Administration Planning Session Results

Administration held its planning session on August 23.  The group listed a nubmer of challenges they wanted to solve and chose the development of a culture of collaboration as the one they wanted to address.  They identified possible hindrances to effective collaboration both among office staff and in the community at large.  These ideas included--

• Time pressure
• Interruptions
• So much going on that it is difficult to have access to all information
• Difficulty in saying "no"
• Reacting to urgent demands rather than planning and working ahead
• Different personal styles
• Hesitation to ask others to help

They chose Interruptions as an area to discuss and identified several potential causes.  From that list, they decided to work on two causes:  "Meetings by my desk that don't involve me," and unclear job descriptions.  Discussion about interuptions caused by impromptu meetings that distract those nearby let to an action plan to consider how re-configuring office space might minimize distractions and create hospitable space.  They discussed how lack of understanding about who is responsbible for what increases unnecessary interruptions.  A potential action plan to address this was for staff to generate a list of what they are responsible for and create a reference for one another and for community members so that people know how to approach to help with their concern.

Summary of Mission Council Input Session

The Mission Council hosted a constituency input session on Wednesday, July 13.
Among the strengths of the Mission Council identified by those present was the Council's routine practice of engaging in a deliberate process of discernment when facing complex issues.  They have considered all sides to an issue, managed strong feelings and made a decision for the benefit of the community as a whole, recognizing that sometimes that might be different from individual preferences.  They also celebrated the partnership based on care and respect that is enjoyed between staff and council.

In considering idea for improvement, the group identified several major areas.

• Increasing accountability to the congregation by developing intentional relationships with various ministry areas and finding new ways to communicate regularly with the community about Mission Council activities and concerns.
• Seeking community input through focus groups or other strategies to help the council keep aware of community interests and perceptions.
• Notice and celebrate accomplishments
• Increase the number of Council initiatives
• Update organizational structures so that people know who is on the council and how the council relates to various ministry entities.

There was good discussion about ways that staff and council might develop new ways of working together that allow the council to take on more responsibilities for strategic leadership.

Considering the possibilities that might emerge from this Re-visioning process, the council recognized a desire for some training/development that would enable members to assume the important role of leading the community through creating the next phase of ministry at Trinity/Pointe of Grace.




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Transition Update - July 2011

Revisioning, Transition, Living into God’s Future for Us.   We’ve given a variety of names to this journey we’ve been on the last 12 months. 

River and Garden, Shift, Ministry Assessments, Constituency Meetings.  We’ve used a variety of tools to help us on this journey we’ve been on the last 12 months. 

When are we getting a new pastor? Why is it taking so long? Why do we have to think about it?  We’ve asked a lot of questions on this journey we’ve been on the last 12 months.

On the first Sunday of July, 2010, Trinity found itself facing a complex set of changes: 

• A beloved and respected pastor had just retired. 
• Years of faithful prayer, coaching, and work had radically and rapidly expanded our ministry. 
• Our second site was 10 months old. 
• The “pastoral care team” concept was just beginning to catch hold. 
• We were in a time of deep financial challenge. 

The question on that first Sunday of July, 2010 was, “What do we do now?” 

The answer was, “be faithful, be prayerful, be patient, be thoughtful, be creative, be smart.” 

On the first Sunday of July, 2011 it is safe to say that we have come a long, long way to better understanding our ministries, our systems, our challenges, our opportunities, and our needs. All of our major ministries have gone through a process of defining their mission, assessing their work, and listening carefully to those who support them and those they serve. Each group has identified the barriers they face and the hopes that shape their futures. Each group is now working to identify steps to take to move beyond the barriers and into the future.  (See other posts to check out their work.)

Among the next steps, as we move into late summer, will be opportunities for “big picture” conversation for the whole congregation. We are also beginning to shape a vision for staffing at Trinity-Lynnwood and Pointe of Grace. In the last ten years we’ve grown substantially in the number of members, the number at worship, the number of people engaged in and served by Trinity’s ministries. During that same period, staffing has declined. One thing we know already is that simply replacing a pastor is an inadequate answer to Trinity’s real needs. Click here to find a recently developed chart that leadership is using to help identify specific areas of need.

