Session Retreat, January 7, 2012
The process began with the presentation of a vision statement that would serve as a basis for this consultation.
VISION STATEMENT
To move forward in obedience to the command of Jesus Christ
“Love the Lord you God, with all your heart.
With all your soul, and with all your mind
and love your neighbour as yourself.”
The core values of such a Vision are worship and service. From this mindset a Mission Statement was presented (An Action Statement):
MISSION STATEMENT
“To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.”
Justice and mercy are relational realities and are expressed in our lives together with our congregation and our neighbours. We considered two reality statements to inform our process.
“To thrive long-term we need to be called into service of a purpose greater than ourselves.”
“Sooner or later a congregation has to organize FOR something.”
In the light of the above we considered 12 Keys to Effective Ministry (See Beginnings). The first six keys are relational keys. Of these, three areas were considered; while not perfect, are growing strengths of the congregation (Inspirational Worship, Leadership team, Decision making).
The other three relational keys are in need of addressing; i.e., Shepherding, Relational groupings, and Specific Missional Objectives).
In order to address these three keys in need of planning I suggest:
Shepherding:
Pastoral ministry – Part-time staff?
Lay team renewal of Stephen Ministry?
Technological linking of Districts.
Relational Grouping:
Begin by listing all present groupings to see what is missing.
Let the whole congregation know what is happening and seek input as to what should be.
Specific Missional Objectives:
Analysis of neighbourhood.
Exploration of partner possibilities.
As a Session the following strengths of the congregation were identified:
We have been humbled.
We have a strong spirit-filled leadership.
We are sensitive to each other’s needs.
We remain a praying congregation.
All of these are centred around describing the congregation as Christ-centred.
We then moved to consider the six Functional Keys to effective ministry. It became evident that all of these keys were in need of addressing at sometime. The more urgent ones were Accessibility, Visibility, Programme/Activities.
We need to move forward by exploring ways we can be more accessible to people:
Simple walk-way from parking lot?
Open meeting so people can see what is involved in study groups ?
To address the need to be visible we need to reach out to neighbours.
Better use of technology?
Join in partnerships with other?
The area of programs and activities can best be addressed by identifying what people want and need. In other words, to scratch where people itch.
The next step is to identify who will move forward in different areas.
