A big part of our Mission/Vision Journey has been the Fruitful Congregation Journey process that we began in 2010. In order to clearly show where we are currently, I thought I'd recap the journey so far since it can be a bit confusing.
- Summer 2010: Pastoral & Lay Leadership Development Processes (FCJ Phase I)
- Fall 2012: Church and Community Study with a Consultation Weekend (FCJ Phase II)
- Summer 2013: Implementation of the 5 Prescriptions (FCJ Phase III)
Those prescriptions were:
- Develop a Clear, Shared Mission and Vision
- Address Plateaued Attendance
- Create a clear Discipleship Pathway
- Create a Greater Outward Focus
- Create a Leadership Development Process
Now I will admit that Phase III of FCJ is the most challenging and the longest. It is expected to take between 18 - 36 months to accomplish every task. We just began our 15th month and while we have accomplished a great deal, there are many steps yet to go. So what have we accomplished to date?
We established a clear Mission and Vision:
The NUMC Mission is Growing Passionate Disciples.
It's our take on the United Methodist Mission to
make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
The NUMC Vision is to be a community of faith where Christ is
fully known
wholly loved
genuinely served
(The next NUMC Vision Series #3 will be to explain the Vision more completely and will be a preface to a sermon series I will be preaching beginning on August 17th entitled: Where Christ Is...)
As a part of the first prescription, we performed audits of all our ministries and of our Staff. In this we discovered that we were aligned very well both in our staffing and our ministries with our mission and vision and had very little to adjust. Although there are some minor changes we are making, most of them will not even be noticeable, yet they have the potential to reap great benefits and produce even more disciples for Jesus Christ!
It may sound funny, but we were excited last summer to send a large group of people to worship at other churches, but not permanently! They were our very own "spies" so to speak, to see what was happening at some of the most engaging and successful churches in and around our community. We looked at churches at least our size and bigger as far away as Owensboro, KY. It led us to think about how we worship, the design of our worship space, the practice of our hospitality, and even how our building helps or hinders our ministry. Two dozen people were part of these visits and meetings that led to our present worship schedule (which will be adjusted this fall) and a year long study of our building to discover how we can use it more effectively.
Our Worship Study Team created a Worship Design Team that has been meeting each month to create our worship experiences. It's made up of 12 staff and lay persons representing each worship service. We see the fruit of this effective team each week and it has been a pleasure working with a larger, more creative team.
The Building Study Team wrapped up its study this spring and is working to bring their proposal to the church in the coming months. They have accomplished a great deal of work and they are very excited to unveil their results soon. (I left this a bit vague intentionally to make you think, dream and pray about what God wants from us.)
Pastor Tony has only been with us a year, but has taken on one of the key prescriptions and developed with his team a clear Discipleship Pathway that follows our NUMC Vision: to know Christ, Grow in Christ and Go for Christ! From the Starting Point Class to Journey Groups, (and everything in between) there is a place for everyone at NUMC grow into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
The Stewardship Team began last fall with their Christrong campaign to teach us the spiritual benefits of generosity and they are committed not only to provide an annual campaign, but to engage us throughout the year to teach biblical principles of good stewardship which includes much more than generous giving and includes things like discovering Spiritual Gifts, serving through that giftedness, how to witness effectively, and praying and studying regularly.
Lastly we have identified a long list of young leaders in the church. We were tasked with identifying 12 young leaders to begin nurturing into the leadership of the church, but we discovered several dozens! We are starting out with 30 young potential leaders who have agreed to walk through process to become even better leaders. You have already seen some of these leaders step into key positions in 2014. I'm grateful to say I believe the Church is in great hands as we move forward into the future.
Whew! That's a great deal of work and that's not all, and it's not done! I have left out many meetings, many servants, and many more things waiting in the wings to begin in the next few months. The big question is "why are we working so hard?"
To me the answer is simple,
we want to be the best church we can be, in order to honor Christ in the best way we can and to impact the kingdom in the greatest way possible.
Our stepping back and looking critically at all we do has helped us to develop the plans that will take us forward. So, thank you for your patience with us, and your partnership in this life-transforming mission. You may get tired of hearing me say this, but I'm excited for our future, but I'm equally excited for what happens in the life of the church every day because we are already a healthy, Christ-focused community of faith...
...we are just getting better!
Peace ><>
Pastor Chris
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