Knowing Ourselves: The First Presbyterian Church Mission Study
Bidding farewell to a senior pastor of 27 years is not easy. Pastors and church members mutually shape each other, and we had, over nearly three decades, grown into a comfortable, custom fit here at First Presbyterian. We cherished our former pastor, as he cherished us.
Still, as you’ll read in these pages, the Holy Spirit has set something stirring inside us as a body – an openness to a new style of leadership that will make better ministers of us all, members and staff alike. We are ready, even eager, for spiritual challenge and growth. We long to bind ourselves even more strongly to each other, and, with those bonds strengthened, to turn outward and better serve our community and our world.
We have high expectations of our senior pastor, and we want our senior pastor to have high expectations of us. As a body, we have an abundance of gifts for ministry, and we have discerned a desire to expend those gifts more fully, to give of ourselves more completely as we learn, love, and serve together in the name of Christ.
The Mission Study in Brief
In March 2017, we assembled a ten-member team (see Appendix A for names) to explore the environment within and outside our congregation. Our goal was to answer three questions drawn from Gil Rendle’s book Journey in the Wilderness, which our Session studied together a few years ago. Those questions are:
(1) Who are we?
(2) Who is our neighbor?
(3) What is God calling us to do now?
Members of the team were chosen based on their strengths and gifts. They discerned which facets of the study they felt drawn to pursue.
· Assemble church history
· Gather community and congregational demographics
· Compile financial and membership data
· Conduct community leader interviews
· Conduct “interviews on the street”
· Facilitate staff conversations
· Discern congregational goals
· Conduct a congregational survey
· Write the final report
Hands-on work commenced in April 2017 and was guided by the book Discerning Your Congregation’s Future: A Strategic and Spiritual Approach by Roy M. Oswald and Robert E. Friedman, Jr. Our work ended with the presentation of the Mission Study report to the Session on Oct. 8, 2017. What you are about to read are the vision and direction discerned from that work.
Past Informs Present: A Historical Perspective
Due to the abundance of fast-flowing water from Lake Winnebago and the Fox River, Neenah-Menasha attracted industrious Yankee entrepreneurs who put the river to work driving their flour milling equipment and later large papermaking machines. This attracted workers and other citizens to the twin cities. They lived in peace with the Menomonee and Winnebago Indians who also inhabited the area.
The First Presbyterian Church of Winnebago Rapids was chartered on Dec. 15, 1848, six months after Wisconsin became a state. The only other church in the area was the Congregational Church, established the year before. In the 1860s, a difference in doctrine swept the Presbyterian Church nationally. The issue was predestination, and two camps divided the national church into Old School and New School. In 1864 that issue, and the issue of slavery, reached Neenah. A group of about 25 New School members left the First Presbyterian Church and joined the Congregationalists. That combined membership chose to worship as the Second Presbyterian Church. The two Presbyterian churches reunited in the late 1860s as the First Presbyterian Church of Neenah, and in 1870, the Reverend John Chapin became the minister. He was responsible for church growth, a new building, and establishing the Brigade, a youth organization imported from Europe that is still a viable institution in Neenah, located next door to our church building.
Chapin’s concern about the boys out on the streets after curfew led him to introduce the Brigade, which embodied Christian principles. All boys who joined had to attend a church of their choosing. This led to one of our members purchasing an island for a camp, and others to lead and nurture the youth of Neenah-Menasha. The church has maintained a close tie to the Brigade.
We have a long history of welcoming the stranger. Under Chapin’s guidance, we took in people from Peshtigo, Wis., who lost everything in their great fire in 1871. We sponsored missionaries to Cameroon and Korea through World War II. We sponsored displaced persons after World War II, after the Vietnam War, and after the Serbian-Croatian uprising. We are now working to support a refugee family from the Middle East.
We have been fortunate to have key ministers like Reverend Chapin, who served our congregation for 33 years, at pivotal points in our history to shepherd us through trying times in world events. The Rev. Marquis during his 16 years saw steady growth of church activities, particularly that of the Sunday School and the work of missions. Our Sunday school program in the 1920s was a national model for Presbyterian Sunday schools under its superintendent, a member and local industrialist. We have continued to have a strong youth program that has encouraged our youth to learn about Christ in formal settings and through mission trips. Over the years our youth have traveled to Canada, Mexico, Kentucky, Detroit, New York, and Pine Ridge, SD. They have built sheds for Habitat for Humanity and helped our local neighbors with yard and household tasks.
Dr. Jones saw the congregation through World War I, creating a refuge during this time of storm and throughout his 16 years. Under Dr. Courtney, the Women’s Society was organized and the Men’s Club was formed, creating fine fellowship and a chance to hear speakers of note. It was during this time Mrs. Babcock donated the Aeolian-Skinner organ to our church.
Attendance began to outgrow the building and talk of building a new church arose. The Rev. Dr. Peters arrived in 1944 and worked throughout World War II with the Board of Deacons to minister to the nearly 200 servicemen and women from this church with letters, magazines, and church bulletins and news. He left after only three years, but the new church building continued to be a topic of conversation.
The Rev. Bouquet arrived in 1947 and ministered to the congregation for 29 years. Under his leadership, we celebrated our 100th birthday, installed our first female elders, and realized our dream of a new church building. Thanks to the early entrepreneurs and industrialists who founded our cities, as well as others who came after them and who were active members and officers of our Presbyterian Church, we had ample financial resources. Our current church, built in two phases dedicated in 1951 and 1954, is a testament to their generosity. At that time, we were debt free and recipients of bequests to help us keep the mission of our church alive and well. Through our endowments, we are able to send youth to camps, pay some tuition for students at Carroll College and other institutions of higher learning, and offer grants to local charities, congregations, Presbytery, Synod, Presbyterian colleges, and world relief.
