First United MethodistChurch of Auburndale
Five Year Strategic Plan
2014-2019
I. MESSAGE FROM OUR PASTOR: BACKGROUNDAND HISTORY
In 1921, there was a small group of men and women who came together as Christians who had a strong passion to have a Methodist congregation in Auburndale. Over the years that followed they prayed hard and worked hard to see their passion become a reality. From a large tent revival in 1921 eleven members chartered our congregation. It was not long before property was purchased, a sanctuary was constructed and dedicated and the “people called Methodists” had a presence for Jesus Christ in Auburndale.
Many changes have occurred over the past ninety-two years since we were chartered as a congregation and I believe we are at another pivotal point in our history for even more and greater changes.
Since those early days as a newly formed congregation, our world has witnessed WWII and other conflicts and wars, the advent and growing older of a “builder” generation and a “boomer” generation, the age of technology come to dominance, a stock market crash that rivaled the Great Depression, the Christian Community, the Church, be replaced as a dominant presence in society, and many, many other “way of life” altering changes. And yes, we live in a post-Christian culture!
Also, we live and work in an entirely different way than past generations have; the current generations have priorities and values that are drastically different from former years.
These changes, and others, have been cataclysmic in how they have affected the way we live and the ways in which Church proclaims Christ to a needy and confused world.
During the past nine years that I have been Senior Pastor of The First United Methodist Church of Auburndale, many men and women who were the “builders” of our society and especially of our congregation are no longer with us. These men and women have been a crucial ingredient in the health and vitality of this congregation. While our membership rolls have increased over two hundred people in the last nine years there are still many people who need to volunteer to be trained and developed into key leaders and many members who have yet to take an active roll in the life of the congregation. Other factors affecting the health and vitality of congregational life is that many families with children live with different priorities than in prior years as Church life is no longer a family priority. Also, resources, such as talented and gifted people and finances are not readily available in the past.
Who will take up the mantle and fill the much needed leadership roles? With shrinking resources, what is the outlook for ministry in our congregation with children, youth, young families, and especially to our aging. What are we to do?
As I said earlier, we are at a pivotal point in our congregation!
In January of this year, I asked our Staff Parish Relations Team to conduct a study of our short and long term staffing needs. The question on my mind was what kind of ministry positions do we need to consider helping us accomplish the ministry we believe God is leading us to do?
As a result of this request, the Staff Parish Relations Team conducted a comprehensive evaluation of much internal data of our congregation and external data of our community. With over forty people from our congregation coming together as a Focus Group and Strategic Planning Group, we examined information such as community demographics, financial data, tithing data, and attendance data from many of the ministry groups in our congregation and other congregations. This information was utilized to generate valuable discussions concerning our strengths and opportunities and also the weaknesses and threats we want to minimize in the future. From the data that was gathered and the discussions a Strategic Plan was developed for our congregation.
As I mentioned earlier, we are at a pivotal point as a congregation and in the coming days we will have an opportunity for more discussion concerning how to move forward; with many questions to be asked and decisions to be made that will ensure that we continue to have the same drive and passion of the Holy Spirit that those first eleven Charter Members had.
It is an exciting time to be in ministry! God is doing might things among us! How will we respond? My passion and desire is that we will continue to be a healthy and vital presence of “people called Methodist’s” in Auburndale.
Always in God’s Grace
Pastor Doug Townley
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II. THE ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN
A. The External Environment
The information on the external environment comes from the Quick Insite Report from the Florida United Methodist Conference. Our immediate service area is defined as a five mile radius around the community of Auburndale. This report is found in our Strategic Planning Session Information, Pages 4 – 9.
Population in 2012: 65,804 with anticipated growth to 72,458 by 2017
Households in 2012: 25,526 with a slight decline to 25,526 by 2017
Family Households: 2.58 in 2012 with no growth anticipated to 2017
Education: Over 45% of the population has a high school degree, about 12% a bachelor’s degree and 5% has a masters and/or above degree.
Average Household Income: $49,406 in our area compared to the average household income in the state of $70,000.
Below Poverty Level: 14.4% of our population is below the poverty level compared to only 10.3% below average in our State of Florida.
All other external environment located in our Strategic Planning Session notebook under the heading of External Environment.
- The Internal Environment
The information reviewed can be found in the Strategic Planning Session book from pages 12-19. We reviewed finances, giving by households, membership and loss of membership, as well as MissionalVital Signs.