We are grateful for the congregation's willingness to take a good look at itself as it moves into God's future.  Our commitment to not settling for a "knee-jerk" response to our needs will pay off in a healthier congregation and in stronger ministries and presence in our communities.

Blessings, 

Trinity’s Staff and Council

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Faith Formation Constituency Input Summary

Approximately 20 people gathered on June 29 to contribute their feedback and ideas about Faith Formation at Trinity/Pointe of Grace.

The Faith Formation purpose is to make space for all ages to discover and assumetheir unique roles in partnership with God.

The group enjoyed sharing stories of how they witnessed youth prepared to provide faith-grounded leadership in crisis situations, how children and youth feel safe and welcomed in their programs, how a young person remains steadfast in the face of challenges to his faith, and how differing ideas were respectfully shared in adult Bible Studies.  These stories revealed the importance of relationships, safe space, involvement of all ages, listening to and respecting each other and being equipped in faith as contributors to our Faith Formation ministries.

Many ideas for improvement were generated.  Some of the most emphasized ideas included (1) Increasing opportunities for study and learning by all ages; (2) increasing the amount of adult involvement with children in youth, since direct relationship is so important; (3) more church-wide social activities; (4) non-traditional worship and learning opportunities; and (5) consistent learning themes througout various church programs. 

An equally wide array of thoughts emerged about new opportunities that might be pursued.  Some of them included (1) A strong leadership/mentoring training program to help people live into their God-given call; (2) Student-led worship; (3) Continued involvment in Jeremiah Center ministry; and (4) More service opportunities for all ages.

Looking at the challenge of overtaxed and insufficient staff and volunteers, the group suggested having a volunteer coordinator that would help people find where they fit, setting acheivable priorities and making sure that everyone knows what is currently available.  Recognizing that families are overwhelmed and often over-booked, the group suggested modeling making "space" as an effort to be intentionally counter-cultural.  They also talked about the changing expectations in the church culture from the idea of staff doing everything to lay people taking more and more responsibility.  They suggested it is important to recognize and affirm one another in this process, keep conversations and relationships going, continue to raise awareness of this shift, and provide eduction and experience of the new things we are stepping into.

Discussion wrapped up with the group celebrating the great foundation that has been laid and recognizing that we are looking to grow and build on that foundation.

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Worship Committee Input Session Summary

The Worship Committee held its constituency input session on Monday, June 27.  The committee's purpose is to create a system of opportunty for people to use their individual gifts so that the worshipping community can encounter GOD!!
The group identified numerous factors that contribute to the quality of worship, some of which included planning and preparation, good preaching, great music, decoration, variety, lay participation, a consistent message that all are welcome and meaningful moments of ritual.

Ideas for improvement of what is currently being done centered around (1) offering more opportunities for expression of people's creativity in planning and leading worship; (2) exploring non-Sunday worship options to expand outreach; (3) experiment with a variety of different worship forms and times to see which ones generate sustained commitment; (4) include explanatory notes in worship bulletin to help us better understand the meaning of worship elements.

Discusison on important opportunities to consider focused on imagining ideas about how to create more opportunities for lay involvement in creative planning and conducting of worship.  The committee recognized that a significant amount of their work has been directed toward managing the details of worship services and wants to explore the possibility of re-organizing how it functions in order to expand the lay role in generating creative input and content for worship experiences.

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Administration Constituency Input Summary

The constituency input session for Administration was held Tuesday, June 21.  The purpose of Administration at Trinity/Pointe of Grace is to provide resources and support, within appropriate systems, to volunteers and staff engaged in Trinity's Ministries.

Appreciation was expressed for the helpfulness, efficiency and caring, relational orientation of the office staff and it was clearly recognized that this group of people make a critical contribution to the functioning of church ministries.

A wide range of ideas for improvement and potential new opportunities were generated.  The ideas that were judged of highest priority clustered around upgrading the website to make it more user and operator friendly as well as enhancing interactivity on the site and around helping church volunteers to operate effectively in conducting their ministry activities.  The need for volunteer coordination was identified along with the need to identify volunteer skills and link them to specific opportunities.

