NOBLESVILLE FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

CONSULTATION REPORT
MAY 15, 2016
INTRODUCTION:

We, the Consultation Team, would like to thank the pastors, the staff, the lay leadership and the congregation of Noblesville First for the invitation to consult with this body of Christ. The following observations and Ministry Action Plan are the result of this team studying the following information: 1) Noblesville First self-study document provided by its leaders, 2) FCJ on-line survey, 3) interviews with the pastors, 4) interviews with staff and ministry team leaders; 5) a focus group with participants from the congregation; 6) a meeting with the church leadership, 7) a MissionInsite demographic report of the area’s population, 8) Faith Perceptions Mystery Guest Report, and 9) input from Saturday’s workshop.

Our prayer is that God will use this assessment experience and consultation report to help Noblesville First more effectively make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the community and the world.

STRENGTHS – identified by laity and leaders of Noblesville First.

We heard the congregation justifiably giving thanks for blessings such as a historically strong music ministry, pre-school, and a faithful tradition of community involvement and outreach. The following five strengths were consistently mentioned.

1.The Church’s Location:

While not on a main thoroughfare, the church is located next to the Noblesville High School complex that provides high visibility to those who either live or travel in this area. The campus can be a real asset, complementing the location.

2. Strong Leadership:

The consultation team is impressed with the leadership of the church, including both the pastoral staff and the lay leadership potential. While there is a need to be more intentional about the development and deployment of lay leaders and how decisions are made, the staff and leaders we met impressed us as insightful, committed to the church, and passionate about the mission of making disciples.

3. Outreach to children and youth:

Numerous persons stated that two of the best ministries of the church are the ministries to children and youth. Orange Express and youth ministries are reaching growing numbers of area children and youth. Leaders are excited about the positive direction of both programs, and are vocal about the need to keep growing these ministries.

4. The Transition to New Leadership: The church has had a good year of transition from a Lead Pastor who served faithfully for many years to a new Lead Pastor. People commended Pastor Aaron, Pastor Dick and other staff for the leadership they provided during the transition period. The congregation is working through the inevitable changes involved with the appointment of a new Lead Pastor with grace and faithfulness. We commend the church -laity, staff and pastors- for this healthy, positive new beginning.

5. Underlying Congregational Health: It is clear to us, after reading your submitted materials, interviewing leaders and members, and the Saturday workshop (with more than 200 participants), that one of the strengths of Noblesville First is the underlying congregational health. There seems to be a high level of trust, respect for leadership, love and concern for one another, and a deep desire that the congregation would glorify God by impacting the community and world in life-changing ways.

CONCERNS- identified by laity and leaders of Noblesville First.

1.Lack of a Clear, Shared Vision:

While the church embraces the mission of the United Methodist Church to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, there is no clear, shared, compelling, congregational vision. Over and over again we heard people make statements like “We hope this weekend and the process will help us catch a clear vision and live that vision out.” Another commented, “We hope Noblesville First will have a clear vision that will bring focus and unity.” Noblesville First needs a compelling, organizing, energizing, Biblical vision. The church knows the mission of making disciples but it does not have a vision for fulfilling that mission.

2. Need for a Strategic Discipleship Plan:

Noblesville First is a faith community with a tradition of strong worship, effective preaching, Disciple Bible Study, and Emmaus. There continues to be opportunities for fellowship, Bible study and spiritual growth, but there is no strategic process to help persons—new or long-time members—address their spiritual hunger and grow in their faith. When persons ask “What is next for me in my faith walk?” there is no clear next step.

3. Aging Adult Congregation:

A common theme found both in survey results, face-to-face interviews, and focus groups had to do with a congregation that is aging while not reaching new generations in significant numbers. 76.2% of the on-line survey participants mentioned the concern of an aging congregation, and 62.1`% identified a concern for declining worship attendance. One person said, “We need to figure out how to reach them and connect with them so they stay.” The MissionInsite report says this: “The two largest age groups in the area are 35-54 year-olds and 5-17 year-olds.” Noblesville First will need to take seriously the joy -and challenge- of reaching out to serve, love, and connect with young adults.

