Newsletter - First Presbyterian Church

Steve's Scratchings

I want to begin by thanking all who have participated in the consultation process, and particularly those who have read Jeff Patton’s report (or one of the summaries) and have responded orally, verbally, or through continued prayer. This is a collaborative process, in which dialogue and discussion are always welcome. It is a spiritual process, in which prayer is essential.

A note on the process: On Sunday, June 6, we distributed a two-page brief outline of the recommended action items in Jeff Patton’s report, along with a response form. In the June 6 meeting after the 10:00 worship service, we received verbal comments, which were recorded and transcribed. We asked for written or e-mail comments to be turned in by Tuesday, June 8. Between the meeting, e-mails, and written responses, we received feedback from a total of 44 members. On Wednesday, June 9, a task force (Steve Eldridge, Mindy Suhr, Terry Wood, Starr Robinson, and I) reviewed the comments and categorized them as best we could. We grouped the responses into four positions on the overall question as to whether we should move in the direction Jeff Patton recommends: Yes, Mixed (some positive and some negative), No, and Unclear (we couldn’t determine where the person stood on this overall question).
The results were as follows:

	Yes	Mixed	No	Unclear	Total
Responses	24	8	3	9	44
% of Total	54	19	7	20	100
% of Clear Responses	68	23	9		100

Based on the feedback given, the task force has made a few revisions in the summary recommendations given in this newsletter (denoted by the italic type). Here are a few comments on some of the issues raised in the verbal and written feedback:

Sunday morning contemporary worship in the sanctuary: The idea of using the sanctuary was by far the most frequent objection. It has become a moot point, because The Bridge Planning Team has decided that it cannot do the type of contemporary/alternative service we need in the sanctuary. The Bridge Planning Team is planning to have the Sunday morning contemporary/ alternative service downstairs in the fellowship hall if we can dedicate that room to this purpose, secure it (adding doors where necessary), adequately heat and cool it, and make additional technical and decorating improvements to the room. Because the equipment would be set up, the room would be available for church use, but not for use by outside groups. Because of this, no change was made to the summary recommendations.

Presbyterian Polity: Several people asked if Jeff’s suggestions for organizational change (streamlining our organization into permission-giving ministry teams) might contravene Presbyterian polity. In fact, there are creative ways to accommodate most such changes within Presbyterian polity, and some Presbyterian churches (e.g. Zionsville) offer models of this. Note the revised language.

Ignoring the needs of current members: Several comments expressed concern that in focusing on people outside our church we might ignore the spiritual needs of current members. Quite the opposite is intended. By expanding and strengthening our small group ministry and helping everyone discover and use his or her spiritual gifts, we will increase opportunities for members’ spiritual growth. Furthermore, we want to encourage members to find new ministries to share Christ’s love with one another. However, members will be encouraged and challenged to grow, give, and serve in new ways to help us reach the unchurched. Note the revised language.

What about the existing ministries that work well? Jeff’s report was very affirming about a number of areas of our church, including our music program (and Celia in particular), our building’s location, beauty, and grounds, our children’s ministry (Workshop Rotation, Nursery, Sonshine Kids), our staff and its working relations, our congregational fellowship, etc. As usually happens with consultants, his report didn’t dwell on our strengths, but he urges us to capitalize on them and build from them.

Can we actually do this? A few comments wondered if we have the willpower, leadership, and dedication to pull this off. Will people actually come through in the long haul? Will enough people step up in their willingness to give, to serve, to try new things, to pray? Or, because we are staying in the building and keeping the existing services, will people simply assume nothing is changing? Only time will tell. But I have faith in God and faith in you, the members and friends of this church. With God’s help and your dedication, we can become a thriving, healthy, mission-driven, Christ-centered congregation, transforming lives and our community.

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Newcomer Ministry Team

Jesus came to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10) and has called us as his church to “make disciples of all people” (Matthew 28:19) and to become “fishers of men and women” (Matthew 4:19) We can do this by intentionally reaching out to new people, making them feel welcome, and involving them in the life of our church.

