Minutes of the Co-ordinating Committee Meeting held
online using Zoom Conferencing
Wednesday 22 April 2020 at 7:30 pm
Purpose of Meeting: A forum for ‘communion’ and communication between PACT churches, PACT organisations and local Christians, to facilitate events aimed at increasing opportunities for joint worship, witness and work between PACT churches.
Chair: Carolyn Barton
Attended: Carolyn Barton, Judith Bee, Lyn Carter, Will Hughes, Ivan H-T, Josh Thomas, John Studd, Christine Tully, Tim Concannon, Richard Saunders, Helen Mason, Simon Mason, John Callaghan, Lindsay Clegg, Anna Olliffe, Amanda Greenlee.
1 Introduction, Bible reading and prayer
Carolyn opened the committee meeting with Psalm 46 and a prayer.
2 Apologies for absence
Vanessa Dowse and Jenny Ballinger
3 Lions Club Donation
Issue: Petersfield Lions club made a generous donation to PACT of £500.00 in February. When (re)asked which of our projects they would like to support they want to support those who are in distress as a result of the COVID 19 outbreak.
It was unanimously agreed to split the donation 60% for Butser Home Start and 40% for Petersfield Counselling.
It was noted that 10 new families were being support with food by Butser Home Start.
4 Thanksgiving Service
Issue: Do we want to start thinking about a PACT Service of Thanksgiving, or is it too early as yet?
During the discussion it was noted that:
- The Virus is highly unlikely to have a definitive end-point that is an obvious time for thanksgiving.
- The end of lock-down wouldn’t be a suitable milestone as social distancing would likely still be in force at this time preventing any traditional service; and ‘at risk’ groups would not have their lock-down end at the same time as everyone else.
- It is important to do something to recognise and remember both those who have died and those who have worked hard to help others during this crisis.
- At this time there are too many unknowns to even start thinking about what form a Thanksgiving Service might take and when would be appropriate to hold it.
The consensus was that a ‘wait and see’ stance should be taken and reviewed at subsequent PACT committee meetings.
5 Refreshing the PACT Website
Issue: The PACT website is in need of updating and refreshing, input is needed on establishing a Working Group to that end. It is hoped to get this done in time for January 2021
The outcomes of a Zoom Conference meeting between Carolyn, John Studd and Steve Field were reported:
- The ‘Aims and Objectives’ of the PACT website have been reviewed and revised:
- To help PACT be Valued, Known and Understood Better
- To serve as a portal or brokering place to find PACT related information
- To provide access to all Churches and Organisations, partnered with, or linked to PACT
- To host a central calendar
- To act as witness to our faith
- To be accessible and navigable as possible
- A small Working Party (WP) should be established to progress this issue.
- An initial draft website has been created using WordPress (pact2.org.uk)
Carolyn proposed that the WP should be led by John Studd and Steve Field should be invited to be part of it. Both of these were unanimously agreed.
Key issues during the following discussion were:
- Whether the proposal for using WordPress to author the new website was appropriate. It’s primary advantages are that it is free and better than the old system. If anyone knows of a better system please suggest to the WP.
- Should there be an associated Facebook page? Points of note were:
- Facebook pages are only worthwhile if they have regular postings/updates.
- The advantage of a Facebook page is that subscribers get automatically alerted to new posts/information rather than being constrained to proactively visiting the website on a regular basis to keep up to date.
- Embedded links to/from Facebook pages and PACT Website content.
- If active in Social Media then PACT would almost certainly need Social Media Manager, but be aware that such a role would be very time-consuming.
The following actions were agreed:
- To establish a small WP of 4 or 5 individuals.
- If John Studd leads and Steve Field accepts the invitation to join this would leave up to vacant 3 seats in the WP. All Reps to consider appropriate people within their congregations who would be useful nominate to join the WP.
- The WP’s role will be expanded to include determining the policy/strategy for web-presence overall (i.e. including social media, etc)
- The target date for completion is 1st January 2021.
- All to suggest to the WP if they know of a better tool than WordPress to aid with the website design.
Formal thanks were given to Richard Saunders for getting this activity going
Formal thanks were given to John Studd for his continuing hard work in both looking after the old website and developing the new one.
6 Christian Aid Week:
Issue: What happens with Christian Aid Week given the current lock-down?
Carolyn reported on guidance received from the national organisers of Christian Aid Week:
- There will be no physical collections for now – please let all volunteers know.
- A new collection week is tentatively planned for sometime in the Autumn, assuming the lockdown has ended by then.
- There will be virtual events held during the usual week instead, volunteers can host their own or participate in others
. Please see https://www.christianaid.org.uk/appeals/key-appeals/christian-aid-week for ideas and events, in particular the Virtual Quizzes.
7 AOB & Comments
Issue: A number of PACT churches are delivering services via Zoom and/or streaming their services. It was noted:
- As we embrace lifestyle changes due to the current crisis online content and events provide an essential sense on communion.
- Josh Thomas is hosting a large quantity of material for children
- New people who have infrequently or never attended a church service before are joining some of the virtual services. It would be a valuable activity for churches to consider how to keep these people engaged in the longer-term, ready for when lockdown/etc ends.
Issue: The virus can strike anyone and rapidly take them out of action.
This should be taken as a timely reminder that it is important for all church/PACT members to consider and make plans for unfortunately being taken out of action (i.e. Business Continuity Plans).
This is particularly relevant for people who have sole access to bank accounts, important passwords, etc to ensure there is a back-up to allow essential activities to continue in their (hopefully temporary) absence.
8 Close
The meeting was concluded by sharing of The Grace.