An Annual General Meeting is a good idea. Once a year members and attenders gather for reports, updates, and vision. It’s an important opportunity for accountability and to celebrate God’s faithfulness. CLA is a complex organization with four campuses (Maple Ridge, Sooke, Langley & Recovery Church) along with vision to plant a new campus in Abbotsford in 2024. We have 80 part time and full time staff who help with our buildings, Sunbeam, administration, ministry and outreach (that’s about 43% of our funds). As chair of our Board of Directors, I am deeply indebted to a wonderful team who help protect the vision, values, and finances of CLA. They chair important committees like HR, Finance, Governance, the CLA Housing Society (as well as sit on Sharon Village’s board). The board is also very active in building a succession plan for Pastor Carl and Bus Ministry as in 2024 his retirement (or semi retirement as he will always be involved in Metro Kids / Bus Ministry) will demand this. The board also works with our refugee committee, our building committee, and through me – when called upon, to give wisdom to challenging situations the MLT (Ministry Lead Team) may face. At the AGM we ratified five board members to two-year terms; Blair Whitmarsh, Ian Martens, Elaine Barendregt, Cathy de la Rambelje, and Debbie Mohamed. In addition, we passed our new CLA constitution and bylaws with 96% of membership approving the move. Our church treasurer, Cathy de la Rambelje, did a fantastic job summarizing our audited statements in a year that saw a surplus and some good growth. We also heard from Peter Fassbender, chair of the CLA Housing Society, with an update on Jenny Gaglardi place. This is a legacy project that will influence ministry and safe / affordable housing for a generation to come. What a blessing it will be to a hundred families / individuals as they move in during 2024! A couple other notes from the meeting.
- CLA Missions raised just short of a million dollars last year which is remarkable in a year that saw very limited short-term teams sent
- Rev Youth Ministry brought a very encouraging report from a growing and very significant part of CLA ministry
- Our campuses reported strong return to worship after COVID and important water baptism numbers
- We had a great video from Ian Martens on Maple Ridge redevelopment
- Langley Heart For The House mortgage reduction reported over $127,000 given towards the $700,000 total, reducing it to $534,000 and matching funds are still available to reduce the conference hall mortgage (every $ given will be matched by a donee)