4. Lack of Leadership Development:

We heard from some church members -including leaders- that while Noblesville First is blessed with excellent lay leaders there is no intentional plan in place to invite people into leadership, develop them as creative Christian leaders, and deploy new leaders who will be prepared to step up when the time comes. The lack of an intentional plan leads to paid staff being seen as those who are paid to “do” ministry, and a system-wide failure to properly value, develop and steward God-given leadership gifts of all persons. If Noblesville First is to reach its full potential the church will embrace an Ephesians 4:12 model where the purpose of pastors and teachers is to “equip God’s people for the work of serving and building up the body of Christ.”

5. Inconsistent and Ineffective Welcoming Strategies.

Noblesville First, despite well-intentioned efforts to welcome and connect with guests has inconsistent and ineffective welcoming strategies. The “lack of friendliness” to guests was identified as a concern by 22.3% of those responding to the on-line survey. It is evident that the members and friends already active at Noblesville First are attentive to one another before, during, and after worship, but guests felt confused by the many entrances, puzzled by signage and the building layout, as well as being overlooked before/during/after worship.

MINISTRY ACTION PLANS

1. Discern A Clear, Shared Vision:

The congregation understands that the day this consultation report is accepted this congregation will reaffirm The United Methodist Church’s mission: “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

In order to prepare the congregation’s hearts to be unified in this mission, the congregation will enter into a season of prayerful reflection. A pastor and at least one lay person, in consultation with the coach, will create a prayer team of between seven and ten persons. This prayer team will commit to a weekly time of prayer together in the church, praying for the Holy Spirit to ignite and saturate the church. This prayer team will begin by June 1, 2016, and commit at least to one year of intentional prayer for the church in this process.

The church will hold a service of prayer and preparation on a Sunday morning to reaffirm God’s mandate for making disciples and transforming the world. This service will be arranged by the FCJ Prayer Coordinator, in consultation with the pastor, and be held by August 30, 2016.

The coach will conduct a Core Values Workshop no later than August 15, 2016. The pastor and at least one lay person, in consultation with the coach,will create a team of three to five persons to identify the core valuesby September 5, 2016.

The coach will conduct a Vision Workshop no later than September 30, 2016 to discern the vision for the church. The pastor and at least one lay person, in consultation with the coach, will create a team of three to five persons to identify the vision by October 15, 2016.

The team will present the core values and congregational vision to the Church Council for review and adoption by November 15, 2016.

Upon adopting the core values and vision, all ministry team leaders will be assisted by the coach to set strategic, fruitful goals in their respective areas that are in alignment with the newly agreed upon core values and vision. These ministry goals would be completed by February 28, 2017.

2. Create A Clear Intentional Faith Development Process:

To develop a clear discipleship process that helps move people from where they are on their spiritual journey to becoming fully committed followers of Jesus Christ,the coach will lead an Intentional Faith Development workshop by May 1, 2017.

The discipleship process will be designed for everyone, whether a non-believer or one who is maturing in their faith. This discipleship process will represent a lifelong process in which participation in a faith development group will be encouraged and expected. Ministry leaders will discern a faith development process within a Wesleyan model that encourages all persons to:

  • connect and grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ
  • be transformed by studying the beliefs and principles of the Christian faith
  • connect with other believers for support and accountability through small groups,
  • identify and connect with God’s purpose for their lives through prayer
  • participate in opportunities for risk-taking service and mission
  • and invite others into a relationship with Jesus Christ and His church

This plan will be adopted by the Church Council and will be implemented in the life of Noblesville First at all ministry levels by October 31, 2017.

3.Create Congregation-Wide Strategies for Reaching New Generations (including singles and families):

The pastor and at least one lay person, in consultation with the coach, will select a team of seven persons (including youth and young adult representatives), by January 1, 2017, to develop a congregation-wide strategy for reaching younger generations. This team will evaluate: (1) all worship experiences to discern if they effectively connect people with God and each other; (2) small group experiences to see if they effectively address the needs and concerns of the target populations, and; (3) mission outreach experiences to discern that they help grow persons in their faith and relationships.

In order to develop the report the team will:

  • Review resources that explain and emphasize the way different generations approach faith and the church
  • Study the MissionInsite report to determine the number of persons in younger generations within the ministry area of the church, and review the religious data on those generations
  • Visit two other churches who are having success reaching a similar demographic to determine how they developed a plan to do so, and learn the strategies they are using to connect with those generations
  • Interview a number of persons in the generation(s) who the church wants to reach who are not “churched” to gain their perspective of what Noblesville First could do to attract and help them
  • Evaluate current facilities and spaces from the perspective of younger generations to determine if the spaces are child and family friendly, the best possible location and environment for children and youth programming.