The Rev. Moore arrived in 1989 and saw the church building through an upgrade to fit the modern needs of our church families. This involved significant long-term planning and introspection on who we are and who we want to be. He served as our minister for 27 years, until 2016.
Our music connection with Lawrence University has been long and rewarding. Lawrence students sing in our choir in exchange for scholarships. We have had faculty playing our organ, leading our choirs and hand bells, and performing in special musical and organ offerings.
We are an open church, intentional on gender issues, and use inclusive language in our services. We continue to Learn, Love, and Serve and invite all to attend our church. This mission is relatively new to us as a church, but evolving.
And here we are in 2017, 169 years old, and still working to be a force of Christian stewardship and love in our community and the world.
Who We Are in Context: Demographics of Congregation and Community
Of the 368 household addresses on our mailing list, 246 (67%) are in Neenah’s 54956 zip code. One can understand our congregation in context by comparing U.S. Census and American Community Survey data for the 54956 zip code to data from two sources: (1) our congregation’s 2016 statistical report to the PC(U.S.A.); and (2) our 2017 Congregational Survey, conducted as part of this Mission Study. (Appendix B offers more detail on demographic trends in our congregation.)
These data suggest that, collectively, we members of First Presbyterian Church are:
· Overwhelmingly white, like our community.
· Older than our community, like most mainline Protestant and Presbyterian congregations.
· More affluent than our community, and more affluent than members of the PC(U.S.A.) as a whole. 61% of PC(U.S.A.) members have a household income of $50,000 or more, according to the Pew Research 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Study; 78% of our 2017 Congregational Survey respondents reported an income of $50,000 or more.
Demographic Measure / Neenah 54956(2010 U.S. Census) / First Presbyterian
(2016 Statistical Report)
% White / 95.6 / 97.1
% Black / 1.5 / 0.0
% American Indian / 1 / 2.1
% Asian / 2 / 0.6
% Hispanic / 3.4 / 0.3
% Age 25 and under / 32.1 / 30.1
% Age 26-44 / 27.3 / 22.5
% Age 45-54 / 16.8 / 11.1
% Age 55-64 / 11.8 / 12.7
% Age 65+ / 12.0 / 22.8
Demographic Measure / Neenah 54956
(2014 American Community Survey) / First Presbyterian
(2017 Congregational Survey; 160 respondents)
% w/ Household Income $50K-100K / 37.6 / 41.7
% w/ Household Income $100K+ / 22.8 / 36.1
Note: The sum of race data for the 2010 U.S. Census is greater than 100% because some individuals identify as more than one race.
Making Meaning Together: Congregational Mission and Meaning Statements
Inspired by their reading of the aforementioned Rendle book, the Session in 2014 undertook an effort to write a mission statement – our first such effort since the mid 1980s. The process began with a Saturday retreat and unfolded over eight months, with pro bono support from and facilitation by professional writer and FPCN member Peter Tolly. We arrived at a “collapsible,” three-tier mission statement encapsulated as Learn, Love, Serve.
LEARN about Christian faith through worship and study.
We praise and honor God through music, providing musical education for all age groups.
We create an educational environment for all to learn and grow in faith.
We welcome new viewpoints into our discussions of faith through challenging sermons and by being open and honest as a congregation.
LOVE our neighbors as Jesus taught.
We invite and welcome persons of any age, ability, race or ethnicity fully into the life of the church, recognizing and respecting all sexual orientations and gender identities.
We nourish a sense of community and belonging through a range of weekly group activities for all ages.
We organize support for church members in times of need and celebrate together in times of joy.
SERVE God by serving others.
We strive to make a tangible, positive impact worldwide through regular service projects and yearly mission trips for youth and adults.
We commit our time and talent to the life of the church and toward the wellbeing of the community.
We cherish ongoing traditions in the church while exploring new ways to show gratitude and generosity.
More recently, on a fall Sunday in 2016, some 100 members of the congregation gathered at round tables in the Fellowship Hall. Informed by a 170-year congregational timeline to which we’d all contributed over three weeks, interim pastor Terry Hamilton-Poore charged us with writing meaning statements at our tables. We took turns sharing our meaning statements with the full group.
Then the meaning statements were posted in the cloister – our main thoroughfare from the sanctuary to Sunday morning coffee and goodies – for three weeks of “dot-voting.” Members placed three stickers on the meaning statement(s) that most spoke to them. Each of us could vote for three different meaning statements, or we could place all of our dots on one statement.
With the votes of 133 members in, six meaning statements rose to the top:
1. We have a long history with refugees. Should we consider sponsoring a Syrian family? (41 votes)
2. (tie)
- When youth activities are strong there is energy and growth. (33 votes)
- When relationships within the congregation flourish the church grows. We need more activities that allow us to get to know one another outside of worship. (33 votes)
3. The population of the church has changed and aged – we need to do more to grow/recruit new members. (32 votes)
4. Music is important to us. (27 votes)
5. We are just beginning to grapple with difficult issues, such as LGBT. We don’t really talk about them. (26 votes)
Other “honorable mention” meaning statements connect strongly to these top six:
Our church’s commitment and energy around local and international community is a strength we can use to grow, especially if we empower those we are helping. (12 votes) – Relates to 1
This congregation cares about people – especially children, the homeless and the less fortunate. (21 votes) – Relates to 1 and 2a