By Hayley Beckett on 30th January 2025
EBA Council Summary 27 January 2025
EBA Trustees – with three apologies – met for the EBA Council meeting on 2 November 2024.
Lou Webber (EBA Moderator) welcomed everyone. In opening the meeting Lou read from Mark 2: 1-5, In the act of the paralysed man being lowered through the roof, Jesus recognised faith that was seen Jesus saw people who cared, who were persistent, he saw love and saw partnership – what does this look like for the EBA?
Following on from the 4 suggested areas of Association reform and the actions from November, David provided updates on developing networks and discussions with London Baptists and Southwest Baptist Association about area minister programmes. More details will be shared at the Minister’s conference in March.
Hayley presented proposed changes to the byelaws related to task groups, with a view to agreeing these in March for the final proposals to go to members later in 2025.
The grants review, an issue council has been discussing for a while, has made some progress with a small group reviewing the grant process, aiming to present proposals to council in March the review has taken into consideration a report commissioned by council back in November 2022 and further discussions within council and with current grant recipients.
Council appointed June Love as the new Grants Committee Moderator for a three-year term.
Richard (EBA Treasurer) presented the financial summary up to December 2024. Having received income from the sale of property, the Finance group researched safe investment options for funds exceeding the £85,000 FSCS limit and recommended distributing funds across multiple banks. The group brought recommendations to the council based on information about the bank’s ethical status and current interest rate offers.
The council approved the resolution.
The finance group will also spend some time reviewing the giving to Home Mission and reflections from this will be brought to a future council meeting.
David Mayne (RMTL) presented the team report, he highlighted that November had been a busy month of each regional minister spending time with church leaderships supporting specific issues from pastoral vacancies, the settlement process and other wider discussions. The report also noted the good work of part-time specific focus roles within the association.
Claire Blatchford (RM) shared progress on the project with a particular focus on the recommendations for associations, including resources available on the BU website related to a season of Lament and plans for an EBA online gathering in early February. Claire is also looking into undertaking menopause advocate training.
Hayley Beckett (EBA Company Secretary) brought the Governance Report which included an update on a few governance related issues. The EBA Charity risk register was presented and accepted by the council along with the Trustee Annual Report for 2024. This report forms part of our annual return for the Charity Commission and Company’s House.
David Mayne (Interim Safeguarding Trustee) presented the report from Gillian Jones (EBA Safeguarding Lead). Gillian’s report covered upcoming training days and DBS verifier training. The council appreciated the positive resolution of a recent training complaint. Trustees appreciate all that Gillian does and the way she supports the churches in the association. Gillian is attending the minister’s conference, and the team will consider how to make the best of that opportunity.
Other items discussed at the meeting included written support for a grant application being made by Baptist Union Environment network (BUEN) in developing an environmental justice resource for churches to use.
The first draft of an association sustainability policy was presented for comments and amendments.
It was reported that after a successful interview process the position of PA for the team leader was filled and the role will commence on Monday 3 February. A potential candidate as a co-opted member of council was discussed and was unanimously elected, more information on this appointment will follow after the individual confirms their acceptance.
The meeting closed in prayer.
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