Based on the team’s study and evaluation, it will present a plan of implementation (with goals) to better reach new generations. This plan will go to the Church Council for adoption no later than October 15, 2017.

4.Develop An Accountable Leadership Environment

The coach will lead an Accountable Leadership Workshop for the leaders of the church no later than September 15, 2016. Following the workshop, the Lead Pastor and at least one lay person in consultation with the coach, will create a team made up of the pastor(s) and five additional persons who will evaluate the administrative structure possibilities. The proposed leadership structure will be presented and adopted to a Charge Conference in 2016.

Following the adoption of the leadership structure plan:

  • Appropriate leadership positions shall be identified that fulfill the mission and vision

● Ways of identifying, inviting, equipping (including such resources as job descriptions, supervision plans, spiritual and/or personal gift inventories), deploying and thanking leaders shall be developed

● There shall be strategies for keeping the church’s mission and vision in the heart and minds of leaders

  • A clear internal communication strategy will be developed and used by members,

leaders and staff.

The next step will be to revise currently written job descriptions in order to establish clear vision-centered goal-based job descriptions for the staff and ministry team positions. These job descriptions will provide an objective basis for evaluation, accountability, and supervision. This must be completed by April 1, 2017.

Staff and ministry teams will give and receive annual evaluations based on the accomplishment of their goals. The implementation of the model will be coordinated with the Lead Pastor, SPRC, and the coach.

5. Develop and Implement Effective Welcoming & Connecting Strategies

A key component of the Intentional Faith Development Process will include a strategic, congregation-wide strategy for encouraging, welcoming, and following up with new guests. Offering a generous, gracious, genuine and effective welcome involves the entire congregation as a welcoming, connecting network. Noblesville First would live out the love of God by offering radical hospitality to all. This congregation will be known across the region as a congregation that is not turned inward but focused outward, attentive to the presence and needs of those new to the church as well as long-time participants.

The Associate Pastor and the Director of Connections, in consultation with the coach, will select a Connection Team of 3-5 persons by November 1, 2016, to develop a clear process for inviting, welcoming, identifying, following up, and connecting new persons to become more fully devoted and missionally-focused followers of Jesus Christ. The work of this team would include the following steps:

  • Praying through Biblical examples of hospitality and sharing those with the staff, lay leadership and congregation
  • Gather information about congregational hospitality and connections and develop a strategic plan. Information gathering and study that would shape the plan would include
  • 2-3 key written resources on congregational hospitality such as Clip In: Risking Hospitality in Your Church (by Jim Ozier), Fusion, The Race to Reach Out
  • Visit 2-3 central Indiana congregations known for strategic, genuine, and consistent hospitality to guests to learn the keys to their effectiveness;
  • Interview 3-5 persons (church members or non members) who work professionally in the hospitality industry, and have those persons visit Noblesville First for worship on a Sunday morning to offer their insights;
  • Review the insights reported through the FCJ Mystery Guests report.
  • Evaluate the accessibility, clarity, and guest-friendly factors of the facility, web site, newsletter, social media outreach efforts, worship programs, and signage.
  • The welcoming and connection plan will include:
  • a staff person will be assigned to resource welcoming and connecting ministries,
  • an appropriate line item budget for these efforts
  • the establishment of a 3-6 person lay team to assist in doing the following
  • partnering with the pastors in casting a congregation-wide vision of generous, strategic and effective hospitality
  • development of brief job descriptions for functions such as parking lot greeters, entrance greeters, worship ushers, welcome center volunteers, connectors (roving through the building ready to welcome and assist visitors), and responders to new guests
  • recruiting team leaders who will help train, schedule, deploy and celebrate those on each hospitality team
  • The welcoming and connection plan will be presented to the Church Council by March 1, 2017.
  • When the welcoming and connections plan is accepted by the Church Council then the subject of God’s call to be a generous and welcoming community to all will be the central focus of a sermon series soon after the adoption of the plan.

The plan will be fully implemented by April 1, 2017, and then reviewed at least annually.

CONCLUSION:

We, the Consultation Team, want to thank you for the opportunity to serve your congregation through this Fruitful Congregation Journey assessment process. Our prayer and hope for your congregation is that God will use this process to help your church become more effective and fruitful in making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. May God give you courage and strength as you move forward.