Congregational Meeting - 2/10/2008

What the Board of Directors of Emerson Church has been doing over the last year and a half or so is to move the Church toward a way of operating that is aligned with our existing by-laws and organizational manual. The changes made to accomplish this have resulted in some resistance and conflict in many forms that have involved the Board, past Board members, the Minister, the DRE, The Committee on Ministry, current and past Committee Chairs and current and past Friends and Members of Emerson.

We are moving away from a system where only a few people controlled most of the aspects of church life to a system where we allow the Minister to minister to the Church and encourage people to give their input into how things are done, allowing more people to join in and to work together.

Your Board has been trying to get through the changes, deal with the fallout, put out the fires, protect the congregation from the conflicts and keep things going at the same time. This caused confusion, stress, hurt feelings and more conflict.

We need to work through these problems which can be a great opportunity to move up to a more inclusive Church with more to offer its people and its community. But to do this we must get through this period of hurt feelings and conflict relatively intact.

We, the congregation of Emerson Church, need to make informed decisions on the future of the Church. To that end, you are urged to attend an informational meeting of the congregation on Sunday, February 10, 2007, at 12:15 pm in the sanctuary of the church. Let’s talk together to work out our problems in the Love and Dignity that we have for each other. ~ Rob LaPonsa, Board President