Alpha - "An in-depth overview of the Christian faith"
MINUTES and ACTIONS ARISING
Attenders:
Eric Angel, Conference Chair Atha Kelly, Prayer Team Head Peg O'Connor, Stewarding Team Head Tony Copple, Networking Committee, and recording secretary (591-3903, tonyc@ncf.ca).Distribution of Minutes: All Ottawa area Alpha leaders, plus:
We will be preparing a "briefing pack" for both honorary chairs. .....................ACTION: Tony Copple
Several people have agreed to become team heads since the last meeting.
The organizing structure is now as follows:
Conference Chair: Eric Angel
Honorary Co-Chairs: Rt. Rev. Peter Coffin
and Rev. Dr. Allen Churchill
Networking Committee Chair: Eric Angel
Ministry Team Leader: Kathleen Greene (intercession during the conference)
Organizing Committee Chair: Nick Lee
Prayer Team Head: Atha Kelly (intercession in progress now)
Administration Team Head: Chris Allen
Registration Team Head: Jenny Moore
Hospitality Team Head: (not yet appointed)
Task Force Team Head: (not yet apointed)
Stewarding Team Head: Peg O'Connor
Sound and Visual Team Head: Eric Angel
Music: Eric Angel
We agreed that it would be helpful if the structure above is shown on the Ottawa Conference web page (see "Registration" below),
since it is important for all volunteers to see how the organizing is shaping up.
Planning meetings are open to all the above and any others invited by them. We apologize that this meeting was not promulgated with sufficient notice and its date had been changed. The dates of future meetings are given below in Section 6.
All team heads need a copy of the Alpha Conference handbooks relevant to your responsibilities. These handbooks lay out the complete organizing details. Do not try and lead a team other than in accordance with the handbook!
The three handbooks are are:
Networking Committee handbook
Organizing Committee handbook
Ministry Team handbook
Tony Copple can e-mail any or all of these to you on request. If you do not have e-mail, please ask your team head. If you are working with anyone without e-mail, please print off a copy of these minutes for them. The minutes are only distributed by e-mail and on the Alpha Ottawa web page.
Stewarding: Peg O'Connor
The Stewarding team has 11 volunteers in place with more to come, including some from Dominion Chalmers:
We will contact Dominion Chalmers Alpha group and put them directly in touch with Peg. .....................ACTION: Tony Copple
Greeters: Alice Berghuis, Corrie Barkley, Arnette Dales Welcome desk: Debbie Pindur, Karen Marshall, Marion Perry, Shirley Smith Ushers: David Sisley, Joan Fleming Virginia Steel, Irene Walker, Prim Paruboczy Susan Lomas, Alice Thompson Security: Jim Wilson Emergency: St John AmbulancePrayer Team: Atha Kelly
Networking: Tony Copple, Committee member
Eric Angel chairs this committee. Our number one priority right now is to select a Council of Reference
of about 20 pastors and ministerial groups spanning all major denominations whose names will be listed on our invitation letter to
hundreds of churches in the region. Eric is working on the letter. This letter will not go to Catholic churches (see below). The following have already said that they would be willing to
be on the Council of Reference:
We are liaising with Alpha Canada Roman Catholic Advisor, Vernon Robertson. The present plan is that an announcement letter would be forwarded to the churches via the archdiocese in May. Vernon will design a package of materials for Catholic churches, which would be distributed via official Catholic channels. He believes that the best time to do this would not be until August. Somewhere in this process the Archdiocese should be given a copy of the script for the proposed "Alpha in a Roman Catholic Context" seminar.
The second activity of the Networking Committee has been to identify potential "Supporting Churches" who are running or have run Alpha. Our current list numbers 44 across 12 denominations. We will shortly be writing to all of them (by e-mail) and inviting them to support the conference by (a) encouraging their members to come (the group rate would apply for five or more); (b) passing the word to up to five churches in their area not yet running Alpha and (c) helping us with conference funding of $100 - $150. This financial support is voluntary and is not therefore a prerequisite to being a supporting church. Supporting churches would be considered to be members of the Networking Committee.
The third activity of the networking committee has been to select a group of "networkers" to carry out networking tasks. Networkers recruited so far include: Bob Horsey, Tony Copple, Dave Atkins (Assistant ARA), Fthr Bob Poole, Chris Slojewski, Rev. Brian Wilkie, Michel Savard (French Alpha).
