Reports from the Leadership Team:

• Finance Team
  • Click here for password protected pdf copy of detailed July budget report
    • The password required for access that was sent out earlier for the July report applies to this file. When the popup screen requesting a password comes up, simply enter that password and the file will finish loading. The online access to this information is provided for members of the IBC church Cologne. A print copy of the report will be distributed in the business meeting on Sunday.
  • Summary:
  •                                                             Income for July 2009
  • Code                                                                             €                                        €
  • 10                          Balance on hand July 1, 2009                                            17,405.34
  • 100                        Income for July
  • 100-1                     Week 1 (05.07                             343.80
  • 100-1                     Week 2 (12.07                             349.15
  • 100-1                    Week 3 (19.07                              276.57
  • 100-1                     Week 4 (26.07                             153.02
  •             
  • 100-2                     Tithes/offering throu. Bank 1,901.00
  • 100-4                     Other incomes
  • 100-4-1                 Donation
  • Total income for July 2009.                                3,023.54                                  3,023.54
  • 200                 Total Expenses for July 2009    4,349.88                                 -4,349.88
  •                         Balance on hand July 31, 2009                                                 16,079.00
  • Report to be made by Francis Adoga, Financial Secretary
• Women's Ministry
  • Report to be made by Alison Edwards, the Women's Ministry Team leader.
• Youth Ministry
  • Report to be made by the pastor.
• Children's Ministry
  • Report to be made by Marianne D'Almeida, Children's Ministry Team leader.
• Worship Ministry
  • Report to be made by Solomon Idemudia, Worship Ministry Team leader.
• Evangelism Ministry
  • Announcement of finalized plans for the Interkulturelle Woche Köln, Oct. 26 through Nov. 11, 2009. Click here for a copy of the plans.
  • Report to be made by Billy D'Almeida, Evangelism Ministry Team leader.
• Pastor's Report to the Church
  • Summary
    • The past several months in our church have seen the gradual expansion of ministries, namely the beginning of the Youth Ministry, the Women's Ministry and the Bonn Ministry. God has blessed these efforts with a good beginning and substantial growth through the summer vacation period. The attendance at the Sunday afternoon worship services has been strong with the following monthly averages: January, 66.5; February, 69.5; March, 170.33; April. 58.25; May, 74.6; June 68.75; July, 65; August (1st three Sundays), 99. For this we are grateful to God.

    Our financial giving has also been strong and growing. With the adoption of a detailed budget and expenditure guidelines in March, we have a strong giving program in place. We are now giving more money to the cause of missions through the International Baptist Convention and the German Baptist Union than ever before in the history of the church. Through Feb. - July of this fiscal year, we have contributed 2.304,-- € through the IBC, and 4.047,-- € through the German Baptist Union. We're reaching out through partnerships with fellow Baptist congregations in these two denominational structures to spread the gospel literally around the world. As your pastor, this is a point of enormous pride for me in our church. God is enabling us to move from being on the receiving end of help from these two groups to becoming a strong contributor to and supporter of the work of the Kingdom in Baptist efforts to evangelize the world. We have now shed once and for all the 'beggar congregation, always asking for money' image that our church has had among these two groups for many years.

    So far this year we have baptized five individuals into the membership of our church. But we can do better, and we must redouble our efforts to reach more people in profession of faith in Christ. The Evangelism Ministry proposal below will help us greatly at this point. My prayer is that by the end of our church year on January 31 we will have baptized at least 15 people.

    Also, I'm sensing growing participation by a larger number of our members in the work of the church. The process of reorganization of the church for ministry is moving along at a steady pace that allows us time to embrace each step in this process before moving to the next one. The proposals coming today will mean a significant step forward and will leave us approximately two more major steps. The central goal of the reorganization is to develop places of ministry opportunity for every member of the church. This way everyone is contributing to the work of the church, rather than just a small segment of the so-called 'faithful few.'

    The next set of proposals will cover the Welcoming Ministry, the Finance Ministry, Prayer Ministry, the Children's Ministry and the building/maintenance ministry. That will leave the final major step of beginning the process to ordain deacons for pastoral ministry leadership in the church. The projection is to have the next phase before the church by the end of September.

    Then the process of planning for the new church year of 2010 will begin. This will focus on three primary actions: 1) the church wide election of individuals in late October to fill the various places on the emerging ministry leadership teams. 2) Then the newly elected ministry teams will begin the process of preparing budget recommendations for their assigned cost centers. These will then be presented to the Finance Ministry Leadership Team by the first of January. The Finance Team will next prepare a recommended budget from these requests for 2010 (Feb. - Jan, fiscal year in the church) that will be presented to the church by the last of January. 3) Also in the early winter the newly elected ministry leadership teams will plan out the church calendar for 2010 with proposed activities and programs. These proposals will come before the church in January for consideration and adoption as our ministry programs for the 2010 church year.

    It's going to be a busy and exciting fall and winter for us as we continue positioning ourselves as a truly ministering congregation passionately seeking to proclaim the Gospel and minister to others. I do believe that through these reorganization efforts God is getting us ready to grow significantly, and to be able to handle that growth in a positive, spiritually healthy manner. Often rapid growth in numbers is spiritually devastating to a church. For a church to grow in size and in spirituality at the same time is very challenging. But I'm convinced that God is moving us toward this very goal.

