Sept. 24 Planning Meeting Report

On Saturday, Sept. 24, twenty-six of our members gathered to reflect on our mission and identity as a church. The theme for the morning was--who do we understand ourselves to be, whom do we want to serve and reach in our community, and what will be our priorities for the coming year. We were skillfully led in this planning meeting by Jay Krusell, a consultant from the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ.

Jay began by inviting us to list what we perceived to be our strengths as a church. From that list of approximately 20 strengths and characteristics, participants were asked to "vote" for five, which narrowed down the list to six commonly perceived positive attributes that shape our identity. Those six strengths were: 1) our ministry of worship (which includes preaching and music), 2) our outstanding youth programs, 3) our outreach programs (the Children's Center, Community Kitchen, Covenant to Care, etc.), 4) the follow through and commitment of our core membership, 5) the generosity of our members, and 6) the sense of those present that we are a welcoming, tolerant, and friendly church.

Following that exercise Jay asked small groups to reflect on a number of passages from the New Testament that say something about what it means to be a church. From Ephesians we were reminded that we all bring our individual gifts into the body of Christ and that love holds us together. From Romans we heard the word that we are called to be a transforming presence for justice in the world, to be humble, and empathetic, learning to discern God's will through prayer. From the Gospels we are reminded to be a community of hope, and to be "salt" and "light" in the world, realizing that God has promised to provide the resources we need.

We were then asked to compare these two lists--our perceived strengths, and the biblical characteristics--to contrast and reflect on where and how God might be calling us to focus our priorities in the coming year. A common reflection was that we are pretty "comfortable" with the way things are and that, perhaps, God is calling us to be open to more risk, especially as we try to link our actions to what we say the church believes and stands for.

Following these thought provoking exercises Jay shifted gears and helped us to think about how we "market" our church--the work of evangelism, to use a familiar "church" word. Whom do we want to serve, and how would we go about doing that? The remainder of our time together was spent in small groups identifying particular "audiences" we believe we are called to serve, and their needs. Five ministry areas were identified.

1. Ministries with families and children--developing a church environment that is welcoming to parents of 6-12 year olds.
2. Ministries with families of our Children's Center kids.
3. Ministries with families and youth--drawing more young people into our youth programs.
4. Ministry with the Baby Boom Generation as they and their parents age.
5. Ministry with older adults (and empty nesters) who don't feel a sense of connection to their community, but who might welcome our care and hospitality.

The small groups identifying these ministry areas were also asked to begin working on action plans suggesting strategies and tactics for developing those ministries. Those preliminary plans include such things as: church school parent-teacher conferences, church school newsletters, a kid's website, providing morning hospitality for Children's Center families, promoting the use of our church's website for both external and internal communications, publicizing youth activities, a support group for adult children caring for aging parents, and forming an older adults ministry team to welcome new residents in our community.

All in all, the morning was a very stimulating opportunity to gather our spirits and hearts for a new church year, and identify ways to be the church (salt and light) in northeastern Connecticut. The church council will be considering our next steps about these ministry initiatives at their October meeting, but if anyone wants to help with one of the particular focus ministries please let us know.