FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST WISCASSET, MAINE ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2013

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST WISCASSET, MAINE ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2013 JANUARY 2013 DECEMBER 2013

A New Year s Prayer for 2014 God of our yesterdays, our today, and our tomorrows, Thank You for the year behind us. Release us from the anxiety and embarrassment of our past faults and failures. Thank You for another new year and for new chances every day. We leave the past in your hands, and step out into the unknown new year knowing You will go with us. We accept Your gift of a new year and we rejoice in what s ahead. Guide and inspire us to use our time wisely and well in the New Year. -Unknown Author

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST WISCASSET, MAINE ANNUAL MEETING FOR 2013 JANUARY 26, 2014 ANNUAL REPORTS PAGE NO. New Year s Prayer Notice of Annual Meeting 1 Agenda 2 Minister s Report 3, 4 Men s Group 4 Trustees 5 Diaconate 6 Church In Society 7 Christian Education 8 Pastoral Relations 9 Stewardship 10 Ladies Organ Society / Church Belles 11 Ladies Organ Society / Church Belles Treasurer s Report 12 Church World Service 13 Summerfest 2013 14 Nominating List of Officers 15 Church Clerk 16 2013 Operating Budget 17,18 2013 Non-Operating Budget Items 19 Office Administrator 20 By Law Changes 21,22 Draft Annual Budget 2014 Pending Council Approval

NOTICE OF THE ANNUAL MEETING First Congregational Church of Wiscasset Call: In accordance with its bylaws, members of the First Congregational Church, U.C.C. of Wiscasset, Maine are hereby notified that the Annual Meeting of the Church will be held on Sunday, January 26, 2014 following the regular worship service. The agenda will include annual reports of the officers, boards and organizations, adoption of a budget for the year, election of officers, voting on proposed bylaw amendments, and any other business as can be legally brought before this meeting. Reports will be available before the meeting. Members will be asked to consider and vote on several bylaw amendments which have been approved by the Church Council. The amended bylaw changes are available in the church office and are posted near the entrances of the Church. Date: January 5, 2014 Clerk: Sara Ann Howe 1

ANNUAL MEETING AGENDA January 26, 2014 1. Opening Prayer 2. Reading of the Call 3. Presentation / Acceptance of Minutes of the 2013 Annual Meeting 4. Memorials: Arthur G. Hosford, Jr., Charles Howe, Walter Sherman, William Addison, Phyllis Hart, Marguerite Fairfield 5. Reports: Church Committees and Treasurer 6. Report of the Nominating Committee 7. Election of Officers for 2014 and Commissioning 8. Presentation of the Proposed 2014 Budget 9. Report of the Minister 10. Old Business 11. New Business, Proposed Changes in the By-laws 12. Adjournment 2

MINISTER S Annual Report 2013 As I look back at 2013, I would say that it has been the most eventful year of my ministry here. We have had times worthy of great celebration, and times that have challenged us as a congregation. Finally, this year we completed our capital campaign. There still is some money to come in, but we have paid off our loan to ourselves and just about paid back the money we borrowed from our endowment. This is worth celebrating! This fall, we embarked on a new ministry we called "Shine forth". Special services were planned, complete with finger lights, to keep the theme in front of us. In addition to our annual mission Sunday, we invited the garden club to worship with us in November and then recognized our longer standing members in a special service before Thanksgiving. We combined the latter service with our annual pledge appeal, and at this writing, it looks as if we will surpass our goal for 2014. Again, this gave us reason for more celebration! Other events that were high notes in 2014 would be the passing of our "Open and Affirming" statement at our annual meeting. It was the culmination of a two year study, and at times the process was difficult, but in the end many have spoken about how proud they are to be part of church that took this on. On the heels of this effort we have tried in 2014 to make ourselves more visible in the Wiscasset community. We have established a communications committee, reworked our website, and created a Facebook page. It is our hope to continue with our "Shine Forth Ministry" and find more ways to be present in our community. One ministry of which we are now a part is the back pack program at our local schools. A successful recipe auction helped us make a significant contribution to this town wide effort. In the midst of our celebrations in 2013, as I said at the outset, we have had challenges to face. With our good friend and choir director, Arthur Hosford, passing away in April, we struggled with church wide grief. The choir was terrific as they held together and presented us with inspirational music every week, but this was a difficult time for our church. Also, this year we lost some key members while a few other families relocated. I won't use this space to mention everyone, but certainly the passing of Walter Sherman and Charlie Howe left us with saddened hearts. They have been such pillars to this church community for so many years. When I look back and review some of the articles I have written for the chimes this year, I notice that I used the word transition many times. Certainly this year has brought many changes. We are delighted to have found Leela Koilpillai to join us as our new organist and choir director. Leela brings a wealth of experience to our church, and her positive spirit has helped us all move into this new chapter of our music ministry. We are excited also that she will be working with our children as our former children's choir director, Cheryl Dilts, has taken on another position in 3