Proposals for Reorganization

• Church Membership Procedures Policy
  • Click here for pdf copy of detailed recommendation
  • Summary of Recommendation:
  • 
    • In Baptist heritage and tradition, the church itself controls who is an official member of the congregation, not the pastor nor some leadership group in the church. Church membership is to be made up of individuals who have publicly confessed faith in Christ and have submitted themselves to believer's baptism by immersion. Members should be in basic sympathy with the stated beliefs and ministry orientation of the church. This understanding of church membership grows out of the scriptural understanding of 'church' and of the biblical teaching of the 'priesthood of every believer.' Our Church Constitution, in section IV 'Membership,' officially defines the viewpoint of the church on this matter.
    • In the past our church has not consistently followed either scriptural teaching nor Baptist heritage at this point. Consequently confusion about church membership definitions are present in the church. This proposal coming today is the first step in addressing the problem and in seeking to bring the church into conformity with both scriptural teaching and Baptist heritage. Additional steps will be necessary over the coming months in order to complete this process and to develop a current, up-to-date Official Membership Roll of the church that the church has itself validated by official action.
    • The recommendation today seeks to define procedures for receiving new members and for terminating the membership of members when they have moved on to other churches. The Church Constitution, in section IV 'Membership,' defines official membership in our church. The recommendation today is built on those official definitions and develops step by step procedures for receiving new member and terminating the membership of existing members. Additionally, appropriate form letters are included to be used by the Church Clerk for each appropriate action defined in the procedures
    • Adoption of this recommendation will establish a clearly defined, official process for church membership actions. It will give the Church Clerk specific guidelines for maintaining the Church Membership Roll of the church. It will provide a basis for explaining to prospective church members clearly the process of how to join the IBC church Cologne.
• Evangelism Ministry
  • Click here for pdf copy of detailed recommendation
  • Summary of Recommendation:
  • 
    • If a congregation is going to be faithful to the scripture and to Christ, it must be committed to reaching people for the Kingdom of God. Jesus indicated in Acts 1:8 that His church is to be a witness for Him to the entire world. The IBC church Cologne is committed to being a 'great commission church' (see Matt. 28:16-20) where the Gospel is faithfully presented to the unbelieving world, both locally and beyond.
    • The recommendation consistently follows the structural pattern of previous reorganization proposals in that a twofold recommendation is presented. First the Evangelism Ministry program is set forth, and then is followed by the details for the Evangelism Ministry Leadership Team. 
    • The Evangelism Ministry is "to promote evangelism in the life and ministry of the church." This includes five ministry assignments: 1) Evangelism Leadership Training; 2) Church Promotion Leadership; 3) Special Events Leadership; 4) Web Site Leadership; and 5) Bonn Ministry Leadership. Each of the ministry assignments will form a ministry team of volunteers serving in each ministry assignment.
    • The Evangelism Ministry Leadership Team will be composed of a sub-team leader from each of these five ministry assignments listed above, plus a team leader who will represent the Evangelism Ministry on the Church Leadership Team. The EM Leadership Team will give church wide leadership to this ministry of the church.
    • Out of this structural proposal will come clearly defined ministry assignments and responsibilities in order to give direction to this outreach ministry of the church.    
• Worship Ministry
  • Click here for pdf copy of detailed recommendation
  • Summary of Recommendation:
  • 

    • The worship of God is fundamental to the existence of a church. Worship is both an attitude and an action. The IBC church Cologne seeks to be a genuinely worshipping congregation. The distinct multi-national character of our church offers us the possibility of special patterns of worship that reflect the diverse cultural and religious heritage of our membership. At the same time, however, we are deeply committed to worship that is based on the teachings of scripture and is God honoring rather than self-glorifying of the worshipper.
    • The recommendation consistently follows the structural pattern of previous reorganization proposals in that a twofold recommendation is presented. First the Worship Ministry program is set forth, and then is followed by the details for the Worship Ministry Leadership Team.
    • The Worship Ministry is "to promote the worship and praise of God in the life and ministry of the church." This includes six ministry assignments: 1) Worship Planning; 2) Preparation of the Musical Praise for the worship services; 3) Coordination of the Musical Contributions of members to the worship services; 4) Preparation of the worship center for the worship services; 5) Preparation for Worship through Organized Prayer Times; and 6) Musical Praise in Worship.
    • The Worship Ministry Leadership Team will be composed of a sub-team leader from each of these six ministry assignments listed above, plus a team leader who will represent the Worship Ministry on the Church Leadership Team. The WM Leadership Team will give church wide leadership to this ministry of the church. 
    • Out of this structural proposal will come clearly defined ministry assignments and responsibilities in order to give direction to this worship ministry of the church.

     

Modification of Pastor's Ministry Agreement

• Click here for pdf copy of detailed recommendation
• Summary of Recommendation:
  • Some time ago I asked a German lawyer friend who is an expert in German tax law, especially as it applies to churches and ministers, to take a look at the ministry agreement between the church and the pastor which took effect on January 1, 2009. My concern as pastor is that everything we do conforms clearly to the provisions of the tax laws here in Germany. After examining the ministry agreement, some minor revision of the wording of the agreement in section V. Compensation and Benefits are necessary for the agreement to comply with the provisions of the tax law. The change of wording is from "housing" and "housing allowance" to "office rental and storage space." Also, from "living costs" to "Ministry Expenses." These are the only proposed modifications; no change in the terms of the agreement are included.
  • The previous wording could very well trigger significant tax liability on the part of both the church and the pastor, along with fines for non-payment of taxes. The recommended modified wording will set up a ministry agreement commonly found among German Baptist pastors and churches, and also free from tax liability by either the church or the pastor.

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