Colonial Church Visioning Retreat 2 Kevin Graham Ford 1 Saturday - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Colonial Church Visioning Retreat 2 Kevin Graham Ford

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• Review Previous Work / Finalize Core

Values

• The Four Eras
• Futuring Exercise
• Begin Strategic Focus

Saturday 9-3 and Sunday 1-4

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Aligning to Our True North

Alignment True North Support Structures Internal Culture Public Iden:ty

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The Visioning Process

Core Values Focus Strategic Priori:es

Shared

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SWOT

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• Wealth of resources – building, location talent,

money, staff, human capital, generosity

• History of Innovation / Willingness to innovate
• Congregational theology and polity (Inclusive,

spirit-led and open-minded, diversity of thought)

• Music / Worship
• Humility / Self-examination
• Multigenerational -authenticity that comes with

aging

• Legacy of and passion for social justice
• Easier to pivot when need for change is more

evident / church does best when challenged

Strengths

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• Lack of vision and focus
• Lack of connectedness / Too much head

and too little heart / Spiritual growth

• Communication Ineffective
• Perception of being stuck in the past; fear
• f losing legacy
• Lack of racial / cultural diversity
• Generational diversity reflected in what

worship experience is appreciated

• Building expensive to maintain

Weaknesses

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• Volunteers who are over-burdened

and burned out

• Not effec:ve in making the “ask”
• Lack of projects for volunteers to get

involved with

• Difficult to recruit Deacons
• Empowerment and permission
• Not Christ-centered – WWID?
• Fear of vulnerability

Weaknesses Continued

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• Upper Room collaboration
• Intergenerational and inter-denominational
• - leverage seniors’ depth and authenticity

that comes with age and experience

• To be the Living Room for the community
• Developing an Integrated Marketing and

Communication Strategy (IMCS)

• Connection
• Social justice

Opportunities

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• Being ones who start and launch / incubate

new ministries / sharing resources to support others

• Leverage StrengthsFinder to recruit /

encourage volunteers

• Leverage pastoral staff
• Move past cultural Christianity/

Christendom

• Faith isn’t to be consumed
• Developing shared missional initiatives

Opportunities Continued

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• Declining membership / other churches attracting

young people

• Apathy / Avoid complacency – given our

substantial resources

• Division (in particular over how to use Waters

money)

• Lack of understanding of why people leave
• Church’s name is increasingly a negative
• Fear
• Isolation
• Prevailing Culture

Threats

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• Inclusiveness—may tend to water down our

identity and message

• Poor management of change
• Balance tension of past-present-future
• Too much focus on tactical
• Busy schedules
• Sense of entitlement
• Need to please everyone
• Using old metrics of success – move past

money and attendance to fruitfulness

Threats Continued

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Core Values

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• ACCEPTANCE – Mercy and Grace of

Jesus

• HOLD TENSIONS – Mystery of Christ
• COMMUNITY / HOME – Oneness in

Christ

• INNOVATION / RISK – New Creation

Themes from Retreat One

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• BEING MISSIONAL – A sending church; long-term

presence and commitments / Missions

• DEEPENING RELATIONSHIPS – Through shared

experiences with individuals and families; church feels like “home”

• DEEPENING SPIRITUALITY – Cultivating Mind,

Heart & Soul

• OWNING THE COVENANT – Personal

Commitment as members to parents and kids

• ACCEPTING DIFFERENCES - Denominational

and Theological

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• WELCOME ON YOUR TERMS
• PUTTING PEOPLE IN POSITIONS TO

CONNECT GOD’S WORK

• OWNED CONGREGATION
• CONNECTING NOT ONLY STRENGTHS, WHAT

ENGAGES YOU

• RELATIONSHIP – CREATING SPACE
• CONNECTING PARTICULARITY OF WHO YOU

ARE

• DIVERSITY
• CREATING SPACE TO BE SEEN AND

WELCOMED

Themes from First Retreat

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• RELATIONAL COMMUNITY
• MISSION-ORIENTED
• VOCATION + FAITH

INTERSECTION

• HEALTHY WRESTLING +

INTELLECTUALLY STIMULATING

Themes from Retreat One

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• Where are we on drafting?
• Next steps for final wordsmithing
• How do we use core values?

