Congregational Vitality and Discipleship Ministry Committee
March 14, 2012
4th Floor Conference
3:15 – 5:15 PM
AGENDA
Attendees:
CVD Ministry Committee of LCM Board: Nancy Lawrence (Chair), Jeffrey Greene, Robbie Carlson, Karen Curtis-Weakley, Susannah Davis, Jeffrey Groene, Trinaka Jamison-Finger, Douglas Lander, Wilma Manchester, Steven Mayers, Akendo Onamwar, Warren Orikasa, John Selders, Anthony Stoik, Tammy Toepke-Floyd, and Nancy Wellman.
CVD Staff (National Offices): David Schoen (Team Leader), Pérsida Rivera-Méndez, Charlene J. Smith, Doris Powell, Kathryn Matthews-Huey, Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi, Waltrina Middleton, Susan Blain, Damaris Velez and Gloria Otis.
Opening Prayer and Introductions
Nancy Lawrence (Chair) – convener
· Catch me in my Scurrying –Lenten Prayer: Guerilla of Grace “Ted Loden.”
Brief introduction by all attendees: name and where they were from.
Bold Inspirational Goals
· Reflections will be revisited later by CVD Ministry Committee (share at least one goal and/or conversation that struck each of the committee members).
· CVD Ministry Committee may connect with David in person or email thoughts to him.
New and Renewing Churches Funding (Pérsida Rivera-Méndez)
We received a total of 18 applications this funding cycle.
Ø 1 Specialized Ministry
Ø 9 for new churches
Ø 8 for renewing congregations
The New and Renewing Funding Review Team is recommending to LCM board 10 congregations out of the 18 received.
Ø 1 Specialized Ministry
Ø 4 New Church starts
Ø 5 Renewing Congregations
********OTHER INFO *********
Ø 6 of the 10 are ONA
Ø 9 of the 10 are A2A
Ø 2 of the 10 are Latino
Ø 4 of the 10 are Euro-American
Ø 3 of the 10 are African American
Ø 1 of the 10 is Multiracial & Multicultural
The New and Renewing Review Team: Rev. Dwayne Royster, Rev. Carla Cheatham, Rev. Dale Parson, Rev. Robert Molsberry, David Schoen and Pérsida Rivera-Méndez. We acknowledge their commitment and diligent review of these funding applications that are being presented to CVD Ministry Committee today for your approval. Thank you.
New and Renewing Churches for Spring 2012 for entire presentation: (see link below)
http://uccfiles.com/ppt/NRChurches0312.ppt
Review Funded Congregations Vote
· CVD Ministry Committee voted as a block for now and will present before the entire LCM board on Thursday, Mar 15, 2012. Need motion to approve all ten for $190,000.00.
Motion: APPROVED
Additional information on churches funded since 2006 through 2011:
· (Pérsida Rivera-Méndez)
o Number of churches: 100 congregational (70 New and 29 Renewing). There were 32 Euro-American and 68 were ethnic congregations.
o Total amount of New and Renewing Congregations: $3,673,999.
o Total amount funded for Conferences (3): A total of $600,000.
o Grand Total: $4,273,000.00
o Question from CVD Ministry Committee: Do we know how many churches are successful? Congregation will be tracked from this point forward.
From Surviving to Thriving Vote (David Schoen)
See link below for entire document:
http://www.ucc.org/lcm/board/spring-2012/FromSurvivingtoThrivingFunding.doc
That LCM enter into covenant with the South Central Conference to support the From Surviving to Thriving congregations in New Orleans Association in the amount of $40,000 over12 months (subject to the availability of funds.) Grants to be dispersed in these amounts: $10,000 to Central St. Matthews UCC, New Orleans LA; $10,000 to Little Farms UCC, River Ridge, LA; $10,000 to Saint Paul UCC, New Orleans, LA; and $10,000 Beecher Memorial Congregational UCC, New Orleans, LA (contingent upon Beecher presentation of growth strategy affirmed by From Surviving to Thriving Leadership Council).
CVD Ministry Committee voted as a block for now and will present before the entire LCM board on Thursday, Mar 15, 2012. Need motion for $40,000 for Surviving to Thriving Initiative.
Question: Why is there $60,000 set aside for the budget? There are two more congregations that has not proposed anything as of yet and may join by the fall.
