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beloved disciples
Beloved
Disciples LGBT Fellowship Group
We welcome all members of
the St. Luke’s community to participate.
The Beloved
Disciples meets for worship and fellowship the second Sunday of each
month at 5:15pm at the Cathedral in Emmanuel Chapel followed by a
potluck meal afterward in the Upper Parish Hall.
For more information about our ministry, please contact Ryan Anderson
at 939-5435 or email
mrryananderson@yahoo.com.
Beloved Disciples LGBT
Fellowship Group Update
The Beloved Disciples recently held
their annual meeting on May 18th and the following officers were
elected:
2008-2009 Officers of the Beloved Disciples
Ryan Anderson, Chair
Davy Ulrich, Vice-Chair/Treasurer
Wade McClay, Secretary
John Hennessy, Communications/Public Relations Liaison
Leigh Donaldson, Program Chair
Click here for Steering
Committee Notes (pdf document):
../beloved_disciples_minutes.pdf
Cathedral
Church of Saint Luke (Episcopal)
Portland, Maine
Beloved
Disciples LGBT Fellowship
Steering
Committee By-Laws
By-Laws Adopted by the Steering
Committee: August 6, 2006
By-Laws Adopted by The Beloved
Disciples: September 9, 2006
Amended by the Steering
Committee: April 20, 2007
Amendments Adopted by The Beloved Disciples:
May 20, 2007
Amendments Adopted by the Steering Committee
January 20, 2008
Amendments Adopted by The Beloved Disciples:
May 18, 2008
Section One
Name
The name of this
organization shall be called the LGBT Fellowship Steering Committee of
the Cathedral Church of Saint Luke hereinafter referred to as the
“steering committee.” The steering committee shall be a permanent
subcommittee of The Beloved Disciples--The Saint Luke’s LGBT
Fellowship Group is hereinafter referred to as “The Beloved
Disciples.”
Section Two
Purpose and Mission
The purpose and
mission of the steering committee shall be:
1.
To
conduct reflective and prayerful evaluation of the needs of lesbian,
gay, bisexual
and transgendered (LGBT) parishioners at the Cathedral Church
of Saint Luke. By and through the help of God and the Trinity, the
Dean of the Cathedral, and the members of the parish community, the
steering committee will develop programs and activities that
strengthen and nurture the lives of LGBT parishioners, and refer for
approval these programs and activities to The Beloved Disciples.
2.
To
offer support to The Beloved Disciples fellowship. This will be
accomplished in several ways including but not limited to: conducting
the business and administrative duties of the fellowship, planning of
activities and programs as described in part one, and performing
outreach of Episcopal Christian fellowship to the greater Portland,
Maine LGBT community.
Section Three
Membership, Quorum,
Meetings
Membership of the
steering committee shall consist of five (5) members of The Beloved
Disciples including the chairperson of The Beloved Disciples.
Steering committee members are elected for a one-year term and may
serve as many as three consecutive terms. The election of the
steering committee members by The Beloved Disciples shall occur in May
at the annual meeting of the Beloved Disciples. The new steering
committee shall begin their year in July. The Dean of the Cathedral
will also serve as an ex-officio member. The steering committee can
invite other members to serve as ex-officio members or liaisons as it
deems appropriate.
If a vacancy occurs
in the steering committee, the steering committee shall fill such a
vacancy until the next annual meeting election.
Quorum of the
steering committee will be at least three steering committee members.
Meetings will occur
quarterly each year in January, April, July and October. The chair
may call meetings of the steering committee as needs of the fellowship
dictate. All meetings of the steering committee are open to the
public and shall occur at the Cathedral with the exception of the July
meeting, which is a retreat for the steering committee.
