First United
Vision & Strategic Plan
2005-2009
Goals & Objectives: Listed below,
in priority order within each section, are the guiding goals of this strategic
plan, the goals and objectives for each of the Leadership Council NOW ministry
teams (Nurture, Outreach, Witness), and the goals and objectives regarding
church resources.
I.
GUIDING GOALS.
In implementing this plan we will make every effort to:
A.
Promote and
embody the United Methodist principle of “Open
hearts, open minds, open doors,” as well as our congregation’s hospitality
statement:
“
B.
Foster a
Christian community that provides a loving church family experience in an urban
setting and that nurtures its members so that they may grow in all aspects of
their faith experience, discipleship, and commitment to outreach and witness.
C.
Invite and
engage prospective new members.
D.
Significantly
expand the role of music in our celebration of God.
E.
Prayerfully
select and focus on specific, vital ministries and quality programs that
reflect the congregation’s commitment to diversity and inclusiveness,
intellectually informed theology, spiritual development, and social justice.
F.
Commit
sufficient time, talent, and resources to ensure that the ministries and
programs can be sustained and bear fruit.
G.
Provide
strong pastoral and lay leadership, engage the congregation, and value the
efforts of everyone who is involved in our ministries and programs.
H.
Better utilize
lay members’ skills, passions, and spiritual gifts in all aspects of the
church.
I.
Evaluate and
prioritize ministries and programs on an annual basis. Those that are not viable or of high priority
should be discontinued. Ministries and
programs should establish criteria for their ongoing assessment.
II.
NURTURE. We seek to build a faith community in which
each individual is engaged and well nurtured by:
A. Ensuring that Sunday morning worship, which is the
central experience of the church community, is relevant and reverent, includes
informed and inspired preaching, offers music that is varied and spiritually
uplifting, is well organized and integrated as a whole, and challenges those
present to live according to the Gospel.
1. Enable ministerial staff to devote sufficient time for
developing sermons and overseeing all aspects of the service.
2. Provide the necessary resources to sustain a quality,
faith-filled music program and to expand this vital part of our worship. Increase participation of children and youth,
the bell choir, and member instrumentalists.
3. Celebrate two Sunday morning worship services in the
summer.
4. Emphasize the importance of an active worship
committee working closely with the ministerial staff to help coordinate
communion, ushering, etc. and to plan special services. Ensure that those participating in music
ministry are included in worship planning activities both on an ad hoc basis
and through ongoing representation on the committee.
5. Involve laity in more aspects of the worship service
(e.g., prayers, communion liturgy, children’s sermons). Seek opportunities to involve children and
youth as appropriate for their age and spiritual maturity.
B. Offering a variety of opportunities for individuals to
interact in viable and meaningful “small groups” that support their spiritual
development and enhance a sense of belonging and connectedness.
1. Sustain and strengthen current groups that have been
successfully playing this role (e.g., Disciple Bible study, choir and bells,
the prayer chain, youth group, and young adults group). Renew a vibrant college age group each year.
2. Facilitate the formation of additional small groups
that respond to the needs and interests of members or prospective members of the
church community. These might include,
for example, service/outreach, Bible study, faith sharing, issue-oriented
discussion groups, and mutual support / fellowship opportunities (e.g.,
neighborhood groups). Only those groups
that are sufficiently viable should be sustained.
3. Establish a lay position to systematically coordinate
small groups for the church community in order to ensure that no member who
wants to participate is left out, to publicize the groups (including
information in visitor packets, during membership class, etc.), to evaluate
ongoing efficacy of specific groups, and to identify needs and interests for
new small groups and assist in their start-up.
C. Providing educational and spiritual-growth
opportunities that meet the needs of our diverse membership.
1. Designate responsibilities for implementing and
coordinating a comprehensive Christian education program for all age groups to
a paid staff member.
2. Demonstrate our commitment to the children and youth
of the church by increasing the support for their teachers, resources, and
spaces. This includes celebrating our
gifted teachers, having broader member participation in children and youth
activities (including musical and drama programs), and ensuring quality
programs for all ages.
3. Organize an annual all-church retreat, an annual
women’s retreat, and special retreats for other groups as needed.
4. Encourage all members to learn more about spiritual
gifts and to discover their own spiritual gifts. Offer learning opportunities related to this
topic (e.g., Sunday morning classes, workshops, materials on the church web
page) so that interested members can participate in at least one such
opportunity over the next five years.
5. Establish a long-term plan to evaluate and improve
spaces used for educational activities. These spaces should be clean, safe and
appealing to members. Consider
refurbishing one room each year, using church member labor whenever possible,
starting with the
6. Intentionally provide educational opportunities specific
to various groups within the community (including parents, singles, couples,
sexual orientation minorities, racial/ethnic minorities, women, men, children,
youth, college students, young adults, adults, seniors, etc.). Make use of a variety of learning formats
(lecture, discussion, experience, etc.) in order to appeal to individual
learning styles.
D.
Making music central to our celebration of God.
