Annual Reports
The 111th Annual Meeting of the First Congregational Church of Verona was held on Sunday, April 27, 2008.
You can read about the activities of our church last year in the reports included below:
The Pastor’s Report
It has been a blessed year. As I look back on the highlights, such as last year’s Confirmation celebration or Kim and Debra’s soaring voices or Marge’s hours and hours and hours(!) of faithful service and that of so many others, I can only be grateful for the chance to be with you.
Specifically, here are some of the things we have accomplished together during the past twelve months:
About Worship:
Efforts are continuing to incorporate various kinds of liturgies, music and spoken word as a way of enhancing the worship experience and attracting new members. During Advent we held morning and evening prayer services. During Lent, we had evening services on Ash Wednesday, and Good Friday. On Maundy Thursday, we added our version of a Passover Seder to the traditional service. There were festival services on Christmas, Palm Sunday and Easter that included professional musicians.
The Sunday Morning Worship Service has evolved by allowing it to become warmer and by introducing prayerful silences and integrating music with the spoken word. Specifically, the changes have included: 1) focused and updated liturgy with intentionally thought-provoking sermons followed by moments for meditation, 2) a more intimate experience of Holy Communion during which the whole congregation gathers around the communion table and joins more fully in the prayers, 3)the start of a multimedia kind of approach to worship that is intended to enhance spiritual awareness and includes the coordination of spoken word with music and visual presentations and 4) the inclusion of varied new hymns and professional musicians.
About Christian Education:
This is year one of our two year Confirmation program and it is presently geared to intensive Bible study. Next year (year two) will focus on the candidates’ growing ability to create a personal relationship with our faith as they know it. We look forward to confirming Sophie Park and Ryan Maya next year.
The Adult Christian Education program is evolving into a program that we will call “Third Thursdays.” It began life as a 3-week series of supper and a discussion of the Living the Questions© DVD program during Lent and Easter and continues as an ongoing adult ed. program on the third Thursday of each month. The importance of the program is two-fold: it has attracted a core group of church members who enjoy the companionship and the conversation and it has a strong potential to appeal to individuals from the community.
One other program was a Summer Quilting class for all interested quilters – children and adults. We created a child’s quilt that we dedicated and donated to St. Joseph’s Hospital and we hope to do another this summer.
An Overview:
In practical terms, we have welcomed five new members: two adults, Conrad and Lois Reising, and three Confirmands – Jonathan Maya, Michael Randall and Rocky Guidicipietro. We have celebrated the Baptism of Robert Henderson McOwan, and formally committed three dear friends – George Keith, Janet Becker and Tom Greenbank – to God.
A Vision:
When I think back to this time last year, I think of a church I once described as being at a crossroads. We thought together about the options and took some steps on a new path. It’s a journey that hasn’t always been easy for everyone – choosing one way always means you give up the comforts of the other and that is never easy.
But we are not alone on the journey. There is a new spirit and a new kind of Christianity alive in the world today – some would call it emerging or progressive. It is, according to the writer Diana Butler Bass, a Christianity that is ”open and generous, intellectual and emotive, beautiful and just.” It is found, not in mega-churches, but in small churches – just like this one – who become transformed by simple but profound practices like hospitality, discernment and justice. It’s about understanding worship as an experience of God, rather than a reflection about God. About thinking theologically as a way to meld Sunday morning with the rest of the week. About knowing that everything we do is a prayer.
So this is my prayer for this church in its new year – may the journey be blessed with new friends and new songs welcomed into the rich history of this beloved community.
Blessings,
Barbara
The Rev. Dr. Barbara Ewton, Interim Minister
President’s Report
As I prepared a grant proposal for the church earlier this month, I had to describe what we have done already to increase our church’s vitality. I was totally amazed at how much I had to say! We have accomplished a great deal. No wonder we feel tired sometimes. In fact, it was a little difficult to make the case that we need more help. (I managed, of course).
Our congregation has been at work for many years to renew the church, first with Jim Leamon’s leadership and now with Barbara Ewton’s. And our efforts HAVE borne fruit. Look around church on any Sunday morning and count the people who are new to the congregation in the last 10 years or so. We have a strong adult education program, especially for a church of our size. Our worship helps us come into the presence of the Source of our strength each week. We are moving into a worship style that is both comfortable and innovative – we even used a LCD projector last week! Our fellowship and support for each other bears the mark of the early church –“see how they love one another.” And we provide opportunities to serve others in meaningful ways.