Finalizing Core Values

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Mission and Strategy

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Mission = purpose + result/benefit + beneficiary. It must be short and concise! It is a tool for leadership, not a motto. It defines what we do. But it also defines what we don’t do.

What is a Mission Statement?

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To fight and win the nation’s wars We help you save money so you can live better To make people happy Nurturing the human spirit, one cup and

• ne neighborhood at a time

To preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in his name without discrimination

Name the Organization

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Strategy is an integrated focusing of resources to fulfill our mission in an ever-changing context. Anyone can operate effectively and still go out of business!

What is Strategy?

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The Four Eras

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Medium -> Value -> Form -> Role

Era: Oral Print Broadcast Digital

Medium: Person Book TV Internet Value: Authority Reason Experience Engagement Form: Courtroom Classroom Concert Café Congregant’ s Role: Gather Discuss Observe Collaborate

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Things that are impacting Colonial

Potential Disruptors

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• Take a look at each of the 6 arrows. What

change drivers do we anticipate coming

• ut of those in years to come? How should

we think about doing ministry differently as a result?

• For the following questions, brainstorm and

then identify one answer for each:

• What do we hope will be most different about

Colonial in 10 years?

• On what list, which we could create, would we

like to be at the top?

• What ministry area or outreach focus might we

consider inves:ng our windfall in?

• What is the biggest gap between our stated

values and our reali:es?

Futuring – 45 Minutes

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It is not a mission statement. In fact, it’s not really a statement. It is a medium-term “charter” which provides focus in light of our mission and vision. What must we bet the farm on for this season in the life of our church? Think of where our (church) greatest passion meets our community’s (local) greatest need. It must be short and concise! 12 words or less. It is a tool for leadership, not a motto. It doesn’t need to be pithy. It could be one or two words. It guides resource deployment for 3-5 years. It should help us say “no” to good opportunities.

What is a Strategic Focus?

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• Relocate!
• Be an incubator for new ministries in our

community.

• Lower the divorce rate in Kankakee County.
• Become the most relevant ministry on the mid-

Peninsula.

• Become a church where kids can’t wait to

bring their parents.

• Mobilize every member for ministry.
• Become the “Third Place” for our community.
• Become a church of small groups.

Examples

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To become the go-to ministry for families in University Place.

Strategic Focus

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Create a community center to meet the emotional, physical, recreational and spiritual needs of people in Pierce County. Demolish the consumer mindset by connecting every person in service together. Make God’s love real to every child in our community. Be known regionally as the church for single- parent families. Engage 20’s and 30’s in a setting where they can meet Jesus through us.

Past Strategic Objectives (5-7 year time frame)

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• Turned the Sunset Christian Preschool into the

largest pre-school in the state of Washington.

• Built the MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) ministry

to serve over 100 women, a majority of which are single parents or unchurched mothers.

• Developed the youth ministry to a substantial size

serving hundreds of students a week.

• Food Bank serves 3000 individual clients a month.
• Launched refugee ministry and established the

UPC safe haven house.

• Initiated 6.2 million dollar Open Doors” capital

campaign and completed phase 1 (of 3).

Key Accomplishments!

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• Over the next 5-7 years, what should our emerging

focus be?

• Draw heavily on the Futuring exercise. Brainstorm all
• ptions. Narrow to the top three and then rank them.

Think in terms of doing things “differently” not “better”.

• Think in terms of our greatest passion meeting the

community’s greatest need.

• Write each as a short statement: verb, target, outcome

(see previous examples).

• Do not try to cover everything. This is not a mission

statement! Don’t wordsmith. You are simply to create a clear overarching medium-term focus for church leadership.

Emerging Focus Exercise