Notes from Vision meeting 8 March 2015
Pastor Jane led a review of points of prior agreement:
·
We want to stay together as a church family;
·
The window of opportunity for economically
feasible sale of building/move to new location is past;
·
We have a desire to grow;
It was noted that we did not have the notes from last week’s
meeting and Pastor Jane indicated that she will make them available during the
week.
The group again discussed what would be involved in
selling/moving.
Next we explored several question posed by Pastor Jane:
What did Christ teach
that is vital to our life as a Christian community? Love and acceptance for all was highlighted
as the guiding principle. Pastor Jane
asked, “How do others outside know this.
The consensus was that “they do not.”
Was there a time in
history when COTC acted out of impatience?
The general reaction was that we take too long, not act too
quickly. One person recalled a “time
long ago” when there was a push to buy an organ.
What about decisions
that have taken too long? In 1990 a
deficit budget was put together instead of looking at the hard issues that
would have needed to be addressed to close the $20,000 gap.
There was a split in the congregation in 1983 involving
factions that on one side believed a change in pastor was needed and on the
other that supported the pastor very strongly.
The pastor was removed, the congregation divided into two distinct
groups, with one withdrawing and starting a new congregation. The membership of COTC went from over 800 to
about 350 as a result.
The general feeling of the group was that we do not have
cliques much anymore.
Several members of the group recalled a history that had
been prepared for the church’s 50th anniversary and interest was
expressed in locating the material that had been prepared/gathered at that
time. Our history is important.
The anomaly of the large gym and relatively small sanctuary
was discussed. Many people recalled the
time when there were two services with an “8:30 crowd and an 11:00 crowd.” The process of combining the two into one was
also shared.
The presentation of the Visioning Process included the idea
that it is beneficial to “go out the door and look around” when discussing the
vision and direction for a congregation.
When we do this, what do we see and how do we serve in
response? In the immediate vicinity
there are low income and minority families, but there are also many “middle
class” areas nearby and we need to consider how to reach both.
We talked about the preconception by many that churches are
always asking for money and if this might prevent some people from
visiting/participating.
How do we expand our radius?
Need help in working this out.
Two ideas that have already been suggested are (1) having a
“homecoming” event to reconnect with past members and encourage involvement of present
membership and (2) some kind of revival meeting as an outreach opportunity.
The need for better advertising was again raised. It was suggested that we think about
maximizing existing opportunities, such as the rummage sale to share our story
with the community. Signage was again
mentioned.
We were asked to think about (1) historical impact of our
ministry, (2) define our mission to stay together and (3) What are you willing
to do?
The vision for COTC must come from the members, not from one
person. Once a need or activity is defined,
who will take the lead or help?
