FPC2 - Congregational Summit, Part 1
Yesterday I had the privilege to take part in the first of two congregational summits at First Presbyterian Church of Bellingham. Part of a current vision and evaluation process, this summit brought together about 75 members of the church community to discuss the future vision for the church and begin to brainstorm ideas for moving forward over the next 5 years.
The day began with a discussion of many of the congregation’s responses to the question posed by Pastor Doug Bunnell: "What is FPC doing well? What would Jesus commend?" This portion was very encouraging, as people talked about the history of the church, the way it’s grown, the strong programs and ministries that are reaching out to the city and the people of the area, as well as some direct encouragement for the ministry of the INN and it’s relationship to the the university community.
Next, we broke into smaller groups and began to discuss points of improvement for the church, centered around the question: "What could FPC be doing better? What are areas of difficulty?" Rather than this turning into a gripe-fest, we engaged in a very constructive discussion of some of the pieces of the church’s mission that needed reevaluating and growth. It was very exciting to dive into some of the areas that we could improve and think of the possibilities of working in new ways to change or revitalize the way we respond to God’s call for our church. This time ended with a prayer of repentance for the ways we have not responded to God or missed out on ways to minister to His congregation and city. I was very impressed and encouraged by the wisdom of the people and the way everyone was willing to listen, respect opinions, and be driven to re-envisioning the direction of the church.
We will reconvene for the second half of this congregational summit on February 10th, where we will develop some of the areas of focus that we established yesterday and begin to plot a vision for the next 5 years and beyond for the church. It was a joy to take part in this discussion and I was left with a stronger faith in this community of people and in God’s action within us.
The Lord of the Rings (Movie Art Cover)
The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Third Edition (Harperresource Book)
The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime
Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America
A Wrinkle in Time
Great Emergence, The: How Christianity Is Changing and Why (emersion: Emergent Village resources for communities of faith)
The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier
Sounds like a great experience! Will look forward to hearing about the plans that FPC has in store for the next five years. Seems like a good activity for churches to do…how many people attended?
A poem from the streets of Vancouver. A voice we have to listen to.
a first nations man recently told me he had come to the downtown eastside to die he heard the propaganda that this is only a place of death, disease and despair and since his life has become a hopeless misery he came here specifically to die but he said since living in the downtown eastside what with the people he has met and the groups he has found he now wants very much to live and his words go directly to the heart of what makes for real community a new life out of apparent death and this is what we speak and live with our words our weapons
–Bud Osborn “raise shit – a downtown eastside poem of resistance†in Paul Taylor, (ed.), The Heart of the Community: The Best of the Carnegie Newsletter (2003)