Every year since I have been here the Council has conducted a Pastor’s Evaluation. I believe this is an important process in order to keep me and us focused on our mission. The feedback is sometimes challenging but always useful. A part of this process has been to set goals for the year ahead that then become a part of next year’s evaluation.
For a couple of years now some Council members have suggested it might be more valuable to evaluate church program goals rather than just the pastor’s goals. After all we are all in this together. Questions, concerns and affirmations about my role in the life of the congregation are important but perhaps better considered in the context of the congregation’s mission and program needs. This year we decided to take that tack in the evaluative process. I found it very helpful and I think the Council did, too.
So elsewhere you will find a list of projected goals for 2014/15. Thanks to our Moderator, Carolyn, who not only shepherded the process but consolidated our thoughts and notes into this set of goals. We will have an open discussion of these goals at our Quarterly Business meeting on October 26 and I urge you to be there to participate in the conversation.
As you will see ongoing, and appropriate concern is raised for the worshiping life of our congregation. We have never really had a working Worship Task Team since I’ve been here, though I get plenty of input from a variety of sources. We want to find some more systematic way of getting formal feedback for worship planning. Of course, we welcome informal input as well.
As our mission statement affirms: “We are church whose mission is to worship God.” I don’t think it’s an accident that is first on our list. We have made a variety of efforts to address the needs of our families with children and adults. A big part of next year will be to welcome a new full time pastoral staff person in this area as well as in church growth. In the meantime, how do we minister to the families we currently have? They are essential to the make‐up of our congregation. There are key questions about what their needs and desires are. What is it they want from their church? I am pleased that also see elsewhere in this Spire you will see that our current Minister with Children, Youth and Families, Doug Davidson, has scheduled a meeting with these parents on October 12 to begin to address just such questions and concerns.
With the change of staffing this summer, I have taken on responsibility for Adult Education. I am delighted to do this and will provide as much direct leadership as I can but it would be great to have some non‐staff leadership in this area as well. I know many of you make interesting trips, are involved in interesting projects and read interesting books and articles. Please feel free to volunteer to share any of this in our Adult Spiritual Formation hour on Sundays. If you would like to talk about what this entails or have other ideas about Adult Education, feel free to speak to me.
We are always looking for ways to be more hospitable around here. We do a pretty good job of greeting visitors. We have a regular schedule of events for the community. Could we do a better of job of integrating visitors and friends into the congregation? What can we do to build community life for all of us – old and new? This might include social events, but it might also involve opportunities for service. We have some ideas about how to approach this, but we would also love to have your input in meeting these goals for enhancing our community life and involvement in the year ahead.
Last but not least is our facility. Many of us celebrate how well our building is used these days. However, this means both maintenance and improvements are in order to serve the needs of our congregation and all those who share the space with us. You will see we have identified several short and long term goals for our facility. We have taken good care of our “house” (God’s house) in the past and I hope we will continue to do so. Though “the church is not a building,” taking care of what we have is good stewardship and also enriches our life together.
I’ll close with a beautiful prayer from Oscar Romero, Martyr and former Archbishop of El Salvador, that I hope will draw us on
toward the goals of ministry that God has for us in this time and place.
It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is the Lord’s work. Nothing
we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that should be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession bring perfection, no
pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the church’s mission. No set of goals and objectives
includes everything.
This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future that is not our own.
Yours in the work,
Pastor Rick
