Transition Team Report to the Voter Assembly of the Results of the Cottage Meetings
In preparation for extending a divine call for a senior pastor, St. Paul’s members were invited to attend one of 22 scheduled cottage meetings to provide an opportunity for members to share their opinions pertaining to ministry at St. Paul’s. Cottage meetings were held from late September to early November, 2015.
Pastor Moore moderated the same questions at each gathering:
· What is God’s Church supposed to be doing?
· What does your church do well?
· What does your church do poorly or not at all?
· What should the top four ministries of St. Paul’s be?
· What characteristics do you hope our new pastor will have?
Answers and comments received gave a wide view of thoughts from diverse groups. Overall, two attendees were under 20 years old, 11 were between ages 20 and 30, 64 were between ages 30 and 50, 93 between ages 50 and 70, and 100 were over age 70. The demographics of individual cottage groups provided different answer outcomes, e.g. one comment led to another within the group.
As the transition team summarized the answers received, one thing that showed up frequently was the presence of the St. Paul’s Mission Statement – preaching, teaching, and reaching.
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church shares the gospel message of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by preaching the Word of God to all nations. We provide a wide array of local worship opportunities. Our congregation has a strong reputation of incorporating music into our worship services.
A major emphasis of ministry at St. Paul’s is our Lutheran Elementary School. We provide a high level of education while teaching the good news of God’s grace to children through our day school, and recognize life changing events through our Family Life milestones. In addition, we promote spiritual growth through our youth programs and adult Bible study opportunities. However, attendance at Bible study is less than desirable.
St. Paul’s reaches out to the community through special events such as Grace Day, providing Christmas baskets, ministering to migrant farm workers and the Orphan Grain Train. The surveys indicated that there is room for improvement in doing more for the poor and in helping other needy people. In addition, we need to improve in making visitors feel welcome, and in our overall community perception. The members of St. Paul’s do an outstanding job of caring for the elderly through the many acts of volunteerism, and through worship opportunities provided at the Lutheran Good Shepherd Home. The support that the congregation demonstrates to St. Paul Lutheran High School, and the benevolent care of providing funeral lunches to grieving families are two other ways that our congregation shows love and compassion to those people that may need comfort.
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church is a large church in a small town, and we need a leader who understands how to administrate and delegate in a large congregation in a rural community. His age isn’t as important as his ability to relate to the four generations found in our church. We definitely want a “people person”, someone with an enthusiastic, energetic, outgoing, and winsome personality who can preach an inspirational sermon and motivate more of us to be in Bible classes and the study of God’s Word! If he can relate to a wide variety of people, possibly more members will get involved in leadership and volunteering. A pastor who is a shepherd to our members also needs to be kindhearted, friendly and welcoming to members, visitors, in-actives, and a positive representation of our church to the Concordia community. Besides being a worship leader, we need a man who is supportive of Christian education, family ministry, and the spiritual care for the elderly. While the quality of “visionary” was about in the middle of the list of characteristics named in our cottage meetings, we hope our new pastor will have the ability to blend traditions with imminent cultural changes and congregational needs.
In summary, the cottage meetings describe our desire for a pastor who is:
· A people person who is in the Word and doctrinally sound, who can preach and teach effectively. (Titus 2; 2 Timothy 4:3)
· A team player with strong administrative skills who is able to delegate and acknowledge the importance of the other members of the body of Christ. (1 Corinthian 12:12-27; Acts 6:2-4)
· A shepherd with a sense of humor who embraces our cradle-to-grave ministry, and who understands that he cannot by himself fulfill all the ministry needs of the congregation, especially in the areas of education, the youth, the elderly, administration, stewardship and evangelism. (Exodus 18:18-26)
· A conservative visionary who understands small agricultural towns, our traditions, our hard-headedness, and our love for the Lord, while keeping the Great Commission at the forefront. (Matthew 28:19-20)
Respectfully Submitted,
The Transition Team
Mark Heins, Stan Oetting, Paul Heins, Todd Martens, Don Schlesselman, John Beerman, Karen Bauer
Below are the actual responses to each question asked at the cottage meetings. The numbers given are the number of times each answer showed up, so when “22” is beside “Bringing others to Christ, missions, making disciples,” that means that someone at all 22 of the meetings gave an answer that the Transition Team felt fell into this category. Obviously the same exact answers were not given at each meeting, so the Team consolidated and lumped together those answers that seemed close to each other. The line in each section is drawn below the responses that showed up at least ten times, while the responses below the line showed up less frequently. The last column gives the percentage of meetings where this answer was given.
