CLEARING OUR VISION - UPDATE MAY 2008

Whilst not being high profile, the COV Implementation Group has been steadily working in the background building on the aims and objectives set out below.

First Aim:

Our first aim is to strengthen and deepen relationships within the church family and to build trust and a sense of belonging amongst all its members.

• Objectives
• The objective is to identify and task a group of people to act as Welcome Teams at church services. Primarily these people would look out for and help put newcomers to church services at ease.

• Second Aim:

To see every member utilising their gifts effectively in support of church’s ministry

Objectives

• To organise a Parish Network Course(s).

• Third Aim:

To see all members grow in their faith and Christian life and developing closer relationships with each other and support for each other.

Objectives

• The key objective is to develop a small group strategy and structure, encouraging member participation, which will deepen the understanding members have of the Bible and increase involvement in both Bible study and prayer.

• Our Timeline and Resource Plan

The overall vision as set out previously is for the next 6 year period and describes how the church is envisioned at the end of that period. To achieve this, it is recognised that specific priority aims and objectives will need to be set over each phase of implementation. The first 3 priorities have been set out above and a target of 2 years has been set for fulfilment of these. In terms of resources a core group has been set up and they will be supplemented from the wider Parish Family into what will be called Aim teams.

As is so often the case many in projects of this nature, a certain amount of flexibility has had to be employed in order keep the ball rolling. In our case the Vision Implementation Group found it easier to plan and introduce Aim 2 before Aim 1. As a result the first Parish Network Course was advertised and subsequent took place over 6 weekly sessions from 26^th October – 29^th December 2007. In all nine Parishioners attended and armed with the insights they gained during the course are now in the active process of honing and focusing their skills in order to take up new roles of service within the life of the Church.

It is planned to organise another Network Course at some point during this current year and it is hoped that other members of the congregations will sign up for this and take go on to their places in the service of the God and the Parish.

With regard to Aim 1 – that of setting up welcome teams – the required training has been difficult to source. However we are hopeful that by April/May this will have been rectified and movement on this front will be forthcoming.

In the light of the results from the original questionnaire one of our house groups was revamped into a Bible Study group meeting in the Sanctuary on alternate Tuesday evenings and with regular attendance now between ten and fourteen parishioners this has proved encouraging.

In the neighbourhood survey the question, “What would you like to see the churches do in this area”? was asked and 43% of respondents stated that they would like to see more done for young people in the area. Since then “Soul Food 4 Kids” a programme providing activities for the young people of the Parish and the area was launched. It is proving very successful and has recently become a weekly event supervised by volunteers from the Church on a rota basis.

We hope that as the process progresses more members of the congregations will feel drawn to committing to more active role within the daily life of the Parish.

CLEARING OUR VISION

Earlier this year I was tasked with heading up the “Clearing Our Vision” Team for Donaghadee Parish Church, the project having been approved by the Select Vestry. During this process we will be working hand in hand with Evangelical Ministries who have been guiding and assisting us.

Recently you have been presented with some “teaser” leaflets which have either been left in the pews or have accompanied your Order of Service sheets. We hoped that these would have aroused your curiosity and indeed some of you have already been asking questions, mainly, “What’s this all about?” In this short article I hope to address that question and perhaps a few others.

To cut long story (and it is a long story) short, “Clearing our Vision” is a process in which the “Health” of our Church will be measured. Space does not permit me going to go into the full details of process but suffice it to say that at the end of it we will know what sort of Church we really are in terms of our progress along the road which Jesus sent us when he said,

“ …and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8).

This is a road that we all - individually, as well as collectively - have be sent along and not surprisingly the process of “Clearing our Vision” will require all of our individual and collective input. For some of us the process has already begun and behind the scenes we have been working to prepare for two major events.

The First of these is a Congregational Survey. Shortly (if you haven’t already) you will be receiving a Survey Form on which there are a number of questions with up to five possible answers. All you have to do is put a tick in the box which answers the question from your point of view. In other words you’re being asked to give your opinion as to how things are going (or not!) within the life of Church. Each questionnaire is accompanied by an envelope so that when it is complete you can seal it and return it. It is completely anonymous so you can be as honest as you feel you need to be. You have my guarantee that no-one from the Parish, myself included, will ever get to see your individual responses.

All the responses will then be added together and analysed using a special computer programme by Evangelical Ministries and the final collective results will be available for all of us to see. They will show us in which areas of our Church life we are strong and hopefully give ourselves a well deserved pat on the back, and also the areas in which we are not doing so well.

That brings me to the second event which will begin on Thursday 19th April. On that date and on the following five Thursday evenings, as a Parish Family, we will look at the Survey results in depth. Together we will also look at the areas in which we are not doing so well and decide how best we can put things on the straight and narrow.

You will notice that I have used the words “we”, “us”, and “together” quite a bit. Let me assure you this is quite deliberate on my part. 

This process is most definitely not about any individual or small number of individuals wanting to take the Church Family in a direction decided upon by them. No, this process is about us as a Church Family beginning to fulfil the role that God wants us to play right here in our Community. It is about Growth, it is about Mission, but most of all it is about working together as God’s people in Donaghadee.

As the Rector has pointed out in his letter we, as a Church Family, are on a wonderful journey, a journey that we hope will take us - like the journey undertaken by Israel - to our Promised Land. Like them we have been through some good times and some not so good. Perhaps on occasion we have even wandered around in the odd circle. In order to ensure we are on the right track we must occasionally stop and take stock. This is such a time. The process that we are about to undertake will, if we own it together by completing the Survey, tell us exactly where we are at this moment in time.

Only when we know where we are can we make accurate plans and decisions about where we are going and how we are going to get there. This is not something that the Rector or the Select Vestry can do for us. The only way we are going to succeed on this journey is if we travel together. I cannot stress this strongly enough.

I whole heartedly believe that we are being given a great opportunity here. An opportunity to become the Church that God intended us to be, but for that to happen, together we must be able to visualize our future and to do that we must first “Clear Our Vision”.

I’ll end by borrowing upon an old WW 1 slogan.

“Your Church

needs

YOU!.”

Will you join us?

Alan Harbinson