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Council Updates are posted after each quarterly Council meeting.
The most recent updates are listed below:
Posted January 9, 2013
NATIONAL COUNCIL FIRST VIDEO CONFERENCE
On December 3, the National Council held its first meeting using WebEx technology. This allowed Council members to see and hear each other, which is much better (and more economical) than having a teleconference.
Minutes from the preceding meeting were reviewed and adopted making them official.
The office update by Anthony Wasilkoff and Edwin van Pelt showed that there continues to be positive indicators for God’s work here in Canada. A recent Subscriber Development Letter has received good responses and added some new donors. Our subscription list is growing slowly, but we continue to remove those not wishing to receive the Good News magazine. This past year our Bonnes Nouvelles subscription list has increased, which is most encouraging.
Five office staff members attended an all-day Church and Charity Law Seminar on November 15. A summary of the seminar sent to Council. This summary indicated several additional policies the church needs to create.
Michael Erickson gave an update on behalf of the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act Compliancy Task Force. Council input was requested on several items. One concern that must be resolved is the potential confusion between a “member of the corporation” and a “member of the church”. A member of the corporation is someone who is a member of the National Conference, which is composed of all of our elders in Canada plus the two laymembers on the National Council. While the Church is a spiritual body, for legal purposed, a member of the church is someone whose baptism has been conducted by or recognized by the church and has filled out a membership form. The Council was presented with two scenarios on how this might be handled. They chose to more carefully define the terms. The Council also made decisions on two additional technicalities. The Task Force has almost completed its job and is appreciative of the input and help given from the Amendment Committee members.
Both the Operations Plan and Budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year were presented and approved to be sent to the National Conference for ratification. The Council also approved sending a Resolution to the National Conference for their ratification. This resolution seeks to change the previously set date for the annual meeting of the National Conference from March to June this next year. This is to conform to new government rules.
If the Resolution is passed by the National Conference, the Strategic Plan, Operations Plan and Budget will still be sent to the National Conference to be approved prior to the fiscal year end. All other business will be done during the June meeting.
The final business matter was to schedule the next Council meeting for March 11. Plans for the June 2013 meetings are for the Media Team and Ministerial Services Team to meet on Wednesday, June 19. Council meetings will be on June 20 and June 21. There will be a Ministers’ Conference that Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. The annual meeting of the National Conference will be on Sunday morning and early afternoon, June 23.
Since the National Conference will be asked to approve the Bylaws that have been amended to meet new federal government standards, Michael Erickson suggested scheduling a WebEx conference call prior to the annual meeting for those who might have questions about any of the changes to the Bylaws.
Linda Wasilkoff
Posted September 21, 2012
NATIONAL COUNCIL SEPTEMBER TELECONFERENCE
The September meeting of the Council was held on Monday evening, September 10, by teleconference.
The National Office update included the news that the Canadian UCG website is currently being updated. With the new update, there will be the capability for creating a Canadian Ministerial website, which should be of use to all ministers in Canada and could possibly be used to post the annual Call and Notice for the National Conference – thus saving the cost of sending it out by registered mail to all conference members. An additional possibility is to move from teleconferences to videoconferences for the Council and perhaps, later, for the National Conference. It is hoped this might be possible for the next Council meeting.
Two new members have been added to the Amendment Committee – Charles Desgrosseilliers and Dale van Zant who was chosen to be chairman of the committee. Mike Whyte is the new alternate for the committee.
A Task Force was created last June to work on the compliance required of all charities by the Canada Not-For-Profit Corporations Act (CNCA). Michael Erickson gave an update on behalf of the CNCA Compliance Task Force. The initial work has been done on the first seven Articles of the Bylaws and a document comparing the current bylaws and the proposed amendments to the bylaws was sent to council members prior to the teleconference. The Task Force asked for input on four different matters. It was decided to determine these matters through email ballots.
One significant change which will be required by the CNCA has to do with the timing of the annual meeting of the National Conference. The requirement is that it will have to be within six months of the fiscal year-end (March 31). During the annual meeting, council members must be selected and the financial reports (Auditor’s report) must be approved. The council member terms must begin by the end of the annual meeting. This will also require a change in when council terms end. The Task Force was asked to write a potential resolution for changing when the council term ends and a timeline for changing the date of the annual meeting.
Linda Wasilkoff
Posted August 3, 2012
NATIONAL COUNCIL MEETING
The summer meeting of the UCG-Canada National Council took place at the National Office on June 22 and 24. The meeting began with the chairman, Rainer Salomaa, reading an article about staying focused on what you do well. This set the tone for the meetings.
As usual, the first agenda item was to approve the minutes of the previous meeting. It has become a custom for the Code of Ethics and the Council Job Description to be read during the June meeting as a reminder of the Council’s responsibilities.
This was followed by an update from office staff, which included reading some recent letters received from subscribers and some current statistics. Of interest is that over the past few months, subscriptions to Bonnes Nouvelles has increased dramatically.
Dennis Horlick reported that the Media Team had met and reviewed potential new programs. He stated that there will be an increase in the rate for airing the Beyond Today program on the Vision network. He and the Director of Operations were given permission to negotiate a new rate.
Anthony Wasilkoff reported that the Ministerial Services Team had discussed some matters related to our various congregations. They also discussed the effectiveness of the Kingdom of God seminars and plans for the Feast of Tabernacles.
In December, several office staff and Council members attended a seminar explaining a new government Act (Canadian Not-for-profit Corporations Act or CNCA) which will require all charities to reapply for charity status. A PowerPoint presentation covering the key points of the new legislation was given and afterward Anthony and Linda Wasilkoff fielded questions. Three handouts were provided. The Council then discussed how to proceed with incorporating the necessary changes into the Bylaws along with the process of filing the Articles of Continuance and the revised Bylaws.
During the afternoon, the Council continued discussing the CNCA and determined that the work would be too involved to be completed by the Council committees. A CNCA Compliance Task Force was formally created consisting of Michael Erickson (chair), Anthony Wasilkoff and Linda Wasilkoff. The Task Force’s assignment is to incorporate needed changes into the current Bylaws to comply with the CNCA. The Task Force may utilize other advisors as needed. The target date for completion of the project is June 2013 when a special meeting of the National Conference, which includes all ministers in Canada, may be called.
Each year when there is a new member on Council, the Council must assign the individual to a Council committee. This year, in addition to assigning the new member to a committee, some members requested to switch committees. The committee members are now:
Governance/Ethics/Pastoral Committee
John Erickson
Michael Erickson
Garry Lucas
Patrick Read (chairman)
Strategic Planning/Finance Committee
Larry DeLong (chairman)
Dennis Horlick
Ellsworth Stanley
Anthony Wasilkoff
On Sunday morning, Larry DeLong gave the report for the Strategic Planning/Finance Committee. In order to more closely parallel UCGIA, they made recommendations for slight changes to the 2013-2014 Strategic Plan, which the Council approved. The Committee also made some recommendations for handling of some of the items necessitated by the CNCA.
Patrick Read followed with the Governance/Ethics/Pastoral Committee report. The Committee is working on some policies, which need further research before they are presented to the Council for approval.
The last agenda item was time for discussion. During that time, the Council explored elements that the church does well. Among the things discussed was our Internet presence and resources, our welcoming of new people, carefulness with doctrine, governance – a working board, and ministers (who conduct church services, weddings, funerals and visit people).
The afternoon was spent in an executive session and an informal session during which the evaluation of the Director of Operations occurred.
Linda Wasilkoff