West Isle Presbyterian Church Strategic Planning Team s report

Transcription

1 West Isle Presbyterian Church Strategic Planning Team s report Background The Strategic Planning Team has now been working for 5 months, mostly assessing where we are as a church and articulating the results of that assessment into Mission and Vision Statements. These have now been reviewed, edited and approved by The Session. The next steps in this process will be developing action plans to make the improvements that will allow the church to get from where we are now to where God wants us to be - and make the vision a reality. The ideas and involvement of the congregation are essential as we move forward. We have followed a guide given in the book, Advanced Strategic Planning: A New Model for Church and Ministry Leaders by Aubrey Malphurs. Dr. Bob introduced the concept detailed in this book and shared how this process has been used in other churches, both mega and small. It is a process of Envisioning creatively seeing how we can best serve God in the future. Reasons for Strategic Planning: 1. To access our strengths & weakness so we can build on strengths and minimize weaknesses 2. To facilitate communication & build trust so everyone knows the mission and can be on the same page 3. To develop and articulate a powerful vision 4. To figure out strategies and action plans to make the vision a reality. First Step Access our strengths and weaknesses. The group spent 2 meetings first listing and ranking our strengths and weakness, and then prioritizing the opportunities we have for improvement. There were many strengths to build on, and several areas for improvement.

2 SWOT ANALYSIS STRENGTHS: 1. Dr. Bob & Beth 2. People/ congregation 3. Calming atmosphere 4. Scripture based 5. Holy Spirit here 6. Music 7. Biblical Teaching 8. Prayerful 9. Family 10. Fellowship 11. Lots of new people 12. Living church more than 2 hrs on Sunday morning 13. Financially sound 14. Seasonal population OPPORTUNITIES: 1. Building Ministries for maturing population 2. Could offer age-sensitive education 3. Survey/Inventory of Members for both teaching skills and needs for classes 4. Outreach ways to advertise; reach rentals, use islander magazine, West Island Property Owners Association etc Can expand if necessary 6. Possible revisit buying land, explore ALL contiguous property (now might be the time) 7. Unchurched population 8. Sunrise service 9. Missions trip, hands on local missions - possibility with other churches 10. Guided group trips (such as to the Holy Land) 11. Use of this facility when the church is not using it WEAKNESSES: 1. Located on the west end of island 2. Aging population 3. Seasonal population 4. Parking 5. No place to grow/ land locked 6. No web site 7. No strategic plan 8. Sunday school 9. Not a flood proof structure THREATS: 1. Parking on Stewart Road Right-of- Way now 2. Storms 3. Not many young families 4. Not big enough to offer special programs 5. Society is becoming more secular 6. New stand on sexuality 7. 8.

3 Prioritizing The group members voted to prioritize the most important areas for improvements and the top 4 are: 1. Building Ministries to maturing population, offering age-sensitive education, and Survey/Inventory Members for both teaching skills and needs for classes 2. Revisit buying land, explore ALL contiguous property (now might be the time), so we can expand if it is necessary. 3. Reach the unchurched population 4. Outreach/ Advertise The results of this analysis point to areas where we can become more inwardly strong and outwardly focused. Next Steps The next steps were to articulate the church s core values, and develop a Mission Statement and a Vision Statement. The Team performed these tasks and the Session has now edited and approved this work Our church does have a personality and a wonderful feeling for everyone that comes through its doors, The Team was tasked with articulating this identity in a way it can be communicated easily and to envision how the church can build on this foundation. The book led the team through defining our core values, Mission and Vision. CORE VALUES: 1. We value the Lordship of Christ as the Head of the church and the center of our lives. 2. We value a Christ centered church where Biblical values are taught, nurtured and lived in everyday life. 3. We value Christian fellowship where the love of Christ is practiced in all its dimensions. 4. We value evangelism to bring everyone into God s family. 5. We value faithful, responsible stewardship of all that God has given to us. 6. We value worship with Christ-centered praise and prayer. 7. We value giving from a cheerful heart as an expression of our thankfulness to God. MISSION: Making Disciples for Christ VISION: We are a body of believers passionate about Jesus Christ, energized by worship and prayer, rooted in Scripture, and dedicated to growing God s Kingdom through witness and service.

4 Focus Groups We are now at the point we need to figure out how to get from where we are now to where God wants to be - develop action plans and strategies to accomplish our Mission of Making Disciples for Christ and make our vision a reality. The Team looked at our opportunities for improvements and brainstormed ideas. (An underlying theme is that as a church, we are almost a secret. Once people are here, they feel the church is full of the Holy Spirit. If we could be better known others will have an opportunity to experience the Holy Spirit here. ) A brainstorming type exercise is one in which people think of all the ideas they can no bad ideas and then evaluate and rank them in a separate exercise. Our team came up with many ideas, and found later they could be grouped into 3 areas: advertising, Events, and new ministries. And all 3 areas are ways to be more outwardly focused on our community. The Team asks that you all review what we have come up with what ideas do you think are good ones and should go forward? And what good ideas have we missed? Are there things that you think the church should do to be more of a blessing to its congregation and its community? We ask that you review the ideas the team came up with, add your own ideas, and vote for those that you think are the best for our church. Focus Group Directions: Please check your top 4 picks in each category. You may write in other items that you wish to vote for in the blank lines provided.

5 Name: Phone number address Advertising: Flyers/ Brochures/Posters in stores, hospital chapels, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, Funeral Homes, local attraction brochure racks on the Strand & in restaurants, rental home welcome packets Listings in other Publications: real estate books, motel welcome books, Property Owner Association Newsletters, WGIPOA newsletter (and website), Newspaper Op Eds Ads: Radio, Island Magazines & newspapers, Yellow Pages Use of our website: Surveys, Wants ads, notices for events Items for the congregation: Logo tee shirts and polo shirts, Signs in Members yards, Business cards with map and service times for members to hand out, Flags, and Decals for our cars Sign - Lighted signage in front of church with message

6 New Ministries: Training or educational events, financial, Christian Life, Hurricane Prep Pastoral Care Steven Ministry Gifts of Help, Nursing Care, Hospital Van for elderly pickup for services, etc Neighborhood beachheads West Isle Singles Ministry

7 Event ideas: Sunrise Service at Easter on the beach advertise in newsletters October dinner on the grounds Kirkin O the Tartans service with advertisements Bingo Concert Series Angelo Seniors events or older singles ministry Travel group as a church Biblical places, Greek Isle, Israel

8 Developing Mature Disciples: Sunday School for adults Congregation wide Survey to Inventory both teaching skills and needs for classes and ministries. Classes in characteristics of mature disciple Retreats Roadmap to maturity on website Bible Studies Holy Spirit makes mature disciples Reading the Bible together as a church

9 Developing Ministry Teams We plan to develop Ministry Teams for each of the area listed above. These teams would include members of the church body and at least one Session Would you be willing to work on one or more of these ideas as part of a short term team? Yes No If so which team or teams would interest you? Advertising New Ministries Event ideas: Developing Mature Disciples: What do you believe are your gifts that you could use for God at our church?