Waldoboro. The other significant transition that occurred this year was the hiring of Sandra Golonka as our new Sunday School Coordinator. Sandra brings much expertise working with children to our Sunday School, and we are all looking forward to working with her in 2014. It is always dangerous to name people for recognition because invariably people are left out when this is done. But I would like to draw attention to a few members of our church family as I move toward the end of my report. I want to thank Anne Harris and Peter Varns for the time and effort they put in as we created a new church director this fall. It was a huge undertaking and I know we are all grateful for their tireless work. Also, I want to thank Becky Lenz and Tammy Doughty for keeping our church school up and running in a creative way while we were without a church School coordinator. We all owe them a mountain of gratitude. Finally I want to mention Beth Whitney and Beth Maxwell who took on leadership roles when our choir was without a choir director and organist. To those of us sitting in the pews on Sunday, it seemed like we had a seamless transition in our music ministry, but the truth is that much time and effort was put forth behind the scenes. Finally, and last but certainly not least, I want to thank Pam. I try to do this every year to remind us all of the incredible amount of work she does for this church. I like to refer to Pam as "My boss" because at times she organizes and positively critiques much of the work I do as your minister. She truly makes my ministry easier as I minister to all of you. As I ended my report a year ago, I said let us go into 2013 full of hope and joy. That would be my sentiment again this year as we move into 2014. Won't it be exciting to see the ways that God guides as a congregation for another year. Faithfully yours, John MEN S GROUP Annual Report 2013 The men's group continued to meet throughout 2013. They met three times last winter and two times this fall. There were no spring meetings in that John was on sabbatical. Programs in 2013 included a trip down the Maine Coast via video, a workday in Richmond at the habitat site, revisiting John's trip to the islands in 2002, a picnic at the Bigley's clubhouse, and a journey with Paul Dodson along the coast of Cornwall and through the canal of dumidi in southern France. The men's group still meets over lunch but often the day has to be arranged to meet the schedule of a presenter. All men of our church are encouraged to join the group, and we hope to see more of our members in 2014 at our programs. 4

TRUSTEES Annual Report 2013 For the Trustees, this year was considerably less eventful than the previous two capital campaign years. We continued to make progress on the upgrading and maintaining of our facility. Significant completed projects include: Insulation in the sanctuary that has saved over $3000.00 in fuel expenses: we thank Steve Hatt for heading up that project. A new speaker in the choir loft: the choir has heard that John s sermons are so good they would like to actually hear them! Significant trimming of the trees on Town Common. Our newly painted church with a new steeple is now much more visible to the community Planting of the rose garden on the sides of the new front steps. Most importantly, the Trustees remain optimistic about the continued financial health of the church. Annually, we struggle to meet our revenue goals and continue to make withdrawals from our endowment to balance the budget. That being said, we finally had a good year with our investment returns. As of this writing, our professionally managed account at TD Wealth has had an annual return of over 16%. After withdrawals, our endowment has increased by over $60,000. For 2014 we are continuing to make some smaller repairs to our facility. We are actively looking into a replacement for the kitchen sanitizer and the possibility of producing even greater energy efficiency by insulating the basement. Respectfully submitted by the Trustees: Dewey Harris, Emily Adler, Steve Hatt, Steve Whitfield, Caroline Harris, Beth Maxwell (Treasurer) 5