Donations have been declining since 2010; 2013 budget is much higher than 2012 collections, the church has an outstanding loan on the buildings of $465,000; there is a projected loss of income of $26,000 for 2013; Very little of our costs are variable; 97% of costs are fixed; Longterm financial needs are not being met; there is no education on financial planning; Six out of ten years has resulted in cash decreases; In 2012 65%% of congregation gave less than $l,000; 22% gave over $2,000 in 2012.
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C. FirstUnitedMethodistChurch of Auburndale’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis Results
StrengthsWeaknesses
Pastor’s message and leadershipNo short or long-term fund raising
Worship ServicesDecreased giving; increased expenses
MusicLack of financial communication to
Welcoming and joyful environmentleaders, as well as congregation
Mission workFixed costs chokes out ministry opportunities
Learning for all agesNeed more volunteers to help with youth
Connect GroupsLack of Outreach
Location of ChurchLack of families
Church family open to changeLack of youth and children
Volunteers who are committedLoss of Charter Members
Congregation shares money, time, and talentChurch volunteers burnt out
New Member ClassNeed more volunteers
Leadership of ChurchNot enough people profession faith
Helping the homeless on MondayLack of communication and marketing plan
Shortage of volunteers
OpportunitiesThreats
Recruitment of new membersAge of church members higher than
Ability to share “best practices” withaverage population
Similarsize churchesMega churches
Outreach to more ethnicitiesFear of judgment
After-school ministries to reach moreChurch not meeting needs of disadvanged
childrenChurches that use entertainment to get
Address local poverty issuesmore families and youth
Witness more about Christ’s SalvationCompetition of so many churches
Inform others of opportunities our churchFaster changing population
has to offerMedian family income low $50,000
Collaborate with community TV Ministries
Take advantage of our locationSports’ activities compete with Church
Take advantage of nearby schools to Church growth not keeping up with
recruit youth and childrenpopulation growth
Utilize our location moreChurch not ethnically diverse as population Church located in impoverished area which
threatens finances
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III. VISION, MISSIONANDCORE VALUES
VISION
Our Vision is to Love Jesus, Love Others and Serve the World
MISSION
Our mission is to: Connect to God through our Worship, Connect to Others with our
Service and to grow as Disciples as we Connect with God’s Word.
CORE VALUES
Our Core Values and Guiding Principles Are:
Teamwork: We promote and support a diverse, yet unified, team. We work together
to meet our common goals.
Fellowship:We encourage our congregation to beconnected in fellowship withone
Innovation: We are open to new ideas and creativity in everything we do, from our
ministry to our education in learning more about Jesus.
Loving Acceptance: We promote a loving accepting environment for everyoneinvolved
atFirst United MethodistChurch of Auburndale.
Accountability: We are transparent in everything we do. We areaccountable to our congregation, those we serve and those who want to know more about us.
Servant Leadership: We know that Jesus came not to be served but to be a servant to others therefore, we will be servant leaders with servant hearts to others.
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IV. GOALS AND STRATEGIES
Goal 1: Attain a 50% increase in our volunteer pool (based on the average worship attendance) within five years.
Strategies
l.l Develop a Volunteer Skill Bank of the FUMC membership
Action steps include: Survey the current membership at the time of the Stewardship Campaign, Computerize the Volunteer Skill Bank based onthe unique God Given gifts of the membership and create a Volunteer list by area of need by FUMC.
l.2 Identify similar churches to hold a best practice session on recruitment, training, retention and recognition of volunteers.
Action steps include: Utilize the list of similar churches from the Strategic Planning Data to choose churches, select 10-15 churches to invite to a best practice session, create a Best Practice Event with a trained facilitator togain the knowledge of the other churches on this strategy, Document the findings and share with the churches who were invited.
1.3 Strengthen the Nominations and Leadership Development Team
Action Steps include: Create a strong committee to select a talent pool offuture leaders, utilize the Volunteer Skill Bank to identify leaders, equipby creating job descriptions and train leaders, deploy SpiritualLeaders for the mission work of FUMC and create a three-year successionplan for our leadership team at FUMC.
Goal 2: Double our ministries of “Radical Hospitality” to connect with people outside the walls of our church within five years.
Strategies
2.1Identify similar churches to hold a best practice session on how they are reaching more families, youth and children outside the walls of the church.
Action Steps include: Utilize the list of similar churches from the Strategic Planning Data to choose churches, select 10-15 churches toinvite to a best practice session, Create a Best Practice Event with a trained facilitator to gain knowledge of the other churches on this strategy, document the findings and share with the churches who wereinvited.
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2.2 Develop and implement creative partnerships with colleges, schools,police department, educational agencies and/or other community resources.
