At the Annual General Meeting only one ordinary Vestry member was elected. The Bishop has since advised that another parishioner should be co-opted by Vestry as an ordinary Vestry member, so that St Paul’s Papanui would not need to be dealt with as a problem parish by the Bishop. Several people involved with the Parish were approached and gave a variety of responses (from yes to no and answers in between). On 14 May 2024 Vestry co-opted Tony Wilson as a vestry member. Tony has been attending St Paul’s for several years.

That means that we are now compliant with church requirements. However, Vestry may co-opt further members, particularly for specific tasks. On the other hand, I am aware that the practice of co-opting members needs to be limited. The normal process of becoming a Vestry member is through election at a parish meeting. It is against the intent of the Diocesan statute to co-opt a significant number of members to Vestry.

Vestry also appointed several parishioners to other roles (as required by Diocesan statutes).

Nominators (who decide on the appointment of a Vicar, if there is a vacancy): the wardens Lindsay Trott and Liz van Til, Alison Button, John Arnold.

Safeguarding – Children and Young Persons Safety Officer: Jennifer Barry.

Mission Motivator: Alison Button

Health and Safety Champion: Rod Wintour

Children’s Ministry Leader: Sue Bagshaw

Land development
As mentioned at the AGM, the Christchurch Methodist Mission is currently waiting for further direction from the government on social housing policy and funding.

Children and Families Worker
Sue Bagshaw has been promoting the role more directly to people that might possibly be interested. It seems that this approach may be working better than advertising widely. We now have more applicants and will be interviewing them shortly.