DIACONATE Annual Report 2013 The Diaconate is responsible for the worship services of the church and the spiritual life of the congregation. The diaconate team prepares and serves communion the first Sunday of every month. We ensure that ushers and flower donations are assigned for each Sunday. We also participate in coffee hour hosting twice during the year and decorate the church for all church occasions such as Advent and Easter. The organist is supervised by the Diaconate and provides a Music Director s report at each meeting. The team evaluates the Music Director s performance annually. The Diaconate as well as the whole congregation was saddened by the sudden passing of Arthur Hosford, our beloved Music Director and Organist. The Choir under his direction greatly contributed to our church s musical life throughout his time with us. The Diaconate was able to contact numerous organists or pianists to fill in until we were able to hire Leela Koilpillai. Leela has been with us since the beginning of October. She brings a wealth of experience as choral director and demonstrates tremendous enthusiasm for her work. We were fortunate to have Rev. Jack Steeves with us during John s sabbatical. He provided us with solid leadership and excellent sermons during John s absence. As always Rev. Potter provided us with meaningful and memorable sermons. We are truly blessed to have him as our Pastor and our friend. I have enjoyed serving and Chairman of the Diaconate this year and I wish to thank all the members of the Diaconate team for their support and hard work. Respectfully Submitted, Brad Adler, Chair of Diaconate 6

CHURCH IN SOCIETY Annual Report 2013 According to the Bylaws of our church The Church in Society Committee shall be responsible for bringing before the congregation issues of peace, justice and other social concerns in the community and the world. It will be the church s contact with CIS organizations of the wider church. In 2013, CIS members provided our Congregation two opportunities, May and October, to participate in The Bread for the World Offering of Letters. Bread s Mission in 2013 was A Place at the Table. It urged our congressional leaders to ensure a place at the table for all people by providing adequate funding for programs that address hunger and help lift people out of poverty. CIS sponsored a showing of the movie A Place at the Table in September for our community. This documentary emphasized the hunger, stress and complications in the lives of Americans for whom putting food on the table is a daily struggle. A free-will offering was taken for The Wiscasset Food for Scholars Program. Church in Society members also continued to provide Mission Moments for our church s Neighbors in Need and One Great Hour of Sharing Campaigns. Respectfully submitted, Kimberly Hatt 7

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION Annual Report 2013 It has been a busy and eventful year for the Christian Education committee and the Sunday School in particular. After the resignation in January of the Sunday School director, Marilee Harris, Tammy Doughty agreed to fill in this position until a new director could be hired. After attempts to hire a new director were unsuccessful, the decision was made to wait to hire and a new director in May or June. Tammy agreed to remain in that position until that time. Finding a new director proved to be a bit of a challenge and it wasn t until October that we finally hired a new director, Sandra Golonka. Sandra comes to us with a wealth of experience working with Sunday Schools and we feel very privileged to have her as our director. We deeply appreciate Tammy keeping the Sunday School running smoothly during this period. Our annual Vacation Bible School was not held this year. A number of factors contributed to this decision. With a full time director in place and different circumstances, we are in hopes that this will happen this summer. In September, Cheryl Dilts accepted an organist position with another church so had to resign as our Children s Choir Director. Fortunately this position proved to be easier to fill. The church had just hired a new organist, Leela Koilpillai who agreed to take on this position as part of her duties. The Sunday School continued to celebrate several traditional events. In February, we tried something new when we made and sold Italian sandwiches for Super Bowl Sunday. $50 was denoted to the church. On Palm Sunday we held our annual breakfast and collected money for the Backpack Project. Easter Sunday found the children looking for Easter eggs. On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, our annual Thankful Luncheon was held. $301 was donated to St Philips for the food pantry. A snow storm and an ice storm wrecked havoc with our Christmas Pageant. It was finally held on January 5. It has been a year of much change for the Sunday School. Along with our personnel changes, we also lost several of our Sunday School families. But through all of this, we have maintained existing programs and done them very successfully. I owe a debt of gratitude to my committee for their willingness to pitch in wherever necessary to help and especially to Tammy for all she has done. We look forward to 2014 confident that with all of all us working together, the Sunday School will continue to be a vibrant part of the church and that it might attract new families which will enable us to grow. Respectfully submitted, Becky Lenz 8

PASTORAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE Annual Report 2013 The Pastoral Relations Committee met at quarterly intervals this past year. During that time, we came together to discuss any questions or concerns that our pastor or church members may have brought to our attention. All in all, our committee was pleased to see a harmonious relationship between the congregants and minister. During this past the summer, Rev. Potter took leave for a three month sabbatical. This proved to be a reflective time for both he and the congregation. We were fortunate to have the Rev. Jack Steeves assume the leadership duties during this period. Our committee agreed that in Rev. Potter s absence, the life of the church progressed very well. This past fall, our committee conducted the annual minister s evaluation as sanctioned by our Church Council. Eight church committee groups were visited and offered the evaluation process. Those groups were as follows, Diaconate, Church World Service, Organ Society/Church Belles, Trustees, Stewardship, Nominating, Christian Education and Church in Society. We are pleased to report from the feedback given that Rev. Potter is very much appreciated in the work of our church and continues to be held in high regard for his expertise in handling church related matters and his ability to bring a positive outlook to potential areas of concern. Some of the goals which Rev. Potter has proposed in the coming year are the Shine Forth initiative which is a way everyone can bring more exposure to who we are as a church family in the Wiscasset Community. Rev. Potter also has recently organized a publicity and events committee to further our church s presence in the wider area. These ideas and goals will only help our church maintain a healthy membership base in the years to come. Respectfully submitted, Peter Varns, Chairman, Sandi Ballard, Bob Bickford, Greg Shaw, Ted Tracey 9

STEWARDSHIP COMMITTEE Annual Report 2013 The Stewardship Committee met just a few times this year. Challenges for our church continue. This past year through death and people relocating we lost some significant members and families of our church. However, the Capital Campaign ended so we hoped that members would be able to now see their way clear to increase their pledges. The Stewardship Committee decided a low-keyed appeal to the membership for the annual pledge would be best. A brief letter including a Step-Up chart was sent to each member. This year there was a special program named Shine Forth that was designed to generate new energy and hopefully bring new people into our midst. Pledge Sunday became Shine Forth Sunday, emphasizing increased energy, commitment and financial support for our church. By the time of this report 66 pledges had been received for a total of $111,940. The new budget for 2014 is basically flat-funded. There are a number of pledges that have not been received and we are hoping that these will be received soon and we will be able to make our budget projections. Respectfully Submitted, Stewardship Committee: Doc Schilke, Chair Zoë Bigley Dorothy Brown Paul Dodson 10

ORGAN SOCIETY / CHURCH BELLES Annual Report 2013 Our numbers are growing again with a dozen or more women meeting Wednesdays to knit, sew, and create items including purple newborn hats for area hospitals, afghans for Tedford shelter, and knit and craft items for our own sale tables. Sales at Summerfest, Christmas time, and wreath and cookie sales have contributed to meeting our annual pledge again this year. We work hard to earn our pledge which we donate to the Church. The Belles have had an active program schedule beginning with making soap with Amanda Nolan of Long Winter Farm. The Belles have enjoyed food this year with Peter Varns cooking demonstration, Julie Bellefleur s gluten-free session, and dinner out at the Wiscasset Community Center. We have gone on a tour of Marianmade Lavender Farm on the former Sherman property, and a virtual tour of John s sailing trip. The Organ Society continues to send cards and notes wishing members of the congregation a speedy recovery, congratulations or condolences; thank you Emily Alder for your continued effort. If you know of someone who could use a message, please contact the church office. All women of the church are considered members of the Organ Society and Church Belles and are welcome to participate in any of the activities. The Organ Society meets weekly, on Wednesday morning, from Labor Day to Memorial Day. Our aim is to provide social fellowship and educational programs to the women of the church. An invitation is extended to anyone to come by and enjoy the companionship and coffee, and perhaps teach you to knit. Respectfully submitted, Martha Speed 11

