Reading the Audiences IC
1615 (Fall 2005)
Church FutureFinder
reports: DUE:
Oct. 26
Class Presentations about Congregation Presentations
& 5-page Reflection Papers: DUE:
Nov. 30 & Dec. 7
Imagine that you and four/five other students are the
ministry leadership team at a particular congregation. Your job is to gather
information about the context of your congregation and its community as part of
a strategic planning process. The information you gather will be used to inform
and direct both the mission and vision of your congregation and its leadership
team for the next several years.
Have a team meeting ASAP. Begin your first meeting by introducing yourselves to one another. Then, take some time to dwell in a biblical text (Philippians 1:27-2:18). Ask these four questions: 1). What is God up to in this passage? 2) What is God saying to the Church today in this passage? 3) What is God saying to you personally in this passage? 4). What is God saying to your leadership team in this passage? Pray together. Then, do the following:
Ø Choose a team leader. The leader’s job will be to facilitate team meetings, make space for every team member’s input and gifts, and keep the team on track and on time with assignments.
Ø Choose a team communicator. The communicator’s job will be to facilitate communication between team members, (for example, sending reminders about meetings, assignments, etc.) and to take and distribute notes of each meeting (including assignment responsibilities and timelines.)
Ø Choose a congregation to study from among the contextual education sites represented on the team. Some factors to consider when choosing a congregation:
o Openness of the pastor and other leaders to being involved in this project.
o Interest factor – is there something interesting or unique about this site that would make it a good project? This might be seeing more potential for mission than is happening, or knowing that the congregation is wrestling with issues of mission and ministry.
o Ready access to data and willingness on the part of congregational leaders and staff to provide it.
Ø Schedule upcoming team meetings. There will be A LOT of work involved. You’ll want to meet weekly, at least in the beginning, for planning. Meeting with congregational leaders and community members will also be a component of the project.
Ø Make sure that each member of your team goes through and completes the Church FutureFinder on-line case study tutorial in the next week. Having each person do the tutorial will give your team the capacity to complete the on-line component of this project quickly and more easily.
Ø Make sure that each member of your team also knows that he/she will each be responsible for collecting data on your team’s congregation and using it to complete the data worksheet on the Church FutureFinder website. This means that each team will generate four to five data worksheets on one congregation.
Ø Keep in mind: Ministry is never a solo operation and you are never the only smart or gifted person in the room. Work as a team!
Together, you will use the data collection and interpretive tools as laid out on the Church FutureFinder website, www.churchinnovations.org/churchfuturefinder.
Ø Each team member should log in and register as part of his or her group.
Ø Begin each team meeting with dwelling in the Word and prayer. Consider using just the Philippians passage over the semester.
Ø Information gathering: This will consume considerable time and will require real teamwork to get it done. You should divide the collection process among your team members, but each of you should visit each of the windows so that you can lead others through this process once you are in a congregation.
Ø There is a component of data gathering for this course that involves interviewing and listening to members of the congregation and the community. Consider dividing the interviews among your team members.
Each team will ask interpretive and theological questions of the data and the listening it has done in the congregation and the community, keeping in mind these questions: What is God up to here? What is God calling this congregation to be and do?
Each team will produce a presentation that leads to conversation, including relevant handouts, that could be presented in about 30-40 minutes at a church council leadership retreat, in an adult forum session, or to a congregational visioning team. This presentation will engage the following questions:
o How does this congregation see itself today?
1. Church history – Founded? Tradition? Mergers? Splits?
2. Membership trends – increasing? Stable? Declining? How get in/out?
3. Financial life – how is overall giving? Benevolence? Debt?
4. Organization type and leadership style – strong pastor? Strong council?
5. Values, mission, vision – is there a text the church has adopted?
6. Primary
symbols, rituals and images that shape this congregation’s self-understanding –
What’s important? Potluck?
7. Function of building, parking, space, location, signs – What stands out? Is it accessible? Crowded? Available? Aging?
8. What are this congregation’s overall strengths? Weaknesses?
o What is God up to in this community?
1. Demographic profiles
§ Up, steady or down? Population trend from 80-90-00
§ What are key changes – race? Age? Income?
2. Key themes from ethnographic data
§ What do people in congregation think?
§ What do people in community think?
3. Analysis of community “church” system
§ Which churches are growing (top 3)
§ What percentage of community is unchurched?
4. What are possible opportunities for mission in this community?
5. What are possible threats/barriers to those?
o What might God be calling this congregation to be and to do?
1. What one or more goal(s) might this congregation achieve by the end of a 5-year missional (re)vitalization process? Why? How does this relate to your understanding of what a missional church is supposed to be and do?
2. What key conflicts, challenges or other issues related to change will church leaders need to be ready for as they follow God’s calling?
3. What biblical and/or theological images and related texts might help this congregation and its leaders live into God’s calling into a new vision for mission?
§ (Examples include people of God, body of Christ, ambassadors for Christ, herald, suffering servant, etc.)
4. What key biblical examples or passages might help shape you as a ministry leadership team if your team were to lead this congregation?
§ (Examples include law/gospel, the two kingdoms, election, covenant, freedom of a Christian, the uses of the law, etc.)
5. What first steps might this congregation take toward following God’s call?
The Reflection Paper
Each team member will write a 5-page reflection paper on the entire process, including a paragraph highlighting the gifts that each member of the team brought to the table. What did you learn from this experience? What worked well and what didn’t work so well? How did your group use the web-based resources? What did you learn about researching the congregation and community and interpreting that information theologically with the goal of leading a congregation in mission?