As with the results of each input session, leaders will be utilizing the data generated here to inform the next step in the Re-visioning Ministry process, developing an action plan to move into the future. 

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First 2 Planning Sessions Completed--Pastoral Care and Mustard Seed Life Groups

Two ministry groups completed the fourth step of the Re-visioning Ministry Component of the process of Living into God's Future for Us.  Pastoral Care met last Monday and Mustard Seed Life Group leaders met on Tuesday.  Both groups spent some time reflecting on all of the input that has been generated so far, then prayerfully imagined where they might be called in the future.  Finally, they drafted a plan of action that will help them answer that call.

They were actively engaged in the strategic thinking process described earlier in this blog which involves imagining what we can do now that will lead to a hoped for future.

The Pastoral Care Team imagined a near term and a long term goal.  In the near term, they recognized the need to get to a place where the whole congregation understands and embraces the multi-level pastoral care structure that is in place at Trinity/Pointe of Grace.  Some of the steps they believe might help them achieve this included

• Identify and understand the "audience" they are trying to reach (various sub-groups in the community.
• Get clear on what these audiences need to understand about pastoral care ministry at Trinity/Pointe of Grace and how they would ideally perceive pastoral care ministry.
• Solicit input from various audiences
• Devise communication strategies such .as (1) regularly engaging people in conversations about the Pastoral Care "umbrella"' (2) communicate special requests to the pastors; (3) plan for Stephen Minister's presence at Pointe of Grace site; (4) Present on Pastoral Care at new members' classes.
• Imagine other creative ways of displaying/communicating the Pastoral Care delivery chart.
• Celebrate successes.

The group also devised a long term goal.  It began with a dream about physical building spaces that functioned as a "community center" where people of all ages and needs could find needs for relationship and wholeness met.  Conversation led to considering the actual ministry that might happen in this space and the goal was formed as a comprehensive, broad program of pastoral care offered to all ages and needs.  Some groups mentioned included seniors, youth, homeless, those with mental health needs.  They imagined some potential steps to begin building a ministry that might one day fill the hoped-for space.

• Identifying the groups that might be served.
• Get acquainted with the groups to identify their needs and desires.
• Involve those groups in planning what to offer
• Share the dream--what happen in a comprehensive ministry.
• Get trained as well as identify partners and connect with them
• Start trying things out--take small steps.
• Collaborate with other groups.

The Mustard Seed Life Groups Leadership drafted a long term objective: 

We want to develop the infrastructure for the caring/"garden”/"home” space that actually draws/invites people (voluntarily) into relationship that helps them be what they are called by God to be, including the missional(ambassadors for Christ) focus of actively inviting others in and making a real difference in our community.  They developed a 9-step action plan.

• Develop a solid model for leadership (turning Huddles into the embodiment of what we home Mustard Seed groups will be).
• Accept responsibility to provide leadership to Mustard Seed ministries. 
• Assess target audiences to find out what they actually want
• Develop a clear Core Message about why community is important
• Develop a inventory of available groups for ready access
• Create a training structure for new group leaders
• Target new audiences
• Seed new groups
• Do a status-check to get feedback about how things are working

Other groups will be developing plans of action to stengthen their ministries in the coming days.  It is exciting to observe one result of our Re-visioning Ministries process is that lay leaders are getting clearer on the potentially powerful role they may play in making ministry happen. 

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Endowment Fund Committee Input Session Summary

The Endowment Fund Committee held their constituency input session on Saturday, June 11.

Contributions to manifesting God's dream in the world were celebrated.  They included--

• Providing significant scholarship assistance to college students.  A scholarship was the impetus that allowed one student to pursue higher education.  Scholarships communicated to students that their home congregation cared about them in a significant way and inspired others to maintain their connections with communites of faith.
• Scholarships to students pursuing religious studies have supported persons entering full time ministry.
• Indivduals have experienced life-changing global encounters as they were able to undertake cross-cultural mission trips, helped by Endowment funds.
• Many existing ministries at Trinity/Pointe of Grace were begun with seed monies from the Endowment Funds including, Youth ministry interns, Stephen Ministers, Pastoral Care ministers, Outreach to Students at Pointe of Grace.

