We normally post the minutes for our Annual Meeting in the narthex. But this year’s meeting was unusual — it was held on Zoom because we cannot meet together, so attendance was low. Because of that, we decided to let everyone know exactly what happened in the meeting on Sunday via email and this blog.

Here are the minutes:

Lakeside Presbyterian Church
Annual General Meeting – January 31, 2021

Attending:  Approximately 23 members and friends of the Church

Carolyn Hansen opened the meeting in prayer

Nominating Committee Report

Lynn Hanson described the new composition of session (four Ministers of the Word and Sacrament, i.e., Wayne Cook, Guillermo Banuet, Victoria Banuet, and Carolyn Hansen; four Ruling Elders; and one Moderator, if the Senior Pastor so chooses). The current Ruling Elders will continue until the end of their current terms with no new elders selected until the number falls below four.

Carolyn noted that the nominating committee decided not to nominate new deacons until we are able to meet again in our church building, because we don’t know who will continue to attend until then.

Spanish Congregation Report – Guillermo

• Despite the fact that in 2020 we had to suspend activities in the church facilites, the hispanic ministry continued working.
• We continued throughout the year to have a worship, praise and preaching service every Sunday, using the Facebook platform at the beginning, and at the end we added the YouTube platform.

Children and Family Ministries – Victoria

• We continue each week to bring study material to each home of the child Literacy group, so that they can practice what they have learned. In the same way, every week we collect the homework and we see the progress of the children.
• Likewise, we continue to deliver material from Bible Classes to each family who are regular churchgoers on Sundays.
• We have not suspended evangelization.
• In 2020, we did not have the opportunity to work with our Women’s Ministry, only some marriage counseling, which in 2021, we will continue to have through the phone and on some face-to-face occasions.

Outreach Ministry – Martin Thorner

• Our Feeding Ministry grew in 2020. More than 23,520 meals were provided. We have added two new communities that provide breakfast for schoolchildren: La Cima and Ninos de San Antonio.
• We also increased our Despensa Ministry, delivering 1,370 despensas in 2020 – including 454 paid for by the Chapala Sunrise Rotary Club.
• Four disabled people in our area require adult diapers. We delivered 1,620 diapers in 2020.
• We provided temporary housing for a family during the rainy season
• We continued our clothing ministry.

Financial Report – Rick Cartwright

(You may contact Rick Cartwright or Dean Hanson if you would like an electronic version of the full 2021 Budget.)

The 2021 budget was voted on by the congregation and passed unanimously.

Senior Pastor Report

Report on the state of our church in 2020.

This past year has been a very difficult one for all of us. The pandemic has forced us inside our homes for most of the year. This has been a challenge for us as a church and as individuals. 

We also experienced the loss of some lovely and devout members.  We know they are now with the Lord, but this has been a significant blow to us as a church.

Our worship committee became very active as we halted services in our building and began to post them on line. The committee and Laura McGregor, whom the Lord sent us to put together our services, have been amazing.

Our discipleship groups have expanded by making use of Zoom meetings.  We restarted the Bible study in Carolyn’s home. Ernest’s group is still meeting with the members sharing responsibilities. The Institute classes restarted with students finishing the first class. We started the second class on January 18. Other home groups have also continued.

 Nearly all the worship service participants are filming at the church building. Several people have commented that this is an improvement for them.

 Pastor Carolyn is doing great job as Assistant Pastor and she is preforming some of the administrative duties that Ernest previously handled. She is also sharing in the preaching responsibilities.

Several of our Winter brothers and sisters returned to Ajijic this year. Others have decided not to travel with because of the Covid Crisis.

Our congregational care group has been outstanding in keeping in touch with our members. They have been wonderful in contacting people and checking on their health, and spiritual and emotional well-being.

Like most churches we have seen a drop in giving since we stopped meeting in the building. We were doing well until the last few months when giving his dropped. The needs in the community have not declined. In fact, we are helping a lot more people this year because of the loss of jobs and others as a result of the pandemic. We are trusting God to provide the necessary resources to continue our ministries, especially those in the community

Carla is leading a new Zoom prayer meeting for the entire church each Thursday at 1 p.m.

What we plan to do next:

We are hopeful that people will be able to get vaccines soon and that we can return to the fellowship in the church building. Not being able to meet together with God’s people is one of the greatest challenges we’ve faced in the last year.

Wayne Cook closed the Annual General Meeting with prayer.