did "vote" 100% that "something needs to be done.")
2. This subject came up under "Hospitality" and keeping members informed.
3. Many of the younger present questioned why the church's web site is not more helpful, why each class does not have their own web page, why the Cornerstone is not on there as once promised, and why email addresses were not used more often, why info for Sunday School classes was not on web page, among many subjects, etc.
4. See members of this Team by clicking WEB and it is the last one listed on page 13..
7. Hot Wednesdays - a list of meeting dates with menu was distributed. Click  meals on my web page or at http://donredding.com/meals.htm
1. We were encouraged to use these times for various meetings after the meal (much as we did when Sydnor offered the wonderful session on eating right and living right.)
2. In short we start again 9/18 and go to 11/20, then skip to 1/22/03 and by then hope to be in our new building.
3. The Young Singles group is invited Dan Starks to talk one Wednesday night and  info will be made available for others to join the session.
8. Communication in Sunday School Classes:
1. Several classes said they had a weekly newsletter which included what happened each Sunday and other happenings in their class and indicated this was a specific assignment for a person  or alternating in another class. Some are USA mailed, some emailed.
2.  One class is working on a picture directory.
3. To get bulk mail rates, need 200 people so only the Young Singles qualified of the people at the session.
4. The church will help with mailing but up to classes to apply labels and stuff envelopes.
9. Several classes have the equivalent of our "Health and Happiness"  and the younger talks more about children, who is engaged, married. etc. Some charge $$$ when parents brag.
10. I asked if any classes had position descriptions for the various officers, and the Young Couples class did and maybe one other.
11. Sunday School Collections.
1. There is no policy on Sunday School collections. I suggested the Church should have  a (written)  policy, even if it is general and even if it states that the individual classes set their own procedures and %.
2. I mentioned my concern that there is no oversight of the collections and used as an example the couple of times when I made a mistake and wrote down the wrong amount for the collection.
3. Barbara said they would look into setting a policy. Several of those present did not want for the church to tell them what to do about collections. This is a surprise to me. When I was Treasurer of the class for several years and was concerned about the issue, Ron Hall "clarified " it by responding that the church is to get 80% each Sunday and the class kept 20% except on 5th Sunday when Church got it all. Out of that he said were funds for class lessons and books (see below).
4. I learned some classes were giving 10% to the Church and keeping 90%, some kept it all, some charged dues of $25 a year, and some classes had  an endowment.
5. They thought Ownbey was one of those classes with an endowment and I told them the last figures I saw showed we had $184 - some endowment.
6. It was agreed classes need money to do their part in meeting our church's mission.
7. Don Hammer announced  8/25/02 that we will discuss the Ownbey policy Sunday to see if changes are needed.
12. Book $ cost  Reimbursement -
1. Policy is "average class attendance for the previous quarter times $2 up to a maximum of $150, or a flat rate of $75" if class does not use the United Methodist Curriculum and approved resources which is no charge. Cannot carry over, just like cell phone minutes.
2. There is a schedule for ordering from the church.
3. If we are reimbursed, books are to be returned to the church after use, other than workbooks etc.
13. Up - coming Joint Sunday School Options:
1. A lady from Sudan will speak on 9/15/02 and a letter went to class presidents about this (I saw list, went to Chick)
2. A session by our church nurse and  a Cathy Hastings is being offered at various times. Bill Pearce, help me with this as my notes are bad.
14. Sunday School Classes:
1. No class rooms will be "final" until September of 2003. Assignments will be based on average attendance with modification based on highest attendance. Assume we want same kind of room we have if we do not say differently. Our class rooms will be ours  "only" from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. Sundays even when assigned "permanently."
2. During each Sunday in September there will be a 3 - 5 minute devotional pertaining to Stewardship. This is in contrast to last year when they asked for a full class period.
3. Ownbey is the only class with lesson plans as far as six months in advance. Dsr had suggested the church let us know further in advance of special sessions; We realize some come up quickly and cannot be planned as with lady from Sudan.
4. Some classes start at 9:30, some 9:45, some 10.
5. Some classes elect officers to begin on varying dates including 6/1, 7/1, 8/1, 9/1 1/1 (Ownbey), 2/1. There was a comment that all should start the same time, but I was one who disagreed as I do not like a  starting time in the middle of the year. This policy makes it hard to get a current list of officers, and I notice Chick Thompson was listed President of our class on two lists and Don Hammer on another.
6. Some classes call off classes for the summer, others for a month, some for specific days such as the Labor Day weekend. This surprised a lot of people in the group and Barbara suggests when classes ar not held (We did not like "canceled") that an alternative class be designated for those who chose to come.
7. We will stop using a multi - part form for reporting collections, attendance, visitors, deleted members, and new members. It will be a single form. The multi part form is very expensive. Nothing said about the "follow up" attendance procedures mentioned last year.
8. A list of teachers for all classes was distributed and we were asked to keep it current. Bill Pearce needs to be added from Ownbey, but all our other teachers were listed. This list is for use by all classes in using teachers - of course it is up to the teacher if they want to do it when requested.

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