So I’d like to say that we HAVE renewed our church. The victory is ours. We have a small but very loyal and very active core of committed people who share a vision of what a church, what OUR church should be. Now all we need to do is grow!
It’s not that easy, I know. We have areas of real weakness, particularly around Christian education for children and youth. We have struggled to figure out how to do the necessary ongoing work of keeping the church running, while saving some time, money, and energy to be in mission, and that struggle is never over. Reducing the size of Council, moving the meetings to the second Sunday after church, and hiring a payroll company are all ways of doing this. Our finances are shaky at best, and we’re only beginning to learn how to invite others successfully. But we are an Easter people. At Easter, God said that the victory was won, even though the situation looked pretty hopeless to human eyes. So let’s take God at God’s word. The victory is won! Alleluia!
On behalf of the church, I want to thank all those who have worked to make the vision a reality, many of them in the midst of difficult life situations. Let me mention just a few by name. I know that I speak for the whole church when I express my gratitude for all George Keith did as Treasurer through his 21 years in that office, for the many hours Don Phillips spent in transitioning our financial records to up-to-date computer programs and procedures, in researching investment options for our Major Needs money where they have provided a significant additional income stream, and for training his successor, not only in procedures but also in larger church financial matters, and for Conrad Reising’s willingness to step forward and take a job that needed to be done, even when it proved larger than he thought.
Thank you also to Bill Fried, Jr., who ably chaired both Finance and Membership and Fellowship Committees and managed the manse rental, in addition to providing a font of legal and tactical advice as a Council member. Thank you to Lois Reising who has become our Publicity Chairperson, keeping our name and activities in front of the community. Thank you to the dynamic duo of Arlene Toombs and Marlene Nelson-Nigro who keep the building clean each week and then make the BASES program a place where children feel welcomed and loved. Thank you to our Council Secretary, who has enlarged the job to include Mailings Maven, preparing the Bell Rope and stuffing envelopes long into the night to get you the news in a timely manner. And thank you to Ar, Mar, and Louise for doing all those things that I never even knew needed to be done.
How fortunate we are to have Barbara Ewton as interim pastor and Heather Ayers as our secretary. Their salaries may be part-time, but their commitment and energy are amazing. I know of no other church secretary who volunteers to direct Christmas pageants, bring food to potlucks, produce audio-video programs, substitute in the BASES program, and install computer equipment. And she’s one of the pillars of her own church, as well. Barbara designs postcards and advertisements, bakes bread (sometimes during worship), arranges worship centers, recruits soloists, supports us, inspires us, loves us, and sees potential in us that we sometimes don’t see in ourselves. We are so grateful to you both.
Finally, thank you to the many others who do so much to make it all work. As Paul said to the church in Corinth, all the members of the body, though many, are one body in Christ. WE are the church together.
See you in church!
Marjorie Royle
President
Programs and Priorities
A little more than a year ago, the congregation held a multi-session long-range planning process, during which we looked at the church’s strengths and the community needs and strategized about how to apply the former to the latter. We characterized our church as a faith community that expresses LOVE for all, is WELCOMING to all, engages in SERVICE to others, and CHALLENGES our thinking. We identified one major need as improving our ability to tell our story to the community at large so that we might not only be a warm, loving family, but one that reaches out and embraces new members who need to hear the Good News of God’s love in our particular style.
Since then, every group in the congregation has worked hard, not only to exemplify God’s love for all, but also to share it with others. Here’s what it looked like:
Christian Education
One significant Christian Education effort for adults this year, our Living the Questions© Faith Exploration Series, was designed and publicized to appeal to members of the community who might want to learn more about Progressive Christianity in an informal, comfortable setting. It did attract several people from outside our congregation, as did our Confirmation program. Participants have found the experience to be a useful way to deepen their faith and to make the Lenten and Easter experience much more meaningful. The series will be continuing and an ongoing program called Third Thursdays.
At present, Christian education for younger children and activities designed especially for youth are two big gaps in our programming. We have applied for a grant from the Central Atlantic Conference to help strengthen our offerings for children and youth and hope to implement new programs in the fall.
