Cherishing Our Resources

Christian Generosity

The mission of the Generosity Team is to spread the biblical message of generosity in order to grow generous givers. Our primary goal is to increase the understanding that giving is a part of Christian discipleship in response to God’s goodness, blessings, and grace through activities and publications to our community. We meet periodically to discuss ways that we can encourage our members to share their spirit-given gifts.

Parish Council

Within every congregation in the Diocese, there is a Parish Council consisting of the Rector, Churchwardens, Deputy Churchwardens (if any), Lay Delegates to Synod, Alternate Lay Delegates and not fewer than four nor more than twelve members of the Vestry of the congregation, with the number to be determined by the Vestry. One-half of such number is elected by the Vestry and one-half is appointed by the Rector, in each case from amongst members of the Vestry.

It is the responsibility of the Parish Council to assist the Rector and the Wardens to conduct parish affairs so that the parish will be able to effectively carry out its mission as a Christian community. Each month, excluding July, our Parish Council meets to discuss the care and maintenance of the church and its contents, congregational life, the financial affairs of the church and explore new opportunities to fulfill our mission. By doing this, the Parish Council enables the Rector and the laity to work together to spread the Gospel and minister to each other and the community.

Endowment Committee

The Endowment Committee was established by Vestry in 1994 for the purpose of the administration of funds donated to St. Mark’s Church. The Committee consist of 7 members of the Vestry with 6 members appointed by the Board of Management of the Church and the 7^th being the Rector of the church. The members are appointed for 3 year terms and their appointments rotate so that 2 members retire each year.

The purpose is to receive and disburse monies received by the church according to the directions given by the person/will/estate making the donation. If no instructions are given, the capital received is generally retained so that only the income is disbursed. The Committee sometimes invests in special projects of the church approved by the Parish Council so long as the aggregate amount of the loans do not exceed 30% of the total fund. The loan is just that and must be repaid and the Committee will set the terms to reflect the current market conditions.

This Committee meets 2 times a year or as necessary.

Building and Maintenance Committee

The Building and Maintenance Committee is a small group of volunteers that respond on an as-needed basis. They look after minor repairs to plumbing, electrical and other small maintenance issues. This committee also does regular inspections of the building, grounds and infrastructure to help plan for future projects. These projects could be either capital or preventative maintenance in nature. Finally, this group provides expertise in the writing of RFQ’s for the larger projects required around the church and following up on these projects with inspections.

Environment Committee

The St. Mark’s Environment Committee is a group of St. Mark’s parishioners who are looking for ways to develop our stewardship of creation at a personal, church, and diocesan level. We are undertaking projects such as consolidating implementation of the Green Audit that was done for St. Mark’s. The committee was struck with the purpose of furthering care of God’s creation at St. Mark’s. The committee achieves this through practical action and education.

Protecting our Environment

The Five Marks of Mission are an important statement on mission. They express the Anglican Communion’s common commitment to, and understanding of, God’s holistic and integral mission. The mission of the Church is the mission of Christ. The Fifth is: To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth.

With that in mind, the 2019 Synod in Vancouver adopted the following resolutions…

Planned Giving

A Planned Gift can be given through a gift of cash, stocks and securities, an annuity, a trust, a life insurance policy or other ways that can be directed to the church. The key is the planned part—by planning you can give a larger gift while getting existing tax benefits that can save you taxes now or later. Also, St. Mark’s has set up a trading account with a broker to facilitate gifts of appreciated securities. In this scenario, a parishioner makes a donation to the church and the church makes donations to their other charities as directed. This saves the member from doing numerous donations over the year and hoping that their other charity has a trading account and they receive one tax receipt for the full donation. Excess amounts are held in the Rectors Discretionary trust fund that may be accessed later in the year for special request (earthquakes, wild fires etc.) In order to explore all the options available a “Donations Reference Book” was assembled by the Committee for the purpose of providing information to people who wish to make a planned gift to St. Marks either in their lifetime or after their death. The Donations Reference Book is available thru the church office.

Delivery Team

At various times during the year, members of our parish deliver mailings that have not been picked up on Sunday mornings. Newsletters and other mailings are usually kept at the back of the church for two weeks. The remaining envelopes are sorted into zones (addresses close together) and volunteers pick up a few and deliver them to the homes of those who have been unable to attend. Volunteers are always needed to deliver a few envelopes to help defray postage costs.

Counters

Each week, parishioners (working in pairs) tabulate the Sunday collection, record the information and take the offering to the bank. Each team is on duty approximately once every six weeks.

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