The committee to work out ways and means to help Trish and Chris Morck met on 6 September 2006 at 6:30 for pot-luck supper and discussion at St. James' Church. Attending the meeting were Trish and Chris Morck, Mark Yoder, David Cameron, Michael Young, Yvette Verdieu, Carolann Barrett, Nancy McArdle and John Gay. Not present were Ian Douglas, Ruth Padilla and Jennifer Schley, all with other commitments. John opened the meeting with prayer.

John introduced the occasion, explaining that Chris would be going out as an appointed missionary and Trish (for the time being) as a Volunteer for Mission. She hopes to have appointed status by sometime next year. David explained that they have been approved by the vestry as our missionaries, and that we will have a commissioning service on 24 September, at which time Chris will preach and Trish and Chris will explain their project at a forum after the service. They will then leave the Boston area on 29 September and probably fly to Ecuador on 8 October.

One aspect of their work in their new diocese will be to support the new bishop in his efforts to bring healing and reconciliation to a divided and in many cases embittered group of Anglican church people in Ecuador. This will mean traveling widely in the Diocese, which extends in the Andes and in the Amazon basin, to help people begin to work together. Chris explained that the Diocese has been fractured after the dismissal of the former bishop, a brilliant but manipulative man who misused church funds for his own gain.

Another aspect of their work will be ecumenical in focus, as they work to help foster a closer and stronger relationship with the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI), which is based in Quito. In collaboration with CLAI, they seek to heighten awareness of and foster involvement in indigenous issues within the diocese, and promote relationship with the Ecuadorian Indigenous Council of Churches (FEINE), whose headquarters are also in Quito. They will also help CLAI further its goals of promoting dialogue, interaction, and common vision with groups and churches in North America. They will provide Chris and Trish with housing.

Their funding is partly complete. Chris will get a full stipend from the national church headquarters, and Trish will hopefully next year get at least a half-stipend when she becomes a part-time appointed missionary. In addition they need roughly $1200 per month for living and work-related expenses, and also to pay back Chris' student loans. At present they have commitments to cover 46% of this amount, in addition to a few one-time gifts, and are hoping that the Diocese of Central Ecuador may provide part of the transportation costs so that they can move around the country and the region. Chris explained that one of the reasons why he is well qualified to do this work in Ecuador is because he has completed a very relevant master's degree program at Boston College, which will empower him to be a healing and reconciling presence. This is the reason why he has substantial student loans to pay back, and why he feels justified to include them in his budget.

The group made several suggestions as to ways in which they as a committee could help Trish and Chris find the fullest possible level of support from the St. James congregation, the Deanery, and the Diocese. Some of the suggestions are:

1. Continue support from the Mission Committee. At present the mission committee spends 5.5% of congregational giving on various mission projects, and also keeps aside one eleventh of the mission fund for missionary work by church members. Money from these sources can be made available to the Morcks. $1,500 from the mission committee has already been placed in the Morcks account at 815.

2. Approach various church members on an individual basis to ask for specific support by way of prayer and funding and maintenance of relations between the Morcks and people in the US. In particular encourage these people to attend the forum on 24 September, so that they may be motivated to become partners with Chris and Trish.

3. Support the efforts of the Morcks to gain recognition, and access to distribution of information and funding from the Alewife Deanery and from the Diocese of Massachusetts mission funds, whatever they might consist of.

4. Propose to Tim Lindgren that he add a web page to the church website for the Morcks, so that they can feed it with regular information about their activities, as well as requests for prayers and funds.

5. Help circulate e-mail messages from the Morcks. They will send such messages to their whole mailing list, but they will also welcome the messages being sent to others.

6. Continue in personal contact with the Morcks, of course without expecting them to reply in depth to each individual who writes them.

7. Maintain a regular poster and photo display in the church parish hall.

8. Undertake other tasks as may be necessary and requested by the Morcks.

The committee has agreed jointly and individually to undertake these tasks, with God's help. To that end, Yvette closed the meeting with prayer.


John Gay