Motion: Approved
An Initiative to Involve Funded Congregations in Supporting Church Development in the United Church of Christ.
Congregations receiving New and Renewing Funding will be asked to give back to the New and Renewing Churches Endowment Fund to become part of the ongoing movement of church development in the UCC. Just as they have received funding for the benefit of their growth, they can engage in the multiplying of growth in other congregations with their contributions to the endowment.
When a congregation receives funding, they will be asked to “Pay it Forward” by making a donation to the endowment of an amount and at a time of their determination. This is above and beyond their proportional giving (5 – 10%) to Our Church’s Wider Mission. Congregations will be asked in their funding covenant agreement to indicate their intent to Pay It Forward.
Note: Does not need to go to the full board for a vote. Suggest that the CVD Ministry Committee do a vote of affirmation for moving this forward since there has been a discussion.
Motion: Approved
Congregational Vitality and Discipleship Ministry Purpose (David Schoen)
To increase welcoming, accessible and vital UCC Congregations which engage/equip members as well as spiritual seekers to grow in faith and missional discipleship.
Key Focus:
· Create a culture of research and assessment
· Nurture networks and interactive connections with constituencies and partners
· Uplift best practices, centers of excellence and emerging ideas from practioners.
Link for further information: http://uccfiles.com/ppt/CVDMinistries.ppt
National Youth Event (July 10-13, 2012) – Waltrina Middleton
· The largest UCC gathering of youth and the largest denominational gathering w/3000 participants.
· In the past the NYE was often a week before or after the DOC Youth Event.
· Disciples of Christ (DOC) no longer have a youth event and are without a minister for youth and have cancelled their event. UCC has extended an invitation to the DOC to join us for the NYE.
· Check out the NYE website for further information: http://www.ucc.org/youth/nye/
· Contract in the making, as one of the featured keynoters J. R. Martinez, the winner of dancing with the stars. He is a motivational speaker. He works with persons with disabilities and a military spokesperson for military veterans. Forty percent of his body was burned while serving in the military. He talks about self-love and self-image.
· The Collegium has lifted up that they do not want a single youth turned away. The hope and goal that youth who want to attend will attend. The call to sponsorship includes matching sponsorship, support with transportation, and the need for sponsors.
· Currently working on a donations page for sponsorship.
· In addition, if anyone knows of any organizations that either honor or celebrate the UCC core values that may be interested in sponsoring a speaker, activity or an outreach at NYE, please pass on the information.
· Furthermore, there are after-hour activities that include Alternative Youth Hang-Time where dialogue will continue, and speakers will sit-in and connect with the youth.
· Suggestions: Place a link for the most visited website to help with accepting donations. For website addition, post some personal stories of youth who need to be sponsored so there is a face as to who is being sponsored.
Joint Committee Meeting with Publishing, Identity & Communication
Faith Practices Survey and Recommendation - Kristina Lizardy Hajbi
Link: http://www.ucc.org/lcm/board/spring-2012/FaithPracticesEvaluationReport0312.pdf
Option 1: Complete production and release of the first 12 practices (most ideal)
Pros: This would assist the UCC in maintaining covenant with customers who are expecting the first 12 resources, and writers have already completed the writing for these practices.
Cons: Proofreading, design, and editing costs would be continued for several more months, as well as retention of the managing editor and additional staff time and resources.
Option 2: Complete production and release of the first 8 practices (least ideal)
Pros: This would save time, money, and resources in an immediate manner.
Cons: Most writers have already completed writing for the first 12 practices, and many have received payment; so this would not save money in that regard. Rather, time and resources would essentially be wasted for 4 practices. Also, customers were promised the first 12 practices at the very least; so it would be important to maintain covenant with these individuals and congregations.
Option 3: Repackaging and repurposing of Faith Practices for various occasions and settings (neutral)
As to the future of this resource, national staff, users, editors, and writers have all articulated and provided ideas and thoughts regarding the repackaging and repurposing of the resource. Ideas and settings included, but were not limited to, the following suggestions:
- Confirmation classes
- Youth groups
- Vacation Bible School curricula
- Evangelism/new seeker resources
- New member booklets/resources (from the Denomination Identity and History component)
- Lent and Advent resources
- Worship resources
Pros: Along with the repurposing of resources to make content more user-friendly and accessible for a larger audience, this could also increase the sales of these resources and perhaps create new markets for the products. Additionally, it would highlight “the best” of Faith Practices without needing to utilize less helpful content.