The Outreach Commission needs your help!
We need volunteers to be:

Pew Captains
Parking Lot Greeters
Door Greeters
Phone Callers
Welcome Center Hosts
and Note Writers

We want our congregation (YOU) to become part of this great mission. The Outreach Commission will be in the Gathering Place after both services on Sunday, June 20, as well as The Bridge on Sunday afternoon. Please sign up to help! Job descriptions will be provided as well as training where necessary. Choose the task that best fits your talents. This is not as easy task, but one that requires constant work and commitment. Be part of this great mission!

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Revised Recommendations for the Consultant

(Note: See Steve’s Scratchings for notes about these recommendations)

Basic Decisions:

Focus: We need our primary focus to be sharing the love of God in Christ with those outside our church, while helping those inside to experience God’s love and grow in faith and discipleship.

Jesus Christ: We need to focus on our experience and understanding of Jesus Christ: What about our experience with Christ can’t the community around us live without?

Change: The culture and community are rapidly and constantly changing. Fewer and fewer people know Christ’s love or are involved in a church. The society is becoming increasingly digital and post-modern; Elkhart is becoming increasingly urban and multi-cultural. We must be willing to understand these changes and adapt our methods accordingly.

Large/Small: We need to think and act like a large church (both/and, win/win), rather than like a small church (either/or, win/lose).

Staff/Members: The role of our staff needs to be training, coaching, and mentoring members on how to minister to the world, rather than ministering to, and doing ministry on behalf of, members. Staff works to build people, not programs.

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Values, Beliefs, Mission, Vision:

We need to:

clarify our understanding of our church’s mission and our vision for its future.
revisit our core values and bedrock beliefs in light of our mission.
“embed” our mission, vision, values, and beliefs in our church’s life, so that they set boundaries and encourage new ministries.
streamline our organizational structure to become more “permission-giving,” within the boundaries of our mission, vision, values, and beliefs.
be willing to end any activities and programs that don’t further the church’s mission.

Basic Processes of Thriving Churches:

Inviting—reaching out the pre-Christian people around you,
Growing—Inspiring people to become active disciples--taking believers and equipping them to make disciples.
Sending—[passing the faith to the next generation] deploying equipped disciples back into the world to reach out to pre-Christian people with the good news of God’s love.

Inviting People: If we are to successfully invite unchurched people, including our neighbors, to experience God’s love in Christ through our church, we need to:

understand our neighbors (demographic reports and a neighborhood survey),
have directional signs around town,
improve our building’s signage, both outdoor and indoor,
improve our “welcoming climate” for visitors,
start a Sunday morning contemporary worship service in the time between the two existingservices (which should be kept in their present format),
provide more parking spaces (necessary if we start a third Sunday morning service and grow),
increase the space between pews in the sanctuary,
improve our “first-touch” ministries (greeting, welcoming, etc.), involving many more people in these ministries,
improve our visitor follow-up, and
start new outreach-oriented ministries, meant to impact the spiritual lives of unchurched people and provide entry-points into the church.
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Growing People (Mobilization/Discipling):

By August 1, initiate a Connecting Ministry Team(to design and implement ways to determine people’s gifts and passions and connect them with both appropriate ministries and smallgroups). Find a gifted person to head this.
During August, evaluate how we are orienting new people.
Appoint a Task Force (or Ministry Team) by September to look into how we are growing thebe lievers God has sent and will send us.
Beginning in September, concentrate on significantly expanding the scope and number of our small groups.
By November, launch a comprehensive “Discovery” process or seminar, designed to help people discover their giftedness and the passions God has placed on their hearts for ministry,
By the end of November recruit and train two or three “coaches” or “ministry mentors” who will be ready to help link the people coming out of the Discovery process to a place to serve.
Stewardship: Move away from “fund-raising” and toward seeing stewardship as a spiritual discipline, part of discipleship. Encourage people to tithe, or at least to give on a percentage basis, increasing that percentage “until God stops blessing you.”
Move toward being a “high-commitment” church, which asks for excellence and commitment in all areas of church life.

Sending People: If we keep our focus on reaching people outside the church with Christ’s love, discovering people’s gifts and passions, growing people in faith and discipleship, training and equipping people for mission, giving permission for new ministries, and developing new outreach ministries, then “sending” becomes a natural part of the church’s process.