1. Explore fundamentally new uses of music in all aspects
of our faith, as a means for praising God, for celebration, for inspiration,
for spiritual enrichment, and for engaging members and newcomers alike. Assign a task force, appointed by the
Leadership Council and including the music director, to flesh out this expanded
music ministry.
2. Recognize that this expanded ministry will involve
significant costs that may include facilities changes, instruments, electronic
support systems, musicians and other personnel, and seek to find means to
support these expenditures.
E.
Organizing social and musical events that foster a
sense of community and provide venues for attracting non-church members to
participate in church activities.
1. Offer social
events like all-church dinners, retreats, spring fun fests, progressive dinners,
and square dances.
2.
Organize special
musical events like Christmas candlelight services, spring concerts, and
special musicals. Through these events,
expand the number of people involved in music ministries and programs at
3.
Budget for the
cost of the events or charge admission and actively advertise. In addition to nurturing our members, these
events are great witness opportunities.
Encourage church members to invite their non-church member friends to
these events.
F.
Supporting and encouraging one another as members of
our church family through visiting, supporting, and praying for those in need,
providing effective church communications, and recognizing individuals involved
in ministry or celebrating important life events.
1.
Visit members and
friends of the church who are in need and follow up on church members who have
not attended for some time. Develop a
lay ministry group which will identify these needs and coordinate visitation
and support efforts. Encourage small
groups to be attentive to member needs and provide support as possible. Record sermons, special services and musical
events to send to members who were unable to attend and for people to
purchase. Senior citizens and shut-ins
are to be given special attention.
2.
Provide quality,
informative member communications using various media, including the monthly First Word newsletter, Sunday worship
bulletins and announcements, church bulletin boards and free-standing posters,
and the church website. Identify and
empower individual(s) in charge of efforts to create, evaluate, and update
bulletin boards and the website. Ensure
that communications are designed with both members and visitors in mind (e.g.,
bulletin boards can also inform the many outside groups that use our building,
and the website should include a strong focus on attracting and informing
non-members).
3.
Create and
support regular opportunities for members to share prayer concerns,
thanksgivings, and words of encouragement and support. Examples include the email prayer chain,
lifting up prayer concerns and thanksgivings at all church meetings (not just
worship services), providing easels outside fellowship hall where individuals
can express prayer concerns and thanksgivings, and identifying members
interested in sending short personal notes to individuals on behalf of the
congregation. Continue to
recognize/honor in Sunday morning worship or fellowship hour persons actively
involved in our ministries and programs and to recognize special events in the
lives of individual members (birthdays, anniversaries, births and adoptions,
weddings and holy unions, etc.).
III. OUTREACH. We believe service to the world is a key part
of discipleship and therefore are committed to:
A.
Financially supporting missions.
1. Fully fund our United Methodist “fair share”
apportionments through which we underwrite our conference, national, and
international United Methodist missions.
2. Continue to financially support EECM (East End
Cooperative Ministries) and Church Union.
3. Become a mission partner to financially support a
mission project and/or working missionary that we collectively select.
B.
Participating in hands-on missions.
1. Work through First Charities to continue to champion
our First Food and Friends ministry and to explore ways to better serve those
who come for that meal (e.g., distribute
clothing on Saturday mornings, provide check-ups for certain medical conditions
like diabetes, make referrals to other local service providers).
2. Each year the Outreach Team should initiate or join at
least one local mission project in the east end of
3. Highlight individual volunteer ministry opportunities
at EECM and other local ministries (e.g., Shepherd Wellness, Bethlehem Haven,
CROP Walk).
4. Sponsor an annual summer mission camp for youth.
5. Participate in or lead annual VIM (Volunteers in
C.
Creating opportunities for learning about issues of social justice. Encourage and empower our Social Justice
Action Team to educate and mobilize the congregation on these public issues.
1. Give ongoing attention to national and international
social justice issues.
2. Encourage participation in interfaith events and
dialogue, especially when our pastors or other members of the congregation are
featured speakers.
IV. WITNESS. We seek to share the Good News of God’s love and the open congregation God has
developed in our midst by:
A. Ensuring
that visitors to our church feel welcomed and included.
1. Remind greeters that making
visitors feel welcome is their primary focus, and hence extra effort is needed
to ensure that visitors are warmly greeted (even if they arrive late), receive
bulletins, and know what to do before, during, and after the service (e.g., if
they have children). Engage visitors
after the service. Have additional
greeters on the steps of the church or in the parking lots, and before Sunday
School.
2. Continue to recognize
visitors during Sunday morning worship and distribute visitor packets. Ensure that these packets are informative,
engaging and up-to-date. Remind ushers
to pay special attention to making visitors feel comfortable participating or
not-participating in offerings and communion.
Continue to encourage signing the attendance pads. Follow up on visitors with a pastoral or
laity contact the same week.
3. Emphasize the importance of
an active welcoming team to initiate and support efforts to improve our
hospitality to visitors, working with the worship committee as needed.
4. Regularly encourage all
members to seek out and greet visitors before and after the service, to
introduce visitors to other members, to invite visitors to fellowship hour and
other church events, to wear name tags, and to support the initiatives of the
welcoming team.