ORGAN SOCIETY/CHURCH BELLES Treasurer s Annual Report 2013 Savings Bank of Maine Checking Account Total Carried Forward $1,616.53 Receipts 3,447.33 $5,063.86 Disbursements $2,948.79 Balance $2,115.07 Investments Savings Bank of Maine Larabee Fund Certificate of Deposit $2,539.53 (Unusable Principal) Total $2,539.53 Bath Savings Institution Varney Fund Certificate of Deposit $3,529.50 Savings Account 79.46 Total $3,608.96 Total Assets $8,263.56 12

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE Annual Report2013 Church World Service, our church s mission committee, has had another busy year. Our church, represented by the CWS committee, is part of Wiscasset s Feed Our Scholars backpack committee. Our committee pledged $1000.00 to FOS and paid the first $500.00 in September. We were part of the community Spaghetti Supper held at St. Philip s in April; we contributed to two bake sales for FOS; and in November, we held a Recipe Auction Pot Luck Supper and, with the wonderful help of Margot Stiassni-Sieracki, a Silent Auction raising nearly $1100.00. CWS continues to administer our church s support of our Navajo child, Alexander, sending his $28.00 monthly support, as well as birthday and Christmas gifts and money for school and summer clothes. Alexander turned 13 years old on May 7 th. CWS always appreciates donations from the congregation for Alexander s support. The congregation again strongly supported the annual CWS Kit Program in the spring compiling 2 emergency clean-up buckets, 9 school kits, 9 hygiene kits, and 6 baby care kits. CWS donated $100.00 to the town of Wiscasset to provide 4 Thanksgiving dinners. CWS again coordinated the Lincoln County Holiday Wishes Program for our church fulfilling 78 wishes for local children for Christmas. Other donations: 18 lap robes to Spectrum Generations 8 pairs of glasses to the Lions Club CWS is very grateful to the Summerfest committee for their donation and support of CWS; our work would not be possible without the support of Summerfest and it is deeply appreciated. CWS greatly appreciates all the support of the congregation throughout the year. We have such a caring congregation that responds so quickly whenever asked. Thank you all so much. Respectfully Submitted, C.W.S. Committee 13

SUMMERFEST 2013 Annual Report Summerfest 2013, our church s annual all church fair, was held Saturday, July 27 th on the Town Common. This was the 30 th annual fair; a wonderful event in the life of the church when the congregation works together to support local outreach organizations. This year for the first time all the set up for Summerfest was done early on Saturday morning instead of the day before. With the help of a great Roustabout group, the trustees from Two Bridges, and everyone pulling together, the set up was smooth and successful and will probably continue to be done on Saturday mornings. We held Mission Sunday on October 27 th and presented donations totaling $6300.00 to 21 local outreach organizations. Thank you all so much for giving your time and talents working to support local organizations that help others in so many ways. Respectfully Submitted, Nancy Roby 14.

2014 SLATE OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES CHURCH OFFICERS Anne Harris, President 2015 Bud Lewis, Vice President 2015 Beth Maxwell, Treasurer 2015 Sally Howe, Clerk 2015 Margot Stiassni-Sieracki, Secretary 2015 TRUSTEES Beth Maxwell, Treasurer 2015 Emily Adler 2015 Phil Withee 2015 Dewey Harris 2015 Steve Whitfield 2016 Caroline Harris 2016 John Crispin 2017 DIACONATE Brad Adler 2015 Sally Jacobs 2015 Carl Miller 2015 Dan Bigley 2016 Karen Smallman 2016 Debbi Miller 2016 Ellie Tracy 2017 David Lenz 2017 Linda Winterberg 2017 CHURCH IN SOCIETY Fred Pease 2015 Ginny Withee 2015 Liz Dodson 2016 Sue Lewis 2016 Susan Ratigan 2017 Stacey Vannah 2017 Tom Beane 2017 STEWARDSHIP Paul Dodson 2015 Dorothy Brown 2015 George Roth 2016 Carol Donnell 2017 Gail Burke 2017 Respectfully submitted, Nominating Committee Gail Burke, Shirley Roth, Joan Shea, Jan Whitfield, Ginny Withee (Nominations are in Italics) PASTORAL RELATIONS Bob Bickford 2015 Peter Varns 2015 Ted Tracy 2016 Greg Shaw 2016 Linda Wood 2017 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

