Report of the New Beginnings Program
From January to July of 2017, members of The Presbyterian Church of Danville participated in the New Beginnings Program offered through our presbytery. The program consisted of the following:
- An on-site assessment of our church was conducted by an external assessor. The assessor produced a 60-page report detailing current conditions of the congregation and demographic information about the surrounding community.
- Several church members were trained to leadsmall groups through a series of four meetings. In the meetings the details of the assessment were reviewed and discussions were conducted about the current state of the church and a vision for its future. It is estimated that 100-120 church member participated in these four meetings which is over half of the active worshiping community.
- The leaders of the 13 different small groups gathered to share of the results from their groupdiscussions , assess the current condition of the congregation and then to develop a plan of action that will help guide the next phase of our congregation.
The following discussion defines our current status, as discussed by the 100-120 New Beginnings participants, as well as recommendations for the interim period and for our next installed pastor. This report does not represent an action of the session or the church leadership. However, it may serve to inform the church and its leaders as it enters a period of transition upon the retirement of the senior pastor, Rev. James Stewart.
The participants in the New Beginnings process were overwhelmingly hopeful about the future of our congregation, and at this time we are called to redefine our ministry in this place. We propose that our mission redefinition focus onimproving our spiritual formation practices to connect our mission work with our Presbyterian theology and reorganizing our committee structure to support our mission projects.
Our current situation
We are a largely white, middle to upper middle class, educated, traditional bunch of people. Our members function as leaders in many Danville and Boyle County social, government, non-profit, and business institutions.
Mission Work
We regard our local and global mission projects as one of our strengths. Our church’s mission work is characterized by a wide variety of projects that are driven by the visions and passions of individuals. The church supports members when they feel called to a particular mission. Areas of focus for local mission and outreach efforts return to common themes, including opioid abuse, hunger and food insecurity, and the Centre College students. We affirm our project-based approach to missions and desire to support our members in heeding God’s call.
Spiritual Formation
Though we agree that our outreach work defines our congregation, we find ourselves unable to articulate a shared purpose for our actions that would differentiate us from any other non-profit or charity group. One small group summed it up well: “Our members are asked to do a lot of spiritual and literal feeding of other people, but I’m not sure we get fed spiritually.” Current opportunities for adult spiritual formation on Sunday mornings do not seem to be meeting our needs, especially for 30-40 somethings. A few groups called for more Bible-focused adult formation on Sunday mornings, and Mark Tibbles is already leading the Living Word class in answer to this need. Additionally, the informal gatherings in the fellowship hall at 9:30 AM should be recognized as opportunities to forge relationships and foster discipleship. One suggestion is that these informal gatherings have loosely structured discussion topics to promote conversation.
On the other hand, children and youth ministries are regarded as strengths of our congregation. Godly Play, VBS, and PYC are programs that we think should continue. We are encouraged by the number of families in our congregation with babies and preschool-aged children.
Worship and Music
We are proud of our traditional worship service, including our choir and organ. While many participants reported openness to contemporary influences in our worship, the consensus was that we should keep our worship largely unchanged.
Communication
Technology has brought us a variety of avenues for communication, and we accommodate individual preferences for communication via postal mail, email, the website, and social media. However, the variety of communication methods can be so overwhelming that members still report that they “don’t know what’s going on.”
Financial Resources
Our church is financially healthy for now, but the external assessment revealed that our current situation is not sustainable for the future.
Our building is a resource given to us by previous generations. The assessment concluded that our building is underutilized, especially by outside groups. Recent building maintenance has been funded using proceeds from the last capital campaign, which are now depleted.
The church’s current budget is dependent in part upon funds left as a legacy from previous generations instead of by current giving. We are concerned about the use of endowment funds to meet operating expenses, fearing that “we are eating our seed corn.” The external assessor commented that no one person seems to understand the entire financial picture.
Our next steps during the interim period
During the period between the retirement of Rev. James Stewart and the call of our next installed pastor, we seek an interim pastor who can help us reorganize our committee structure to project-based taskforces and develop a plan for financial sustainability. We also suggest the appointment of a transition team to coordinate the logistics of our proposed changes.
Reorganizing to project-based taskforces
Specific suggestions from small group discussions to reorganize our existing committee system in favor of project-based taskforces are described below.
- Take a serious look at our current committee structure to streamline the work of the existing committee system. In order to strengthen our mission work, we propose to redefine our organizational structure in favor of project-based taskforces that are commissioned annually.
- Hire a mission coordinator on staff—or redefine existing positions—to connect volunteers to projects and provide logistical support.
- Host an annual mission opportunity “fair” to connect people with projects for the following year. Volunteer commitment lasts one year with a clear focus on the task. By renewing each year, we hope to foster a culture of participation with protections against burnout or inertia. We think that annual commitments will be especially attractive to youth, Centre students, and newcomers.
- Recommission projects on an annual basis, starting each September. Summer months are used for organizing volunteers and proposing budgets for the coming year. Missions that are not renewed for the next year are celebrated for the work that God has done, and resources are refocused elsewhere.
- Publish a pamphlet or viewbook of each year’s mission projects. This may be a resource for newcomers or those who desire more involvement.
Developing a plan for financial sustainability
We place ourtrust in God’s promise to provide just as we accept our role as faithful stewards of what we have been given. We recommend the development of a plan for meeting our operating budget within our current resources. Specifically, we are in need of a plan for building maintenance, especially for the aging HVAC system. A capital campaign would be one solution for meeting the desire to make our building both financially and environmentally sustainable for the future.
We view our incomplete grasp of our financial status as problematic and recommend more frequent and transparent communication. One suggestion is monthly reports made available to the congregation.
Additional considerations
During this season of transition, we also recommend a review of our communication systems to see if they can be streamlined.
We also recommend a review of our building use policy and culture in order to promote our building as a resource for mission. We hope that members and non-members alike will be welcomed to use our facilities.
Our new beginning with our next pastor
In our next installed pastor, we seek a passionate spiritual leader who can help us to articulate the shared purpose behind our missional actions and define the spiritual vision that underpins the mission and congregational care work we are now doing. We connect the lack of unified reason for our missional actions to a need for review of our spiritual formation practices, especially for adults. Spiritual formation should be regarded as a continual process of study, prayer, and renewal that does not end with confirmation. Furthermore, our traditional worship style is part of our identity, and we want our teaching elder to remind us frequently about why we worship in this tradition.
As we develop strategies for long term financial sustainability, we recognize that we should have appropriate expectations and compensation for our staff. Because our pastor is also head of staff, we desire a person who can manage and advocate for the staff. We also suggest that opportunities for leadership training be available to members.
We affirm that our members contribute to God’s kingdom both within the church walls and out in the community. We want our next pastor to understand that we value our members’ work in the community, even when it is not done under the auspices of the church.
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