Music and Worship
One of our goals for this year has been to provide worship that is so inspiring and engaging that word will get out and people will want to invite everyone they know to attend.
And we’re well on our way. During Advent, we watched bulbs sprout with the promise of the season. At Christmas, our hearts were touched by the story of the Christ Child’s birth as we watched one of our own, Jennifer Haffner Livelli cradle her newborn son, Ryan, attended by her father Darryl and shepherd son Peyton, as well as by angels Taylor and Amber Neumann. At Easter we praised God with glorious music. And on Earth Day, we “turned the church around,” watching a visual presentation of Psalm 148 on the back wall of the church, accompanied by the singing and playing of Debra Courtright. In each case, our hearts and minds were touched.
Throughout the year, our loyal choir, including Gladys Singewald, Rosemary Greenbank, Dan Taylor, and Bill Fried, and led by Kim McLennon, our organist/pianist/ guitarist/soloist/choir director and all-round miracle worker, has enhanced our worship with their music. Please read the Pastor’s Report for other ways in which we have tried to deepen our worship experience this year.
Thanks to Committee Chair Ginnie Keith and members Gladys Singewald and Marge Royle and all the members who assist each week in worship by being Lay Reader, or Usher. Thank you also to the monthly Communion preparers.
A special thank you to Pat Haffner for beautiful floral arrangements at Christmas and Easter.
Membership and Fellowship
The Membership and Fellowship Committee, under the leadership of Bill Fried, with help from Louise Stewart, Lois Reising, Gladys Singewald, and Marge Riso, has greatly increased publicity and our presence in the community.
During the year, the Committee hosted fellowship events, including our annual Hanging of the Greens, the Souper Bowl lunch, and dinners for the Living the Questions© series. Information about the church and its programs was distributed at the Fair in the Square and Verona Newcomers’ Night. And bus transportation to church on Christmas Eve was offered to residents of the senior housing and Waterview nursing home.
The Membership and Fellowship Committee also manages the calling chain and the Bell Rope mailing list, providing a year’s subscription to new community residents, as well as sending it to friends and neighbors of the church. This year, one Committee project was to develop separate categories of active and inactive members to make our membership figures more accurate.
The Committee oversaw the development of postcards and advertisements with information on seasonal and other special events. The postcards were sent to targeted individuals and also hand-delivered by members to friends and neighbors.
We are especially fortunate to have Lois Reising’s talents focused on developing increased publicity and community presence by the use of targeted mailings, newspaper ads, articles and notices in various community events sources and on the town cable TV channel and website. Lois has made a considerable difference in the town’s awareness of the activities of our church.
The Website
Our website is a happening thing! It changes weekly so that this week’s Sunday sermon, notices of upcoming events, and the schedule of Worship Servers is never more than a mouse click away!
Our special thanks are due to Marge Royle, our faithful webmaster and designer of this important aspect of church life in the community.
Because many people, especially younger adults, find their way to churches through service projects, one emphasis for the Missions Committee during 2007-08 was to invite the community to share in our missions projects.
One way that we did this was to expand our Fall Fair from sales of rummage and table rentals to providing tables at no cost to groups raising funds for mission projects. We also offered Alternative Gifts – the opportunity to donate to various charities in someone’s honor, with the designee receiving a small token gift, a card informing them of the donation, and information about alternative, less commercial holiday celebrations.
The sale of Turkish scarves, African crafts, fair trade coffee and tea, and fair-trade craft items from around the world through SERRV/A Greater Gift and Global Crafts provided a living wage for the producers, support for orphanages in Africa, and lovely gifts for the shoppers.
In a similar effort, alternative holiday items and decorations were sold at Verona’s Fair in the Square, along with our trademark Comfort Soups.
At Christmas, in conjunction with the Cub Scouts, we decorated our Founders’ Room Christmas tree (donated by Janet and Don Boeck) with hats, gloves, and scarves for needy people locally. At Thanksgiving and on Souper Bowl Sunday, we collected canned goods and money for the Human Needs Food Pantry in Montclair.
In addition, throughout the year, the Committee sponsored collection of gently-used children’s clothes and books for orphanages in Awka, Nigeria.
One way that our church shows God’s love to people in the community is by housing in our building programs for children and youth. Robin’s Nest II Nursery School, which now has new owners, provides morning and afternoon care for preschoolers throughout the year.