Sarah Joyce 2015 Marita Fairfield 2015 Tammy Doughty 2016 Don Doughty 2016 Becky Lenz 2016 Julie Bellefleur 2017 Holly Nelson 2017 CHURCH WORLD SERVICE Ruth Applin 2015 Ginny Withee 2015 Janet Hatch 2016 Ruth Kierstead 2016 Audrey Robertson 2017 Nancy Roby 2017 Kim Hatt 2017 NOMINATING Shirley Roth 2015 Joan Shea 2015 Jan Whitfield 2016 Gail Burke 2016 Margot Stiassni-Sieracki 2017 SUMMERFEST CHAIR Nancy Roby 2015 DELEGATES Kim and Steve Hatt 2015 ORGAN SOCIETY Martha Speed 2015 Zoë Bigley 2015

CHURCH CLERK Annual Report 2013 New Members Paula Billings Chuck Billings Deaths Arthur G. Hosford, Jr. April 18, 2013 Charles P. Howe June 13, 2013 Walter Sherman July 17, 2013 William Addison September 25, 2013 Phyllis Hart October 7, 2013 Marguerite Fairfield November 8, 2013 Baptisms Ashley Rose Brown Philip Julian Brown As of December 31, 2013 there is a total of 169 members on the church membership roll. There are 135 active members and 34 inactive members. Respectfully submitted, Sara Ann Howe, Church Clerk 16

(Operating budget) 3 pages

OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR Annual Report 2013 Is it really possible that another year has past us by? As always, my first order of business is to thank the committee and group chairs for submitting their Annual Reports to me in a timely manner. It certainly makes my job easier.thanks! Each year I like to remember those who have left us in the past year as they have all touched my heart in some way. What can one say about Arthur Hosford that hasn t been said already except that he and I sure did have a few good laughs over his typos or mine? He was an extremely talented man and a joy to work with. Once in awhile I see an old email he sent to me and I pause to remember his sense of humor. He is greatly missed. Charlie Howe, dear sweet Charlie, he visited me often in the office, just to stop by and say hello or to find out what was going on at the church or on Westport Island. He had a very dry sense of humor and sometimes I wasn t sure if it was humor or fact. I worked closely with Charlie when he was building maintenance guy. He was always Johnny on the spot when there was a need, a very devoted man to his church. I miss his smirk. Walter Sherman was a gentleman. We talked often on the phone when I needed some historical church information; he was the guy with the history in his head after being a member of this church for 60 years. Walter was a prolific card sender and often he would call to get an address. He was a kind man whose years in this church will not be forgotten. Although I met Bill Addison only once; I found him to be a nice man with a little sparkle in his eyes. I had known Phyllis Hart well over the years. What stands out about Phyllis is that there wasn t a hair out of place on that woman. Whenever she went out she was all put together in such a beautiful way. I had the opportunity to speak with her just days before her death and she was as sharp as a tack. She laughed about her upcoming birthday and said that she lost a lot in her mobility but she sure didn t lose her memory and I can vouch for that. She had a beautiful smile and a very kind soul, she will be missed. I never met Marguerite Fairfield but I certainly knew her name. I knew two of her children but I didn t realize that I knew several more until after her passing. It seems like every one of us is connected in some way and we all have a story. I just wish I could know everyone s story. Our losses have been great this year but we always seem to come through the loss and continue on with our mission. I am continuously grateful to work with John and this year I had the added pleasure of working with Jack Steeves when John was on sabbatical for four months. Although both men have different approaches to their work, their goal was the same, to make this the best church ever. I look forward to working with John in our eleventh year together. I would like to give Beth Maxwell a shout out and thank her for her service to the church as treasurer. Not an easy job, but I appreciate her enthusiasm. Mary McKinney puts a great deal of effort into making this church look good and I really appreciate it. I am wishing only the best for Mary and her family this year. Steve Hatt, our maintenance guy, is always ready and able to help me out when there is a problem in or outside of the church. No heat, frozen doors, unshoveled walkways, broken windows, bulbs out or just to stop by and say, Hello, what s up? This church should be very grateful for Steve s versatility and knowledge with all the workings of this church building. He has been marvelous and very accommodating. There are no words for the ten years of service that Barbara Sullivan and Ken as well, have given to this church as my office volunteers. Faithfully they are here every Thursday to help with the bulletin and to do what is asked of them. They do the little things that go unnoticed. When you get a chance thank Barbara and Ken for their devoted care to this church, they certainly deserve it. Thanks, Barbara and Ken! This will be my sixteenth year of employment with this church. And what a sixteen years it has been. I have enjoyed almost every day that I have worked for you. I want to thank you all for your continued support in my job and in my personal life. It s been a trying year for me personally but as I have said before, this is all part of life. I m sure there will be challenging days as well as good days ahead and I am looking forward to what ever comes. With Love, Pam