Other Issues:

Location: Stay at the current location, have the engineers evaluate the building, and plan on a major capital funds campaign to do needed repairs and upgrades. Begin searching out a location for off-site contemporary worship aimed at young adults.

Prayer: Rededicate ourselves to prayer. Pray for our congregation and its leaders every day. Designate a time or a season for prayer. Pray for this report and how our congregation will receive it. Pray that our congregation might grow in its passion for the people around us who don’t know the love of Christ.

Organization: Streamline our church into permission-giving ministry teams, made up of people gifted and called to that area of ministry. Connect people with ministries based on spiritual gifts and passion. Have high expectations for excellence and commitment, especially among leaders. To the extent allowed by Presbyterian polity, have fewer committees and commissions.

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Trustee Tribune

Communication

The definition of communication means two parties’ talk, and the more important part is that those same two parties listen. The Trustees would like to start communicating with the congregation. This is going to be done many different ways in the coming year. To begin, we would like to start a Question and Answer column. We would like you to ask questions and the Trustees will supply answers. There are several ways to submit the questions.

1) Send the question by email to - cinda@www.presbyelk.org
2) Send the question to the church and mark envelope - Trustee Question.
3) Fill out the questionnaire and put in the collection tray.

Trustee Question and Answer Form
____________________________________
____________________________________

Date ______________
If you supply a return address a response will be sent to you.
Name _________________________
E Mail ______________________________
Address _____________________________________________________________
City/State/Zip _________________________________________________________
Telephone __________________________

Thank You!

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Church School Classes.
Sunday Morning at 9:45 a.m. in May
9:00 a.m. in June

Coming in July-Christian Conversations...Formerly known as Tough Issues, a roundtable discussion of relevant topics with a Christian responsibility focus. We will meet in Room 101 at 9:00 a.m. every Sunday starting July 11. Watch for coming announcements.

JAM Time (Elementary kids, upstairs) and Sonshine Kids (Pre-schoolers, Room 106) will meet through June 27, and will take a vacation in July.

Vacation Bible School

It is hard to believe that VBS is just around the corner. At SonGames 2004 with an Olympic theme, children will meet one of Gods most valuable players, Paul, and through his adventures, they'll learn what it means to be a member of God's team.

Sunday, June 27 (Opening Ceremony and Olympic Games)
Monday, June 28 - Thursday, July 1
5:30-7:30 p.m.

Registration is $5/child and free for the children of volunteers.
Registration ends June 20. $10 late fee after June 20.
Please complete a form for each child and leave it at the church office.

Volunteer Opportunities

Please, take time to pray and decide if you want to be a part of the team that shares God's light with the little ones in our church. We can't do it without you, and it will mean so much to them. Fill out the following form and put it in the offering plate or put it in the office or just contact one of the coordinators.

Thanks be to God. He gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57)

Help is needed in the following areas:

Music	Decorating	Simple Dinners (Monday-Thursday)
Crafts	Prayer support	Greeter and Group Guide
Bible teaching		Follow-up

If you have any questions about Vacation Bible School or your involvement in it, please call Cheryl Ann Miller 266-1249 or Mindy Suhr 266-9870.

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The Bridge will not be meeting during the month
of July. We will resume in mid August, so we
have time to prepare for any changes in the Fall.
The final summer Bridge will be Sunday, June 27
as we go to the Olympics to kick off Vacation
Bible School.

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Brown Bag Book Bunch

The Book Bunch is reading some great books! If you're a reader, come join us! Our next meeting is July 5, 2004, at 11:30 am. Our list of books for 2004 is almost complete, but we can always make room for more. If you have a book to suggest, please do so. We'll see you next year!

July	Angle of Repose, by Wallace Erle Stegner
August	A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
September	The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
October	Probable Future, by Alice Hoffman
November	Leap of Faith, by Queen Noor

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SonGames Vacation Bible School

June 278 - July 1

Church Consultation Update

Revised Recommendations for the Consultant

Basic Decisions:

Values, Beliefs, Mission, Vision:

Basic Processes of Thriving Churches:

Growing People (Mobilization/Discipling):

Other Issues:

Trustee Tribune

This 'n' That

Worship Schedule