We provide space free of charge to two Boy Scout troops, Cub Scouts, a Venture Crew, and leaders’ meetings and roundtables, and worship and celebrate with the Scouts on Boy Scout Sunday each February.
We also sponsor Verona BASES, Before and After School Enrichment for Students, whose successful year is described in their own report.
And finally, in addition to receiving offerings for One Great Hour of Sharing, Neighbors in Need, and the Veterans of the Cross Christmas Card Offering, we were recognized at the New Jersey Association’s 2008 Annual Meeting for having the greatest increase in contributions to Our Church’ Wider Mission, over 240%!
Finance
The Finance Committee began the year by discussing the need for a Major Needs Campaign to address a series of building maintenance issues that had been deferred for many years, as well as ways to undergird the new ideas for ministry and outreach that had come from the planning process.
This effort took a giant step forward when Church Treasurer George Keith donated an amazing gift of $100,000 to address major building needs. The Finance Committee decided to use the funds both to address immediate needs, such as the new ceiling and lighting in the Founders’ Room, and to challenge the congregation by providing matching funds for gifts that were made for property items.
A Major Needs Campaign was launched in the Fall, with an option to give to property needs, program needs, or a mixture of the two, or to underwrite a particular item, and members responded generously. The Property Committee Report provides details on the many projects that have been completed or are underway or planned with these funds. In addition, gifts to Program needs underwrote the cost of our Living the Questions adult education series held this spring.
The Finance Committee sponsored several fund-raisers during the year. These included a White Elephant Sale on Memorial Day Weekend. This sale was chaired by David Randall with able assistance from the confirmands, Jonathan and Ryan Maya, Greg Guidicipietro, and Michael Liberato-Randall, as well as Nicholas Randall and many church members. A special thank you goes to Rita Sears for her generous donation of many sale items. Other fund-raisers included a Fall Fair and a Thanksgiving Food Raffle, an account for resale items at Willing Hearts managed by Lois Reising, and a Souper Sale all through the cold months, managed by Souper Chef Ray Smith, and assisted by the able cooks of the congregation. Thanks to all who contributed to and purchased from each of these events.
Finance Committee Chair Bill
Fried, Jr., and members George Keith, Don Phillips, Conrad Reising, and Marge
Royle spent many hours making sure that the transition between Treasurer George
Keith and Don Phillips and later Conrad Reising went smoothly, and the
transition between in-house payroll and a payroll service went smoothly as
well.
Property
While the Finance Committee was busy raising Major Needs funds, the Property Committee was busy spending them. The fruit of all the efforts of Property Chairman Darryl Haffner as well as his assistant and decorating coordinator Pat Haffner and other committee members can be seen both in the Property Committee’s report and throughout and around our church building. What is not so easily seen but is equally important is the many hours Darryl spends, sometimes assisted by his grandson Peyton, keeping an old building repaired and in good order.
Search Committee
During 2007-08, a Search Committee was formed to look for a new settled pastor. Its members include Bill Fried, Jr., Virginia Keith, Jonathan Maya, David Randall, Lois Reising, Louise Stewart, and Arlene Toombs. The Committee has met with the Rev. Sherry Taylor, our Associate Conference Minister. It is currently reviewing materials and preparing our church’s profile so that we can begin the search process.
The Outlook:
Last year, the church was described as being at a crossroads. We had stopped to take stock of who and where we were and decide where we needed to go. Since then, as you can see in this report, we have chosen some directions and made some progress along the road. Now we’re on a journey, and one on which we hope to meet the risen Christ, as the disciples did on the road to Emmaus.
Property Committee
This was a challenging year in many respects. We were first time renters of the Manse, many meaningful interior and exterior repairs and improvements to the church were made through George and Ginny Keith’s insight, and there were routine and unplanned repairs.
Decorations were hung at Christmas and included hanging mini lights over the arch of the altar and boughs from column to column along the aisles in the Sanctuary. Exterior decorations at the front of church included boughs draped over the church sign with floodlights, and a Moravian Star hanging over the church entrance.
Projects included remediation of lead paint on the interior and exterior of the nursery school, which was a mandate by the state. The old unreliable main electrical circuit-breaker panel for the church was replaced with a new one. The pastor’s office was given a full make-over. It was painted, laid new carpeting, installed improved lighting, and was re-decorated.