Proposed Changes to the Bylaws of the First Congregational Church of Wiscasset United Church of Christ Wiscasset, Maine Note: Bold face print and underlining indicate the revised version. ARTICLE VII, section 2. Standing committees: Diaconate: 4. The Diaconate shall consist of nine covenant members. Members of the Diaconate shall serve a term of three years and may not serve two terms consecutively. 4. The Diaconate shall consist of no more than nine covenant members. Members of the Diaconate shall serve a term of three years and may not serve two terms consecutively. C. Christian Education: 3. The Christian Education Committee shall consist of seven members. Members of the Christian Education shall serve a term of three years and may serve more than one consecutive term. 3. The Christian Education Committee shall consist of no more than seven members. Members of the Christian Education Committee shall serve a term of three years and may serve more than one consecutive term. D. Church World Service: 2. The Church World Service Committee shall consist of seven members. Members of Church World Service shall serve a term of three years and may serve more than one consecutive term. 2. The Church World Service Committee shall consist of no more than seven members. Members of the Church World Service Committee shall serve a term of three years and may Serve more than one consecutive term. E. Pastoral Relations: 3. The Pastoral Relations Committee shall consist of five covenant members. Members of the Pastoral Relations Committee shall serve a term of three years and may not serve two terms consecutively. 3. The Pastoral Relations Committee shall consist of no more than five covenant members. Members of the Pastoral Relations Committee shall serve a term of three years and may not serve two terms consecutively. 21

F. Nominating Committee: 4. The Nominating Committee shall consist of five covenant members. Members of the Nominating Committee shall serve a term of three years and may not serve two terms consecutively. 4. The Nominating Committee shall consist of no more than five covenant members. Members of the Nominating Committee shall serve a term of three years and may not serve two terms consecutively. G. Stewardship Committee: 2. The Stewardship Committee shall consist of five covenant members. Members of the Stewardship Committee shall serve a term of three years and may serve more than one consecutive term. 2. The Stewardship Committee shall consist of no more than five covenant members. Members of the Stewardship Committee shall serve a term of three years and may serve more than one consecutive term. H. Church in Society Committee: The Church in Society Committee shall consist of seven members. Members of the Church in Society Committee shall serve a term of three years and may serve more than one consecutive term. 2. The Church in Society Committee shall consist of no more than seven members. Members of the Church in Society Committee shall serve a term of three years and may serve more than one consecutive term. ARTICLE VIII: DELEGATES Delegates to the Lincoln Association and to the Maine Conference of the UCC shall be covenant members and shall be elected in accordance with the rules of the Association and Conference. Delegates shall serve a term of one year and may serve more than one consecutive term. Delegates to the Midcoast Association and to the Maine conference of the UCC shall be covenant members and shall be elected in accordance with the rules of the Association and Conference. Delegates shall serve a term of one year and may serve more than one consecutive term. 22

Draft Annual Budget 2014