Bringing others to Christ, missions, making disciples / 22 / 100%
Caring for others -poor, needy, visiting shut-ins, prisons / 21 / 95%
Teaching / 19 / 86%
Reaching, bringing to and bringing back to God's house / 18 / 82%
Communion / 17 / 77%
Pray / 17 / 77%
Preaching (the word of God, the Gospel, etc.) / 16 / 73%
In the Word, Bible Study / 16 / 73%
Love our neighbor as ourselves / 14 / 64%
Worship / 14 / 64%
Be good examples to the rest of the community / 14 / 64%
Education (school) / 13 / 59%
Giving of time, talents, and money; stewardship / 13 / 59%
Praise / 9 / 41%
Music, sing, make a joyful noise / 9 / 41%
Fellowship / 8 / 36%
Baptize / 8 / 36%
Service, volunteering / 8 / 36%
Follow God's law/church discipline / 7 / 32%
Witnessing / 6 / 27%
Confess and repent, absolution / 5 / 23%
Thanksgiving / 4 / 18%
Confirmation / 4 / 18%
prepare and care for church workers / 4 / 18%
Love God / 3 / 14%
Fight against wickedness, oppression, sin, injustice, etc. / 3 / 14%
Forward thinking, taking advantage of opportunity / 3 / 14%
pure doctrine / 3 / 14%
Support groups / 2 / 9%
Forgiving one another / 1 / 5%
Trust in God / 1 / 5%
supporting families / 1 / 5%
Working with sister congregations / 1 / 5%
Blessing / 1 / 5%
What does your church do well? / # / %
School / 21 / 95%
Caring for the elderly / 21 / 95%
music and singing, brass, etc. / 21 / 95%
Maintain facilities/stewardship of property / 17 / 77%
Community outreach, such as Grace Day, Christmas baskets, Orphan Grain Train, Migrant workers / 15 / 68%
Milestones / 14 / 64%
Worship opportunities / 14 / 64%
Volunteers with Proclaim, bulletins, Altar Guild, Braille, ushers / 13 / 59%
Funeral meal / 12 / 55%
Preaching / 12 / 55%
Furnishing many church workers / 12 / 55%
Involvement with and support of SPLHS / 10 / 45%
Youth ministry / 10 / 45%
Traditions / 10 / 45%
Good leadership/cultivating lay leadership / 10 / 45%
Sound doctrine / 9 / 41%
Friendly and welcoming / 8 / 36%
Financial support of Missions / 8 / 36%
mission trips / 8 / 36%
Cradle to grave ministry / 8 / 36%
Offer the sacraments frequently / 7 / 32%
Fellowship meals / 7 / 32%
Support and retain staff / 7 / 32%
Visiting the sick / 7 / 32%
Plan for future/capital campaign / 6 / 27%
Financial stewardship / 6 / 27%
Media communications / 5 / 23%
Connecting with area congregations / 5 / 23%
Linking the school with LGSH—programs, songs, pushing wheelchairs / 4 / 18%
Three Ladies Aids! LWML / 4 / 18%
Christmas program / 2 / 9%
What does your church do poorly or not at all? / # / %
Connecting with visitors, too cliquish, not welcoming / 18 / 82%
Poor adult Bible study attendance / 14 / 64%
Community perception and involvement / 14 / 64%
Ministry to young adults (18-28) / 13 / 59%
Ministry with inactives / 12 / 55%
Ministering to our members who are in the public school / 10 / 45%
Fellowship (narthex space) / 10 / 45%
Helping the needy / 10 / 45%
Too few doing congregations business / 7 / 32%
Support groups for specific needs/stages, and counseling / 7 / 32%
No music director / 6 / 27%
Communication (technology) / 6 / 27%
Coordination and cooperation with SPLHS / 6 / 27%
Giving / 6 / 27%
No contemporary service / 6 / 27%
Weakness in Voter meetings structure and attendance (no childcare, etc) / 5 / 23%
Sunday School attendance / 4 / 18%
Keeping youth involved / 4 / 18%
Children involvement and sermon / 4 / 18%
Outreach / 4 / 18%
No Small Group Ministry / 4 / 18%
Recuitment/Training Sunday School teachers / 3 / 14%
Personnel /staffing Plan/Needs / 3 / 14%
Time & Talent Management / 2 / 9%
Sunday School teacher training / 1 / 5%
What should the top four ministries of St. Paul’s be? / # / %
Education ministry / 20 / 91%
Preaching / 14 / 64%
Outreach / 14 / 64%
Benevolent care / 13 / 59%
Youth / 9 / 41%
Family Life ministry / 7 / 32%
Bible Study / 5 / 23%
Music / 2 / 9%
What characteristics do you hope our new pastor will have? / # / %
People person / 17 / 77%
In the Word/doctrinally sound / 15 / 68%
Strong administrative skills/able to delegate / 15 / 68%
Good preacher / 15 / 68%
A sense of humor / 14 / 64%
Team Player / 13 / 59%
Shepherd / 12 / 55%
Passion for Education / 12 / 55%
Enthusiastic/energetic / 11 / 50%
Able to work with all ages / 11 / 50%
Understand small towns / 10 / 45%
Relate to our youth / 9 / 41%
Traditional/conservative / 9 / 41%
Humble/doesn't take himself too seriously / 8 / 36%
Visionary / 8 / 36%
Encourages people to be involved/motivator / 7 / 32%
Embraces, even encourages change, even when the members don’t necessarily want it / 7 / 32%
Enjoys what he’s doing / 6 / 27%
Family man, loves his wife and kids / 6 / 27%
Not too old / 6 / 27%
Missionary / 5 / 23%
Interested in the organizations of the congregation / 5 / 23%
Transparency / 5 / 23%
Community minded / 5 / 23%
Good Teacher / 4 / 18%
Experienced / 3 / 14%
Patient / 2 / 9%
Willing to rest / 2 / 9%
Non-judgmental / 1 / 5%
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