Fruitful Congregation Journey Consultation Report

Warsaw First United Methodist Church

February 16, 2014

We, the consultation team, would like to thank Reverends Toni and Scott Carmer, the lay leadership and the congregation of Warsaw First United Methodist Church for the invitation to consult with your church as part of the Fruitful Congregation Journey (FCJ). The observations and Ministry Action Plan in this report are the result of the consultation team studying the following information: a) Warsaw FirstUMC’s self-study document provided by its leaders, b) a MissionInsite demographic report of the area population, c) input from the Faith Perceptions Mystery Guest Worshiper Report, d) results from the FCJ congregational survey completed by the congregation, e) interviews with the pastors, staff, and lay leadership, f) a focus group with members of the congregation, g) a focus group session with the Ad. Council, and h) input from Saturday’s leadership workshop.

It was a great joy to work with the congregation. The consultation team’s prayer is that God will use this assessment experience and consultation report so that Warsaw First UMC will more effectively make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of its community and the world.

STRENGTHS

Warsaw First UMC’s five greatest strengths are as follows:

  1. COMMUNITY MISSION CONCERN

Throughout the consultation weekend, members of Warsaw First UMC identifiedoutreach to the community as a major strength of the church. Currently, the community is being impacted in powerful ways by the compassion of the members’ outreach. This includes ministries like: the Community Closet, the Community Kitchen, the after-school C.O.W. ministry, the Counseling Connection, scouting, Vacation Bible School, the Rodeheaver Series, Stephen Ministry, fitness classes, NAMI, Alcoholics Anonymous, etc. In addition, there are two new outreach missions on the horizon: a free health clinic housed at the downtown site, and the Upward Sports ministry envisioned at the Connection site. All of these ministries indicate a passion to serve the needs and reach the community with God’s love.

  1. MUSIC MINISTRIES

When asked, “What is the best thing about this church?” the most common answer was, “the music.” In fact, 87% of pre-consultation survey respondents said music was the number one strength of the church. Theseheartfelt, grateful expressions come from a congregation that has learned the transforming power of experiencing God’s Spirit through sacred music. This widespread appreciation includes both traditional music (which includes the chancel choir, handbell choir, a children’s choir, etc.), as well as contemporary music expressed through the leadership of the praise team and band. Warsaw First UMC is blessed with a passion for the gift of music,as well as talented musicians, worship leaders, and many participants.

  1. WILLINGNESS TO EXPAND TO REACH OTHERS

One leader at Warsaw First UMC said, “When a good idea comes along, the people get behind it and support it.” In 2006, the congregation caught that vision and the people got behind it. That year Warsaw First UMC enlarged its reach and its territory by making the bold decision to add a second site for future expansion and disciple-making. This decision created an entirely new venue for reaching others with the love of God in Jesus Christ with a different worship style, focus, and population group. Warsaw First UMC is to be commended for the bold vision, the sacrificial gifts that made it possible, and the hard work that continues to make it happen and keep it going, as Warsaw First UMC continues to become “One Church, Two Locations” for the glory of God.

4. VARIETY OF SMALL GROUP OPPORTUNITIES

Several years ago, the“40 Days of Purpose” program launched a church-wide focus on the importance of small group ministries. This has expanded to include Bible studies during the day, Disciple Bible study in the evening, Emmaus reunion groups, Stephen Ministry gatherings, and other small groups that come together for study and fellowship. These gatherings create meaningful relationships with one another in the congregation, as well as the opportunities to learn and grow in the faith. It is obvious that those who are involved in these groups highly value both the relationships and the faith development.

5. THE PEOPLE

Over the course of many conversations, listening to focus groups, and reading online surveys, the consultation team became convinced that “people matter” at Warsaw First UMC. Several described their experiences here with warm, encouraging phrases. We heard: “It feels like home here,” “This place is friendly, open, authentic, and accepting,” “I like how we care for each other,” “I like how I feel when I walk through the doors,” and, “I know there are people here who really care about me.” This kind of support is a great strength for any congregation. It is a high value to experience God's love incarnate in other people’s lives, and find the nurture, support, and encouragement needed for daily living.

CONCERNS

Warsaw First UMC’s five areas of greatest concern are as follows:

  1. LACK OF UNITY

Jesus’ last recorded prayer while with his disciples included a prayer that future believers might be one. The consultation team has detected a lack of such unity within Warsaw First UMC. The team heard concerns raised over an undercurrent of negativity related to the church’s decision to be one church in multiple locations. This affects the church’s mission, wears on leaders, saps precious energy, and harms the church’s witness in the community.