Section Four
Officers
The steering
committee shall be elected by The Beloved Disciples to the following
five (5) officer positions:
1. Chair—The
Chair of the steering committee will be the chair of The Beloved
Disciples. The Chair will preside over all meetings of the steering
committee, set the agenda of the committee meetings with the advice
and consent of the steering committee and serve as fellowship
committee representative to the Dean and all other committees of the
Cathedral. The Chair shall be responsible for membership development
of the Beloved Disciples. The Chair shall manage external affairs of
the Beloved Disciples outside the church community. The Chair shall
conduct all other leadership and executive responsibilities of The
Beloved Disciples and steering committee as appropriate.
2. Vice-Chair/Treasurer—The
Vice-Chair/Treasurer shall conduct all responsibilities of the Chair
in the absence of the Chair including presiding over steering
committee meetings. The Vice-Chair/Treasurer shall continually work
with the Chair to coordinate steering committee and Beloved Disciples
group operations including assignment of members to saint team
groups. The Vice-Chair/Treasurer will take an active role in ensuring
participation by group members in programs, and work with the Chair to
obtain appropriate leadership coverage of all programs and activities
of the fellowship. The Vice-Chair/Treasurer shall also be responsible
for preparing an annual budget of the LGBT fellowship. The
Vice-Chair/Treasurer will submit this budget to the steering committee
and The Beloved Disciples for approval in October and then to the
Cathedral finance committee. It will be the responsibility of the
Vice-Chair/Treasurer to track approval of the budget request and
regularly check in with the Cathedral business manager to obtain a
report of account activity. The Vice-Chair/Treasurer will make a
financial statement of fellowship group encumbrances at each steering
committee meeting and conduct any fiduciary responsibilities of The
Beloved Disciples and steering committee as may be deemed appropriate.
3. Secretary—The
Secretary will be responsible for preparing minutes of all meetings,
conducting all committee written correspondence, and distributing all
written materials to the committee. The Secretary will also perform
records management of all documents of the steering committee and The
Beloved Disciples. The Secretary will maintain the official contact
list. The Secretary shall prepare for submission, monthly reports of
fellowship activities to the vestry and an annual report of the
fellowship group accomplishments for the Cathedral annual report.
4.
Program
Chair—The Program Chair shall be responsible, in collaboration with
the steering committee, for developing and coordinating the program
and social events of
the Beloved Disciples
ministry. The Program Chair will maintain and provide as requested,
copies of the Beloved Disciples brochure. The Program Chair will
recruit Beloved Disciples members and coverage of Cathedral Coffee
Hour on the fourth Sunday of the month in February, April, June,
August, October, and December. The Program Chair will maintain the
birthday list of the group members and ensure cards are sent to each
member on their birthdays.
5.
Communications/Public Relations Liaison—The Communications/Public
Relations
Liaison will be responsible for the communication and
dissemination of fellowship and steering committee programs, services
and activities to Cathedral and non-Cathedral entities and
organizations, with the advice of the steering committee. These would
include but are not limited to: The Episcopal Diocese of Maine,
Episcopal congregations in Maine, and LGBT organizations in Maine.
This person will also be responsible for the maintenance of the
fellowship page on the Cathedral website, and will oversee all forms
of media that may be utilized to publicize activities of the
fellowship group or steering committee, as may be deemed appropriate.
All steering
committee members will share in team ministry of the Beloved Disciples
members, with each member having responsibility to provide spiritual
check-in and fellowship to a team of persons from the fellowship
group.
Section Five
Amendments
These by-laws may be
amended by 2/3 affirmative vote of the steering committee and majority
affirmation of The Beloved Disciples.
Section Six
Harmony, Separability
Clauses
The activities of the
steering committee and of The Beloved Disciples will be through prayer
to God and mutual consensus with each other. Activities will comply
will the rules, regulations and laws of the Cathedral Church of St.
Luke, the Episcopal Diocese of the State of Maine, and the Episcopal
Church of the United States, the State of Maine and the United States
of America. If one clause of these by-laws is deemed to be invalid,
the remainder clauses shall not be invalidated or deemed to be null
and void.
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