B. Getting the
word out about who we are and what we offer.
1. Advertise church activities
in free media and targeted non-free media.
Determine groups likely to be receptive to what we offer (e.g.,
students, faculty, and staff at local universities and colleges), and ensure
that they know about us. Continue to
improve the website so that it is current, informative, interactive, and
attractive to potential visitors, with various levels of web savvy. Explore adding chat rooms. Distribute flyers and CDs advertising church
activities. Continue to place
announcements at bus stops. Have
ministerial staff members attend CMU and Pitt orientation venues. Place brochures in local service providers
like the Family House and the
2. Emphasize our hospitality statement
in our communications as representative of who we are. Periodically review outdoor signage and
update as needed. Improve signage inside
the church so that it looks professional and is clearly understandable to
visitors.
C. Using an
expanded music ministry as a means to call new people to worship - a pleasant
evangelism - where everyone is engaged in the music.
D. Creating
various activities that afford opportunities for members to engage with and
witness to each other and visitors.
1.
Sustain and expand the number of church activities taking place outside
on the church property such as lemonade on the lawn, summertime worship,
marathon day assistance, and strawberry festivals. During
these events the Witness Team would have the opportunity to pass out information
about the church and to track those who have attended our events with materials
that record their name (such as prize drawings), etc.
2. Produce an annual Lenten
devotional and look for other venues for members to share their faith. Encourage laity to take courses that help
improve their ability to witness.
3.
Initiate and sustain witnessing activities to the community near the
church (including our sister churches and outside persons already using the
building) such as Vacation Bible School, Lenten
dinners with sister churches, notes of affirmation and invitation given to
groups using our church (Shepherd Wellness, Toy Lending Library, AA, NA,
scouts, etc.), and programs for doctors and nurses in the institutions in the
area (perhaps they are looking for bible studies, prayer groups, or simply
meeting space).
4.
Offer special
events that by their nature appeal to the broader community such as the social
and musical events discussed in the Nurture section, educational events on
gay/lesbian issues or cross-cultural dialog, and interfaith worship services.
D. Providing a non-traditional worship service that is relevant and reverent, includes informed
and inspired messages, offers music that is varied and spiritually uplifting,
is well organized and integrated as a whole, and challenges those present to
live according to the Gospel.
1. Continue to offer a
non-traditional worship service, supported by an active praise team, as
resources and staffing allows. Currently
this service provides a mid-week worship opportunity, a venue for variety in
worship styles, a creative outlet for the praise team (e.g., music, dance,
drama), and an opportunity for laity to share their faith by presenting the
message.
2. Investigate on an annual
basis whether to expand the non-traditional service. Identify what is needed to develop a
non-traditional service that would expand the congregation (including location,
day and time, commitment of staff and praise team members, purchasing
instruments and equipment, advertising, etc.) and determine whether the church
has the resources to support this endeavor to the extent needed for its
success. Proceed with an expanded
non-traditional service if the ministerial staff and the majority of the
members are supportive of this new
ministry.
V.
RESOURCES. We are committed to:
A.
Revitalizing church leadership and committees by
filling open positions with appropriately gifted individuals in a timely
manner.
1.
Designate
responsibility for completing this task by September 2004 to a task force
comprised of the Nominating Committee, the pastors, the Ministries Coordinator,
and the NOW chairpersons.
2.
Create and
maintain a database that matches members’ skills, spiritual gifts, and
interests with ministry and program needs.
Explore additional ways to facilitate the matching of members to these
service opportunities (e.g., creating an ombudsmen team, expanding the role of
the nominating committee, having ministry leaders stand at tables in fellowship
hall after church).
3.
Establish a standard
of designating a “champion” for each initiative.
B.
Enhancing the church website and providing the
necessary hardware, software, and personnel to support it. Strengthening the church’s ministries by
identifying, acquiring, and/or developing web-based tools which:
1.
Assist
individuals in discerning their spiritual gifts and matching their gifts to
open roles.
2.
List open
positions and opportunities for ministry within
3.
Provides links to
United Methodist and mission websites.
4.
Support
interactive opportunities such as chat rooms.
C. Affirming
our commitment to maintaining the church building and other property to the
best of our abilities, within limited financial resources.
1.
Prepare a
prioritized plan for building improvements for the next five years, to be
reviewed and adjusted annually by the Property Committee.
2.
Consider a
capital improvements fund campaign to fund the five to ten most significant
building needs (e.g., stained glass windows, organ, front steps, fellowship
hall).
D. Stressing
the importance of annual stewardship and identifying special projects for
fundraising initiatives, including grant applications. Establishing an
intentional program to encourage bequests and planned giving.
Approved by the Leadership Council on
September 20, 2004 for submission to the Congregation.
We acknowledge the efforts of the visioning team who
helped craft this plan -- Phil Gibbons, Marcia Gruver, Sabrina Haskell, Rev.
David Keller, Tracy Merrick, Rev. Patricia Mollick, Ammon Ripple and Lynn
Schreiber – and all who provided input and feedback.