October 8, 2011
Mission Statement
To be a place of Grace, a community where all are welcome:
· to experience the grace of God through worship, study and action,
· to celebrate our diversity and history,
· to care for our community and each other,
· to serve Christ daily in our lives and work.
Grace church Goals
· Increase participation and inclusion of those seeking God within the ministries of Grace church.
· Develop and practice way of bringing deeper spirituality and healing into the lives of parishioners and our neighbors.
Present: Carol Lyon, Grace Staples, Ruth Bertram, Judy Handy, Marjorie Shadd, J White, David Mukasa, Roger Perna, Wanda Miller, Bill Jenne, Ken Lyon, Chuck Bowles
Introduction: Carol introduced the meeting by explaining that the purpose of this, the first of two meetings, is to get a better picture of the current state of Grace Church.
How has Church Changed: Ken led a discussion of how Church has changed since were young, and how Grace Church has changed since each of arrived here.
Church Size Model: Carol shared a Church Size Model that’s often used to better understand how a church operates. Grace, having fewer than 75 average Sunday attendance, is a Family Size Church in this model. One of the attributes of this size church is that power is vested in lay people.
Where is our Energy going? Carol asked each person present to write down all of the Grace activities they participate in and, for each of these activities, write rate the amount of their energy that activity takes, either 1 (low), 2 (medium) or 3 (high).
In the results below, note that this represents only the people in the room, and it’s very approximate in the details. However, the group did think that this gives us a pretty good picture of where our energy is going.
| ACTIVITY | Individual’s Energy | Total |
| Worship | 3,3,3,3,3,3,3,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,1,1,1,1,1 | 42 |
| Building & Grounds/Rental | 3,3,3,3,3,2,2,2,2,2,1,1 | 27 |
| Communication | 3,3,3,3,3,3,3,1 | 22 |
| Administrative | 3,2,2,2,2,2,2,1,1,1 | 18 |
| Finance & Stewardship | 3,2,2,2,2,2,2 | 15 |
| Hospitality | 3,3,3,2,2,1 | 14 |
| Pastoral Care | 2,2,2,2,2,1,1,1,1 | 14 |
| Outreach | 3,3,3,2,2 | 13 |
| Diocese | 3,3,3,3 | 12 |
| Formation | 3,3,2,2,1,1 | 12 |
| Mission Council | 3,2,2,2,1,1,1 | 12 |
| Mission & Formation | 3,2,2,1,1,1,1 | 11 |
| New Members/Member Nurturing | 2,1,1,1,1,1,1,1 | 9 |
| Joy & Happiness | 3,2 | 5 |
Wrapup: Chuck said that Grace Church has some similarities to the business he was managing. When his staff was cut, he had to figure out what was essential to his business area, and he had to find creative ways to use his limited resources to do the essential things, and he had to cut out less essential activities.
At our next Congregational Meeting, we will assess where our energy is going and decide on changes we can make use our energy to maximum effect.
Next meeting: November 12 from 10 am to 12:30 pm. (Note the change from what was previously announced.)
Ken Lyon, 10/17/2011
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