Contributing to this sense of disunity is the lack of an understanding of what God is calling Warsaw First UMC to do now. Also, leaders voiced the desire for a strategic plan that will guide the church forward. Without a plan, leaders are unable to set goals and measure effectiveness and align staff and ministries. As a consequence, the congregation has been experiencing a lack of forward momentum.

  1. NEED TO FOCUS ON SPIRITUAL HEALTH

As mentioned in the strengths, the congregation has a significant number of spiritual growth opportunities, yet the church’s leaders cited the need for spiritual renewal within the congregation. The church lacks an intentional system to help persons—both new and longtime attenders—to grow in their faith in Jesus Christ. This includes inconsistent welcome of newcomers at worship services (as mentioned by the Mystery Guest Worshipers Report), a lack of clear next steps for persons who join the church, and a lack of intentional development of new groups.

  1. LACK OF LEADERS AND VOLUNTEERS

Warsaw First UMC has many highly committed volunteers that serve in one or more of the church’s many ministries. Yet, the consultation team heard leaders of various ministry areas bemoan the lack of committed volunteers. Leaders acknowledged that it is not uncommon for committees to only have half of their members attend meetings, that they need to do a better job of matching peoples’ passions and callings to appropriate ministries, and to more intentionally develop new leaders. In addition, the consultation team discovered a lack of intentional goal setting and accountability to the mission.

  1. AGING CONGREGATION

In the pre-consultation survey, “aging congregation” was lifted up as the greatest concern of the church. The church’s average age is significantly older than the average age of the community, which is 37 years. Approximately only 25% of the area’s population is over 50 years of age; however, 63% of the church is over 50 according to the church’s Self Study document. There is wide concern within the church over the lack of young people, especially youth.

  1. OUTREACH EFFORTS NOT RESULTING IN DISCIPLE MAKING

The consultation team observed that local community outreach ministries are vitally important to the congregation but also noted a lack of intentional relationship building, invitation, and follow-up to connect people to the life of the church. This results in lost disciple-making opportunities.

Furthermore, the mystery guest worshipers expressed frustration at the lack of clear signage forparking, entering the building, and navigating the downtown facility. Mystery guests described the building as a confusing maze.

MINISTRY ACTION PLAN

In order to address the above concerns, Warsaw First UMC must execute the following:

1. UNIFYING AND COMPELLING VISION

A.The congregation understands that the day this consultation report is accepted, should that be the case, this congregation will continue to embrace the mission statement, “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

B.The congregation will have a worship service, with an emphasis on prayer and forgiveness, to reaffirm God’s mandate for making disciples and transforming the world. This will allow the membership to be fully prepared for Jesus’ vision for the future. This service will be coordinated by the FCJ prayer coordinator, in consultation with the pastors, by June 1, 2014.

C.The pastors, in consultation with the coach, will establish a task force to develop an intentional strategy to help the congregation better understand and embrace its vision to be one church in multiple locations. This task force will do the following:

  • Assess the strengths (e.g. ministry impact, finances, etc.) of each of the three sites—downtown, Lucerne Park, and Connection—and develop ways to regularly share and celebrate the stories of how God is working through each site
  • Explore how other multi-site churches are maintaining a unified spirit
  • Work with an outside professional to help the church deal with unresolved conflict
  • Develop a branding plan that will be used both inside the church and out in the community that will project Warsaw First UMC as one church with multiple locations

The task force will present its strategy to the Ad. Council for adoption and implementation by July 1, 2014.

D.The coach will conduct a Visioning Workshop for the congregation by August 1, 2014. The purpose of this workshop is to begin to dream of how God wants to work through the congregation in the future, both individually and collectively, to reach the surrounding community. The identification and development of the congregation’s spiritual core values may be incorporated into this activity.

Following the Visioning Workshop, the pastor and the leadership of the church will begin the process of developing the vision based on its present statement of “Connecting with God and one another.” The vision will be presented to the Ad. Council for adoption and shared with the congregation by November 1, 2014.

Upon adopting the new vision, every leader in the congregation will learn how to set measurable goals according to the mission and vision by December 1, 2014. All measurable goals must be set by March 1, 2015. Ministries not aligned with the mission and vision will be given time to adapt or be discontinued. All future ministries must be aligned to the mission and vision and reviewed annually.