Action Steps: Meet with 1-3 colleges to recruit interns for FUMC, Selectl-2 of the above organizations to collaborate, fromthe collaboration determine the needs in community of the families, youthand childrenand Identify families in the church and outside the church toconduct a focus group to identify needs.
2.1Focus resources on specific needs of families youth and children
Action Steps: After researching the needs determine the highest priorityneeds based on FUMC resources and utilize the collaboration for additional resources.
Goal 3: Increase church membership by 100% (increase by 250 people) within five years.
Strategies
3.1 Identify similar churches to hold a best practice session to determine whatthey are doing to increase membership.
Action Steps: Utilize the list of similar churches from the Strategic Planning Data to choose churches, Select 10-15 churches to invite to a best practice session, Create a Best Practice Event with a trainedfacilitator to gain knowledge of the churches on this strategy, document the findings and share with the churches who were invited.
3.2 Determine needs by creating a focus group with families attending and not attending FUMC.
Action Steps: Select families from FUMC and families from thecollaboration made with outside organizations to hold the focus group, recruit trained facilitator to hold the session, and document the needs of the families.
3.3 Collaborate and build relationships with different organizations and individuals such as teachers, schools, gyms, where families and youth join.
Actions Steps: Meet with individuals, such as teachers, to determine howwe can invite families and youth to our church, hold focus groups withother organizations to determine best way to reach families and ultimately invite families and youth to our church.
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3.4 Create innovative events that draw families to FUMC
Action Steps: Hold best practice sessions as mentioned above to determine some of the ways other churches reach families, youth and children through events, collaborate with other churches for Vacation Bible School, choose 1-3 events that draw outsiders to our location suchas a music event on our property or a musical contest and intentionally each member invites another family to our church and we hold an event.
Goal 4: Develop a short and long term stewardship plan to increase the financial vitality of our church by 100% within five years.
Strategies
4. Develop and implement an annual stewardship plan that results in the realization of more diverse and sustainable revenue funding stream in order to support and fulfill FirstUnitedMethodistChurch’s financial operational and ministry needs.
Action Steps: Recruit a well-respected couple to chair the first campaign, recruit 5 other people to be on the committee; utilize examples of materials from other churches, develop announcements and materials which highlight the needs of First United Methodist Church of Auburndale; report findings and adjust the budget based on income to be expected.
4.1Combine the Stewardship Strategy with the Volunteer Skill Bank Strategy
Action Steps: In addition to asking for individuals to pledge for 2014 also determine their unique God-Given Skills for the Volunteer Skills Bank, make regular reports in the church bulletin, on web site and/or video announcements.
4.2Focus on the needs of the church with levels of giving
Action Steps: Develop a case statement for what is the fixed costs and ministry costs and how raising more money can benefit the ministries of First United Methodist Church of Auburndale.
4.3Show gratitude in every phase of the Stewardship Campaign
Action Steps: Create computerized information on data and thank every person for every gift, no matter how big or small.
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Goal 5.Increase visibility of our church through the development of acommunication and marketing plan utilizing our unique advantages as achurch community by 100% within five years.
Strategies
5.1Reposition the church by developing and implementing a coordinated strategy that incorporates public relations, communications, marketing and networking. The end result will be to enhance the church’s capacity to gain access, gain support, develop church advocates and enhance resources.
Action Steps: Utilize the collaboration with others in developing a plan, including holding focus groups with appropriate groups to determine the best ways to communicate and market First United Methodist Church of Auburndale.
5.2Integrate a Communication Plan for FirstUnitedMethodistChurch by utilizing every method possible to communicate with members and those we wish to recruit.
Action Steps: Utilize best practices with the list of churches mentioned in other strategies, develop a list of the best ways to communicate to all age groups; include social media, such as facebook, our web site, bulletin, newsletter, etc.
5.3Develop Marketing Strategies that are in line with our vision and mission of First United Methodist Church of Auburndale.
Action Steps: Determine how we want to be remembered by everyone attending First United Methodist Church, develop First United Methodist Church cards (like a business card) for our leadershihp and congregation that contains our vision and mission, determine what we might sell in our church such as t-shirts with our name on it, etc
- IMPLEMENTATION
The implementation will take place in 2014 with the development of our work plan with accountabilities, timeline and progress reports given to our Church Council. The Senior Pastor, Administrator and Ministries Champion will develop the workplan and after assignments are made with lead staff, lead volunteers and team members assigned, quarterly reports on progress will happen at the Church Council meeting.
VI. MONITORING AND REVIEW
On-going with accountability at the Church Council level.
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