Grace

After our season of listening through fasting and prayer in May and June, here’s a fresh update from Jon Boyd with news from the Grace Council about how we’re moving with the Strategic Discernment Initiative. The update here was delivered in Sunday worship on July 25, 2010, along with the visual presentation so you can follow along.

It’s time for another “monthly” update about the future of Grace. Please don’t anyone point out that it’s been two-and-a-half months.

But actually, the longer interval was for good reason: most of May and all of June, we embarked together on a season of fasting and prayer as a way of listening to God on this exciting subject — the future of Grace. If you participated in that, I hope you found it as revelatory an experience as I did. Right away, it changed my Fridays, that’s for sure. But I’ve been noticing that some of the habits that formed during those two months haven’t gone away, even now. I’m glad about that.

And it wasn’t just we as individuals who were listening, either. Let me tell you about some of the ways the Grace Council was listening in special ways, too. First of all, you may recall that throughout 2010, your elected Council has taken on a somewhat experimental role. Yes, we’ve continued to take care of the ongoing work of the church as usual — but we’ve also been intentional and proactive about our need to discern God’s call to this congregation for the future.

During our season of fasting and listening, the Council took a couple steps back (or maybe just sideways) from the conversations we had been having about mission and purpose, and — first of all — took time to sit together in a “listening circle” several times. Laurie Bailey led us in those sessions, and we heard each other out about our longings and fears for Grace’s future, and to process what we had been hearing from you folks. It was awesome.

Then, coincidentally — or maybe not, right? — smack dab in the middle of this season of listening we also got back the results of the church-wide survey called PULSE which you all participated in last fall. To be honest with you, I had nearly forgotten that we were still waiting for the analysis of that. But I don’t think they could have come back at a better time: right in the midst of our season of fasting and listening. They came at just the right time, while we were listening especially carefully — better than if we’d had them last fall, I believe. They confirmed and deepened our insight into some of the things we’d already been talking about.

For instance, the PULSE survey gave us a reality check into our longing to be a church characterized by action in mercy and outreach and by depth in biblical understanding. Turns out (no surprise really), we’re not where we need to be on either of those journeys. Compassion and justice — and a deep identity formed by God in Scripture — are our desire, but when we’re honest with ourselves, our actions haven’t caught up. Some of us, of course, have pushed far ahead in these areas, and we love it! But all too often, we haven’t brought the whole church along into new territory. The PULSE survey pointed out that in some ways — important ways — we’re idling the engine at a green light. The survey report is like the guy behind us, laying on the horn.

So, throughout our individual experiences listening to the Lord, the Council’s focused, and sometimes quite passionate discussions, and the input we’ve heard from some of you, lately we’ve started to perceive some things coming together that seem really good. We’re starting to home in on a couple things:

1. a clear statement of our purpose and
2. a shortlist of our ministry priorities for the next two to three years

The truth is, throughout this process, this Strategic Discernment Initiative, we’ve never really been in quest of a mission statement per se. Not for its own sake. We’re much less interested in a mission statement than in a mission.

That’s why it’s so exciting to feel like we’ve been getting a tighter grip on the mission we do have, the mission that in some ways we already had, maybe the one this congregation has always had. I think it’s that kind of mission statement we’re pulling into focus.

And the same goes for that second item, a shortlist of our essential priorities in ministry. These aren’t things you’ve never heard of before. They’re not new programs. This won’t be like Steve Jobs getting up at an Apple conference in his black turtleneck and unveiling yet another “magical and revolutionary” device never before seen by humans without a non-disclosure agreement. Rather, it’s our coming to a better understanding of — and a more resolute commitment to — the Grace ministries you already know about, the ones you’re probably already participating in.

That’s not to say nothing’s changing. Far from it. In fact, in every area, we’re going to be working together to step it up, not necessarily with demands for more, more, more — but with some smart thinking about next steps, with tools and opportunities to help everyone get involved in ways that are right for them, and with lots of prayer.

And that last point is important: Although our Strategic Discernment Initiative is ending, the discernment won’t be. Keep your ears on.

Oh, and one more thing. One of the challenges we’ve been facing is the need to fund these ministries, to gather the means for our mission. We’ve got a little thing coming that I hope you’re going to like and, more importantly, I hope will help us fuel this rocket. Shortly we’ll be giving you the opportunity to sign up to make automatic, monthly donations to Grace’s ministries. This is called “electronic funds transfer” or EFT, and lots of nonprofits and other churches have found that it’s a win-win: members gain convenience and the satisfaction of sure-fire faithfulness to their donation plans — and the church gains a measure of reliability in resources that’s not previously possible. We hope you’ll dig it, so stay tuned.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 6:34 am and is filed under News.