Registration - Jenny Moore
In a telephoned report Jenny said that we are all set for registrations by phone (613-226-1753), fax (613-591-1509) or e-mail (ottawa2001ON@alphacanada.org). The Conference web page - http://www.ncf.ca/alpha/alphaconf.html - has been up for two months and contains a printable registration form.
To date we have not received many registrations. Although our advertising campaign has not yet started, the conference is being promoted by Alpha Canada, Christian Week and other organizations. However, word of mouth will always be the most
powerful medium and we encourage all readers of these minutes to get the word out, certainly to Alpha people, but more importantly to pastors and laity who are unfamiliar with Alpha. We have plenty of copies of the conference brochure (held by Jenny, Tony Copple and Eric).
Pastor and Lay Leader Alpha Breakfast - later changed to a lunch
This is the kick-off meeting for the Conference. We (later) selected Noon - 1:30 Tuesday May 29 for this event, (booked) at Dominion Chalmers.
If anyone is aware that this date clashes with another major local church event, please contact Tony Copple ASAP.
The letter to all the churches will include an invitation to the Lunch. The attendance would therefore include pastors and laity from supporting churches, as well as from other congregations considering Alpha and/or attending the conference. The breakfast would provide a platform for a selection of experienced Alpha pastors to testify as to Alpha's effectiveness. With God's help this will be the time that many churches will decide to send people to the Conference. Conference chairs, co-chairs and team heads are all asked to come to the breakfast if possible.
We may arrange a separate lunch for Catholics, or may be able to work fast enough to include them for the 29th.
Cut off date for registration: September 26, 2001
It makes sense to have a cut off date to encourage early registration so that we have an idea of numbers.
We would still allow later registration, and even walk-ins on the day, but charge a small premium - probably $10.
Volunteers
We discussed the importance of responding to all sensible offers of help, and allocate work to all volunteers if they are suited to this type of work in the opinion of the organizing chair or a team head. (There is nothing so negative
as being ignored when one offers to help.) The suggestion is that team heads maintain lists of volunteers even in excess of the numbers
they are likely to need, and acknowledge all offers personally. Later on there will be teams needing more help.
We also discussed the conference fee for volunteers, and agreed that it should be the group rate of $75. All volunteers should register their attendance through Jenny (yes, that means you and me!).
The Internet and e-mail are the best way we can keep people fully up to date with events. We suggest that team heads maintain e-mail lists of their volunteers and use e-mail to inform them. Please also provide all volunteers' e-mails to Tony Copple for adding to our master list (used for these minutes). If you are not using e-mail, please make alternative arrangements to stay in touch, preferably by finding someone who is that can provide information to you. (You will only have received this document courtesy of an e-mail recipient!)
Photographer
Tony Copple offered to be the official photographer, using a digital camera that needs no flash and makes no click. This eliminates the
cost of photography. (For examples of his work visit the Glen Cairn United Church web site http://www.ncf.ca/gcuc .)
If there is a semi pro photographer on our distribution list who would offer free services (other than film and processing costs) please contact Tony.
Conference seminars
At 4:00 pm on day 1 the conference offers a range of 1-hour seminars and delegates choose whichever appeals to them.
Appendix C of the Organizing Committee handbook lists some standard seminars available. We have the opportunity to
include seminars of our choice. We discussed the subjects that might be of interest for this seminar and enable us to
add certain themes to the event. The list below which may well change reflects both Alpha Canada recommendations and our current local ideas:
Advertising
We agreed to order 1000 A4 size Alpha Conference posters. Alpha pens
are always a hit. We decided to order a batch. ........ACTION: Eric
Toronto Conference
Tony Copple will be attending the May 1 & 2 Toronto Alpha Conference as a volunteer and to
report back on tips for successful conferences. Toronto will charge $50 since they will give him volunteer jobs. Ottawa Alpha Conference will pick up this charge.
If there are one or two team heads (with accommodation available in Toronto) who would like to attend also in order to report back, please contact him.
Please set your calendars for the next three Ottawa Alpha Conference Planning Meetings:
Speakers for Pastor and Lay Leader breakfast
Bilingual aspects
Parking
Decide venue for the Friday night dinner (Dominion Chalmers could handle only about 300 in two rooms).
Budgeting
Advertising, including possible Ottawa Citizen coverage, and
Promotion, including via local education authorities and universities