Looking Ahead Part Two (The Sunday Meeting)

I spoke on the phone today with a friend from college. He asked what I was doing and at the time I was crunching numbers of an evaluation survey the Operations Team just completed. We chatted about the information I was gaining and insights that are being informed. And then he said something that really stuck me. He said, “It must be nice to have passed the first year mark and be able to evaluate; prior to that you just didn’t have much to compare against.” That’s exactly where I’m at on this stuff, and the results are coming in and there are some things that we need to address.

That’s what this series of posts is all about. Looking ahead at where we’re going, what our vision is. A year and a half ago, a group of faithful people partnered with me to see the vision of a new church come to be. Here we are with that vision underway, but where to from here? It doesn’t look like we said we wanted it to look. We have to recalibrate to make adjustments to get to where we said we were going.

Along the way we’ve added many new friends and members to the church who are grateful for where we are, but are not sure of what their part is in helping to advance the church. Hence the need for vision revisited.

I hope to synthesize some thoughts as I write these posts.

The primary area of our vision is about Sunday Morning. You may remember that in political terms the nineties were marked with the slogan, “It’s the Economy Stupid”. When it comes to church ministry a similar truism is at play, “It’s the Sunday Morning Service Stupid.”

Our Sunday Mornings have yielded practical and relevant teaching of the scripture and an opportunity to gather as the family of God. It’s a place that provides the flagship of our ministry effectiveness connecting new people to the work that God is doing at Severn River Church. One of our major needs is better organization of responsibilities among our people to make the Sunday Meeting happen. The FaithWorks ministry is designed to mobilize volunteers to specific roles on Sundays. We have not even come close to the vision we share for Sunday morning. The reality is we can’t get there from here. A dozen people have worked hard for a year to make Sunday mornings what we want them to be, but the fact is we need dozens of people in a host of areas including Production Crew (set-up), Audio/Video Technologies, Music, Children’s Church, and Guest Care to go to the next level. For most of the first year we had a volunteer who worked to manage the people resources necessary to cover the bases. That person stepped down, and with it I allowed the work of covering the bases to diminish. But now is the time to regroup and regain the perspective of what we’re shooting for. Every person has the ability and responsibility to serve God. We are making a greater effort to manage the efforts of those of you who are putting your faith into action, by serving your church family.

In recent weeks we’ve seen that the size of our congregation is growing. If we mobilize the people that God has given us, we can get to the vision of what Sunday morning ought to be. A place where a family of friends gathers to enjoy each other and worship there God. A place where we are a family expecting guests and warmly receiving new members into the family of friends. A vibrant place, a growing place, where people are connecting with God and his people in Community, Transformation, and Leadership Development. That’s a vision worth moving towards. That’s the vision we have.

Please participate by indicating on your Connection Card Sunday where you will volunteer.

--Ben