Dear Spring Valley Family,
Two weekends ago we invited Mike Bonem, a clergy coach and consultant I have worked with for several years, to lead a vision retreat for our Church Council. The purpose of the weekend was to name four or five pillars or priorities for ministry at Spring Valley for the next couple of years. We will then use these priorities to evaluate our current ministries, so that everything is moving in one consistent direction. We started the weekend thinking about metaphors for where the church is today- who we are- and where we hoped to go- who we aspire to become.
This work is ongoing, and we will continue to workshop everything at Monday’s Church Council meeting (6:00 p.m.). Everyone is welcome to attend and participate. In advance of the meeting, I sent the members an abbreviated form of Mike’s notes from the weekend, including five faithful next steps we named, and an invitation to discernment. I’m sharing it with you so that you know what we are working on, but keep in mind it’s still in development for now.
- Pastor Frank
Vision Retreat Notes and an Invitation to Discernment
From Mike Bonem:
To become a vase of diverse and beautiful flowers, a powerful recharging station, and a miraculous phoenix that is rising from the ashes, we must …
• Invite the Spirit to fill us
• Create a culture of invitation and hospitality (that draws people in)
• Demonstrate acceptance, care, and nurture
• Equip & inspire people to go out to meet the needs in our world
• … and embrace the changes (that will be necessary for this to happen)
Our next faithful steps to do this will be …
1. Establish a “rule (habit) of life”
2. Inventory what we have (resources, programs) and focus our efforts (doing too much)
3. Offer need-driven programs
4. Better visibility / marketing / less church-y / invite community to all that we do
5. Improve our internal communication / Intentional and transparent about finances and fundraising
Comments
• The top section of this page is a synthesis of where the group seemed to coalesce. It
should be treated as a draft that can still be revised as needed.
• The 3 metaphors and the five categories of “next faithful steps” inform SVUMC’s vision
to be “an inclusive church that loves God, grows spiritually, serves others and shares hope through Jesus Christ.” I believe that acting on the faithful steps will give more clarity to the church’s identity than revising the vision statement.
• The last 2 faithful steps are related and could be combined into one.
• Offering “need-driven programs” is a step with endless possibilities. It is extremely important for SVUMC to (a) listen first to determine which needs to address, (b) have an external orientation in this work, (c) start small with experiments rather than large programs, (d) learn and grow based on those experiences.
• For each category of faithful next steps, leadership should decide specific steps to be taken and determine who will be responsible for leading those steps.
Discernment: to recognize and follow God’s will
Hoped for result of discernment: insight and wisdom
There is a difference between discernment and planning.
Planning asks: What are we doing?
Discernment asks: What is God doing?
I invite you to consider the notes above and come to the meeting Monday night after pondering these questions:
Where is Christ’s presence needed most? What is the biblical story we are now inhabiting?
What is the difference God is calling us to make in this season of ministry at Spring Valley?
What is God doing among our neighbors and how can we be a part of it?
What are the gifts and skills of the people around us? What could they teach us?
Who can teach us what we don’t know?
Why is it we get stuck here often? How did we get into this? Where are we out of balance?