The Canadian National Council met in Abbotsford, British Columbia, June 5 to 7. Tuesday evening included a Canadian National Office update. David Palmer then gave a Media Team update, and Robert Berendt reported on the work of the Ministerial Services Team.

The Canadian Council heard reports of the spring Holy Day across Canada. Robert Berendt shared his impressions of the May Council of Elders' meeting he attended. There was a short discussion regarding the workload of the committees. David Campbell finished off his three-year term the end of March. He was asked to give some parting comments to the Council. He shared the strategies he used and gave some parting suggestions to help new members. The Council presented him a pen as a token of appreciation for his involvement in the Canadian Council.

Wednesday was a productive day as several policies were adopted. They were policies on miscellaneous expense reimbursement, Festival fund-raising, Festival merchandising and literature sent to former members/associates. Some policies were updated or amended, including handling employee complaints, hiring and firing employees, Feast transfer for salaried employees and vacation time for employees.

The Council also approved forms for use whenever there is an individual attending services who has been accused of or convicted of a sexual abuse offense.

On Thursday the Council conducted the annual review of the director of operations and the Council self-evaluation. Dr. Ian Simons was assigned to the Strategic Planning/Finance Committee.

A procedure for dealing with conflict in the congregations had been assigned to the Ministerial Services Team. After much input, they presented and the Council approved the procedure.

Reader's Digest Ad Planned

Anthony Wasilkoff, director of operations, presented a request to use a portion of a bequest left to the Church for a Reader's Digest ad. The Council approved the request.

"Please remember to ask God's blessing on the Reader's Digest ad that we plan to run this fall, advertising our prophetic booklet on the Middle East," said Chairman Rainer Salomaa. The ad will reach about 1 million subscribers.

The dates of the remaining two meetings for the year were confirmed. Sept. 10 will be a teleconference and Nov. 27-29 will be a meeting at the Canadian National Office.

A great deal of business was accomplished during this meeting and the last item on the agenda, a brainstorming session, was also productive. Items of discussion included: How can we build more enthusiasm in the membership? How can we be more effective? What major trends will affect us? UN