Some of the existing strengths of the Endowmwent Fund Committee that were identified included--

• The passion and excitement of the committee members
• Perseverance and follow-through
• Good information for the web page
• Careful documentation of their work so that history of gifts is recorded
• Good working relationship of the committee members

A primary area for improvement was deemed to be communication so that community members could readily understand the process of giving to the fund and applying to have projects funded.  It was acknowledged that community members in general may not be aware of the significant impact that the Endowment Fund has on the ministry at Trinity/Pointe of Grace.  The expectation is that more communication will inspire further generosity in order to multiply opportunities for ministry.

They imagined new strategies to consider moving forward, including a "wishing well" where people could offer ideas for endwoment gifts; providing assistance to people with estate planning; exploring other options for grants, including capital improvements; and partnering with mission groups.

One outcome of the session was the renewed awareness that the Endowment Fund Committee has a powerful role in catalyzing mission and ministry and that there is untapped potential here to recognized and utilized.

This information will be incorporated into the planning session to follow.

Use the Annual Report as a Meditation Tool to Notice God at Work!

The congregational report, presented at the annual meeting, June 12, 2011, could be a great tool to use in reflection to notice how God has been at work in our community.  The report contains many stories of how members of this community have been joining with God to meet the needs of the world.  You can read this report prayerfully to deepen your sense of what God has been doing.

Here's how......

1)  Click here to access the report , if you don't have a printed copy.

2)  Call to mind the Trinity/Pointe of Grace Idenity/Purpose Statement:  We manifest God's dream as a community that makes space for people to recognize what God is doing to meet the deep needs of the world and to discover and assume their unique roles in partnership with God.

3)  Recall that "manifesting God's dream" is simply making the work of of God visible in the world.  Where wholeness, justice, love and peace are increased, God's dream is being made more and more visible.

4)  Select a portion of the Annual Report to read and read it slowly and reflectively, pondering each account of what has been happening.

5)  As you read each account, ask the Spirit to help you notice a way in which the dream of God has been made a little more visible through it.  Pause to express your gratitude to God for the way that you and your community have shared in this advance of the reign of God in the world.

6)  Help all of us deepen our awareness and gratitude by sharing your insights and reflections on this blog.  It can be as simple as stating, "when I read about......, I noticed and was grateful for.........."

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Local Engagement Input Meeting Results

Local Engagement, or Neighbors in Need (means Saturday Morning, Cold Weather Shelter, Neighborhood Youth Alliance), defines its purpose in this way:
- We create opportunity for people who want to joyfully express their compassion through service to their neighbors in need.

- NIN enables us to live out and share our faith with others. Others involved in Neighbors in Need include Jeremiah Center; Edmonds Unitarian Church; Holy Rosary Catholic Church; Mill Creek Community Church; Overlake Christian Church; Grace Fellowship Church; Boy Scouts; Snohomish County ; United Way; Pointe of Grace; St Thomas Moore Catholic Church; Edmonds Methodist Church; Everett Foursquare Church; Ahmadi Community; City Church; Edmonds School District; Girl Scouts; City of Lynnwood; PEMCO.

People gathered at the input session shared stories of feeding an individual who had not eaten in a day and a half; experiencing the gratitude of a neighbor who realized that others had been praying for her; and watching an individual move from being housed to employed and housed.  They celebrated how this ministry has inspired participation by many other groups outside of Trinity/Pointe of Grace who are eager to serve.

The group recognized that one strength of this ministry has been the personal relationship built with those who participate, helping them feel cared for and valued as a part of a community. 

One of the big dreams of this group is a space that would allow homeless people to have some basic needs met on a regular basis, rather than just Saturday morning, and that would serve as a regular location for emergency cold weather shelter.  Challenges identified included building a broad base of supportive relationships throughout the community and recruiting and recognizing volunteers on an ongoing basis.