2. CLEARLY DEFINED DISCIPLESHIP PATHWAY FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH

The pastors, in consultation with the coach, will put together a team of three persons by August 1, 2014, to create an intentional discipleship pathway to help people become fully committed followers of Jesus Christ. The discipleship pathway will be designed for beginning believersand ones maturing in faith. This discipleship pathway will represent a lifelong process. The team will discern a faith development plan within a Wesleyan model that encourages all persons to:

  • connect and grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ
  • help transform them by studying the beliefs and principles of the Christian faith, and understand that holistic stewardship is a spiritual matter
  • provide connection opportunities with other believers for support and accountability through small groups
  • identify and connect with God’s purpose for their lives
  • connect with opportunities for risk-taking service and mission
  • invite others into a relationship with Jesus and His church

The team will study the Mystery Guest Worshiper Reportandstrengthen the church’s hospitality of worship guests at all sites. This pathway will also provide a clear means for newcomers to become incorporated into the life of the church.

This discipleship pathway will be presented to and be adopted by the Ad. Council, for implementation in the life of Warsaw First UMC at all ministry levels, by December 1, 2014.

3. DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR LEADERS, VOLUNTEERS, AND STAFF

The pastors, in consultation with the coach, will establish a Leadership Development Team, by January 1, 2015, to create a comprehensive and intentional plan to develop and deploy leaders (paid and unpaid) for the mission and vision of the church for all age-level ministries. This plan will include the following three areas:

A. Leadership development and training, which will include:

  • Regular training and leadership opportunities for lay ministry leaders and volunteers
  • Participation in the Accountability Leadership workshop led by the coach
  • The ongoing practice of mentoring others through the use of apprentice leaders or co-chairs
  • The rotation of chairpersons and committee members, and
  • Use of spiritual gift, personality profile inventories, and other resources

B. Alignment of all staff, volunteers, and leaders’ roles with the mission and the vision.

C. Leadership and staff practices:

  • The regular practice of spiritual disciplines—for example, prayer, retreats, tithing,regular worship attendance, service, demonstrating the “Fruit of the Spirit"
  • The use of goal-setting and strategic planning, as well as accountability for the goals
  • Development of leadership covenants
  • Importance of participation at regular staff meetings
  • Documented policies and procedures on how decisions are made, and
  • Results-based job descriptions and regular evaluations of all paid and unpaid leadership positions

This comprehensive plan will be completed by May 1, 2015

4. FOCUS ON NEXT GENERATION MINISTRIES

The pastors, in consultation with the coach, will establish a Next Generation Ministry Team by January 1, 2015, to develop a plan to reach the next generation of young people for Christ and the church. This team, working with skilled professionals from the Indiana Conference, will review current age-level ministries (children through young adults), and createa plan to further support, and develop inspiring, intentional,enhanced ministries with children, youth, and younger adults at all sites.

This plan will include the following components:

  • Evaluate all the current programming and needs of these current ministries to determine next steps to better reach target audiences
  • Explore staffing configurations and needs for each age level
  • Identify, recruit, train, and launch volunteer teams to support these age-level ministries
  • Develop strategies to expand the number of participants involved in each
  • Evaluate the existing Safe Sanctuaries Policy and its utilization
  • Visit at least three congregations of equal or larger size to learn from effective ministries in those areas
  • Address childcare needs of younger adults participating in the life of the church,and align all children, youth, and young adult ministries to the discipleship pathway.

The plan will begin to be implemented by May 1, 2015.

5. DEVELOP A PLAN FOR CONNECTING PEOPLE TO GOD AND THE CHURCH

A.The pastors, in consultation with the coach, will establish a team by May 1, 2014. This team will develop an outward-focused strategy for the church to reach and connect with the community. This team will do the following:

  • take an inventory of all the points of contact that the church already has with its community, through community outreach ministries and members’ relationships
  • encourage members to intentionally learn the names of those identified above, and develop next-step actions to deepen relationships with them
  • develop bridge events to invite them into the life of the church and the discipleship pathway

This strategy will be presented to the Ad. Council for adoption and implementation by September 1, 2014.

B.Trustees will analyze interior and exterior signage needs from a guest’s perspective, including review of the Mystery Guest Worshiper Report. Signage should make it easy for a guest to find parking, entrances, restrooms, nursery and sanctuary without assistance. The team will analyze signage needs (including bi-lingual) and use of social media to create awareness of the church’s ministries. Recommendations should be made to the Ad. Council by August 1, 2014.

CONCLUSION
We, the consultation team, want to thank you for the opportunity to serve your congregation in this manner. Our prayers and hope for your congregation is that God will use this process to help implement your mission effectively, create a compelling vision and make an eternal difference in Warsaw for the Glory of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
David Neckers, Lead Consultant

Herb Buwalda

Ed Fenstermacher

Heather Olson-Bunnell

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Town Hall Dates:

Tuesday, March 4, 10am, Downtown

Thursday, March 13, 6pm, Connection

Sunday, March 16, 5pm, Connection

Church Conference:

Tuesday, April 1, 2014, 6pm, Downtown

February 15, 2014

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