Cons: This entails additional costs relating to time and production, and sales from these products may or may not recover these costs and generate revenue.
If this option is a viable one, it is recommended that an individual be contracted for the task of reviewing and repurposing content.
· Option #1 (Moved) – Susannah Davis.
· Voting a recommendation is what the CVD/PIC Ministry Committee is doing.
· Motion was second – Karen.
Call for the question . . . Recommendation CARRIES not unanimous.
Blessings and Appreciation
Addendum
Discussion regarding options for Faith Practices/Recommendation:
· Get option on the floor and get it second.
· No recollection of approval by the board to begin with.
· Seemingly a management decision, rather than a board policy decision.
· Helpful to name an option and say what the recommendation is to staff.
· Report is excellent but does not grasp initial concept.
· What would option #1 cost us? Would it be cheaper and, perhaps better for customer relations to call a halt to the project and give people their money back?
· We are not calling a halt to Faith Practices but we are calling a halt to further development of additional materials.
· Faith Practices is still a new resource but never intended to be linear resource so that it would not go out of date.
· Believing that it was one of the central roles of national setting, particular LCM to produce curriculum. We have in recent incarnation realized great expense and felt that the return was no longer an option to do the traditional curriculum.
· What will be the national churches role toward curriculum production, post Faith Practices? What are the viable options? Ben supports option #1 (a great deal of our resources has been spent in consideration of the 12).
· We will not re-coop all the money we lost but perhaps re-coop half of the monies over the next few years).
· We are breathing new life into the Faith Practices by setting a flat rate and going in that direction.
· Option #1 (Moved) - Susannah.
· First model of $1000 for Faith Practices.
o A second model was $600 to have an annual subscription with everything on the site or they could get different components and group settings.
§ Currently, a simplified the cost of $300 with a subscription and the website is there’s.
· It has been advocated to use our Christian Educators and our AUCE folks who have been the writers to continue writing to help write in a new way by helping congregations to make the curriculum accessible for difference aspects within church life.
· The resource is a valuable resource. There are issues with the resource itself but created to be a cutting-edge new kind of thing.
· Research answers the questions that you ask-not every question can be answered.
· It was said to SECOND option #1 for completion and release of the first 12 Faith Practices.
· Voting a recommendation is what the CVD committee is doing
· Provide a feedback response for others to respond online regarding Faith Practices maybe helpful is its resourcing.
· Motion was second – Karen.
· What will it cost for option #1 to be carried out: All 12 resources are completed and additional cost of $25,000 (a difference between option #1 & 2). We are reaching a $1,000,000.000 investment into Faith Practices.
· We would need to name to complete production in release of the first 12 Faith Practices and it is recommended that Faith Practices not be continued for the full 24 Faith Practices as it was originally designed to produce.
· Majority of users will continue with Faith Practices and has paid for the first 12.
· How are we determining the unit of sales? In accounting, not allowed to take an expense that will go over 5 years. Faith Practices was spread over 5 years. There has been $600,000 invested into Faith Practices. If we stop now, we will still have to invest $420,000 into Faith Practices over the next 3 ½ years-that cannot be booked yet.
· Need to honor the people who did the work. Decrease cost so that it gets to more people and congregations. Cut the losses and use it.
· It is a question of integrity; we need to finish what we say we are going to do.
· Originally out of 24 Faith Practices, 12 already written, 12 to be completed.
· Offer alternative ways/suggestions as to how to use Faith Practices.
· Kristina is involved in a year longer research process and will address a lot of the contextual questions we have.
· There were too many hands in the pot . . . if the final editor is not making sure it’s one voice there is confusion. If there are different writers there needs to be one voice.
· Implement training for the amount of information.
· Concern is the precedent that we might be setting for the future. What are we going to do about curriculum for the future? Policy questions and how do we have the conversation as board members whether or not LCM should be producing curriculum. But, rather a management position about marketing about a project that has not worked the way it was designed to work. If what you are asking of us as board members to share in that responsibility of a project that has not worked, the feeling is very uneasy.