Through a PSE&G Smart-Start rebate credit program, and using improved technology lighting materials, all lighting in the church and nursery school were either retro-fitted or replaced with new high efficient T-8 florescent lighting technology. The new fixtures use one third less energy to operate, provide more foot/candle output, and have a longer operating life than the previous fixtures did.
Completion of a super project enhanced the Founders room with a new ceiling and lighting fixtures. It included a new acoustical tile ceiling with high efficiency lighting from the project above. The ceiling was installed at the 14 foot height, and is at the current decorative wood trim line. The lower ceiling height has reduced the volume of space to heat during the winter and has almost eliminated all echo in the room. The new efficient light output is consistent into every corner. Utilizing new dimming ballast technology, these lights can be dimmed as low as 10% of full brightness. Through a mini committee it was ensured the stained glass windows were fully preserved.
Snow removal was a challenge from the start as, Claudio Ladesma, who has performed our snow removal for the past four years, chose to focus on landscaping and was no longer in the snow removal business. After muddling through a few small snow falls a new service provider was hired. Snow falls were few this year and service was only needed one time. A few kinks were worked out for hopefully a smoother snow removal next year. It was unfortunate that both our good snow shovels disappeared and new ones had to be purchased. Applause to all those members and friends for their continued support with shoveling and spreading salt throughout the winter season.
Scheduled routine maintenance performed this year included preventive maintenance and insurance inspections for our church and nursery school boilers and on the Manse boiler, inspections for the fire alarm system and fire extinguishers, semiannual routine maintenance on building rain gutters, and landscaping maintenance.
Repairs included replacing the church sump pump as repairs to the original pump were no longer economical. There was one emergency call to service the church boiler. A buckling plaster wall outside the pastor’s office had to be replaced. The 25 year old hot water heater serving the church was replaced as a proactive measure, squirrel entry closed, and screening was added to the tower vents to keep out birds.
The Manse was rented for the first time. The sewer lines were plugged a few times and the hot water heater unexpectedly sprung a leak and flooded the basement. An old fused service panel on the third floor was replaced with a panel having breakers, a safety issue. Two prong outlets were replaced throughout the house. As an insurance incentive, the fuel oil tank, no longer in use and located in the basement, was removed.
And, it all happened behind the scenes!
My sincere thanks go out to the Property Committee (Louise Stewart, Dan Taylor, Arlene Toombs, and Pat Haffner), church members, and friends of the church for their continued support.
Darryl Haffner
Property Committee Chairperson
Verona BASES
The BASES program provides low-cost before and after school care to children in Verona from 1st through 6th grades. Morning activities such as quiet games are held weekdays from 7:00 AM until about 8:00 AM when staff transport the children to their schools in time for classes. Afternoon activities from 2:45 to 6:00 PM include transportation from school, homework help, snacks, active and passive recreation, craft activities, and special events such as a talent show or a visit from the Turtleback Zoo. Program Coordinators Arlene Toombs and Marlene Nelson-Nigro direct the program with the assistance of Susan Bartolo-Reilly and occasional church volunteers. Virginia Keith serves as Treasurer for the program. Partial funding is provided from a small grant from United Way of North Essex.
One hallmark of the program is flexibility. We are able to include children who, because of special needs, have difficulty in the larger setting and less experienced staff of other programs. We allow parents to tailor their children’s visits to their work schedules, moving between the morning and afternoon programs or adding or subtracting days as needed, with payment based on actual use. We hold half-day sessions on early dismissal days.
Another hallmark is inclusiveness. Our program attracts children of many different racial and ethnic groups, as well as several with special needs. This provides all the children with the opportunity to learn to get along with and respect others in spite of, or even because of their differences.
In 2007-2008, the program experienced significant growth in both numbers of children served, with 30 children in the after-school program, and 12 in the morning program, and attendance, with two-thirds more student-days. Parent evaluations conducted at the end of the 2006-07 school year indicated that parents were generally very pleased with the program and thought that their children benefited from it, particularly socially and emotionally. Parents also reported much greater peace of mind at work, knowing that their children were at BASES.
Arlene Toombs
Marlene Nelson-Nigro
Virginia Keith
Marjorie Royle
Barbara Ewton