North Central Jurisdiction
Mission Council Board Meeting Minutes
April 5, 2024 (on Zoom)
In attendance:
Ryan Rusell; Jim Searls; Gordon Grigg; Walker Brault; Insuk Peebles; Cindy Gregorson; Paige Boyer; Diane Brown; Lonnie Chafin; Andrea Hult; Brian Hanner; Beata Ferris; Rita L. Smith; Chris Winkler; Curtis Brown; Nitza Dovenspike
Regrets received from: Laura Witkowski – Michigan (on Zoom); Kelly Brown – East Ohio; Eric Swanson – Illinois Great Rivers; Barry Burns – West Ohio; Kady Herr Yang – Wisconsin; Gifty Smith – Illinois Great Rivers; Dominic Mejia – West Ohio (on Zoom); Nathan Lundy – Indiana; Bishop Trimble
1) Welcome and Prayer – Ryan called the meeting to order and all those present introduced themselves.
2) October 2023 Meeting Minutes approval: Paige moves to approve the minutes as printed; Diane seconds. Adopted with one abstention.
3) Finance review– Lonnie reviewed the balance sheet and income statement. No cost for the January Special Called NCJ; it was covered by Wespath.
4) Budget proposal to JC 2024– Lonnie introduced the proposed budget for the 2025-2028 quadrennium.
- Discussion related to the apportionments for the next quadrennium: 2025-2028. Whether to hold them at the same level.
Cindy makes a motion to hold apportionment, no increases for any of the conferences in the jurisdiction. Rita seconds. Adopted by majority vote. One “No” vote - Motion from Curtis to reduce income by 138,000 and expenses 138,000; Chris seconds
- Diane moved to table; Walker seconds; Curtis motion tabled
- How much to budget for two NCJ conferences: 2026, 2028
- A request had been made to add funds for transition of the episcopal areas coming together. This line item was included as part of programming expenses.
- Where is the next NCJ? West Ohio. After that it would be Minnesota. Location influences how much to budget.
- Chris moves to table the discussion on the budget proposal. Paige seconds.
- Diane moves to address the budget and the rules at another NCJ Mission Council meeting after General Conference. Jim seconds. Motion adopted with one opposing vote.
- Ryan sending a poll to determine a date for another Mission Council meeting after General Conference.
5) Rules and plan of organization changes- Diane shared highlights of the proposed changes to the Rules of Order and Plan of Organization.
Key points the sub-committee has discussed:
- about whether to put deadline when new legislation can be proposed. Legislation needs to be in advanced journal 2; by June 15th. Advanced Journal 2 comes out on June 30th.
- Who is the Rules Committee? In 2016 the existing rules committee recommended to disband and put that work on Mission Council. This becomes an issue if a meeting of the Rules committee is necessary during NCJ conference. It could be the executive committee or a designated subcommittee. For efficiency and effectiveness it is better to have five to six people form the Rules Committee. Diane will come with a proposal and have the Mission Council vote on this at the next meeting.
- Other jurisdictions are making changes that jurisdiction to meet virtual.
- Another suggestion was to have an election committee again. The Episcopacy Committee has worked to refine the election process, no changes to the rules proposed at this time.
Plan of Org – proposed changes will be shared with the Mission Council before the next meeting.
6) Racial Audit update– Curtis
Elaine Moi will continue to work with NCJ on the racial audit
7) JC 2024 Design Team update
Diane, Ryan, Insuk, Eric are part of the group working with the host committee on the plans for the NCJ Conference. Diane shared the framework and the topics they are considering.
8) Bishop Trimble through Jen Huff (IN Mission Coordinator)
- Jurisdictional group to work on issues of affordable housing, eviction, habitability, food insecurity, mental health, gun violence, etc.
A topic to be discussed in the future by Mission Council
Other topics:
Ryan will send another poll for the next meeting
