SOME BACKGROUND TO THIS MEETING:
- Two Elders meetings ago: focused on relationships within, among members; Sarah brought concerns about general cohesiveness of body, people's fading connections
- Most recent Elder meeting: discussed church mission/focus; discussed feelings of some members that last few years of church speaking about, and acting upon, outreach to Belltown, causes some to feel excluded from purpose of Emmaus Road; i.e., stating church goal to reach "Condo Culture" is not "family friendly"
- Ways to articulate Identity/Purpose as church
- Be on same page; e.g., Brad Bishop would like to update Emmaus Road's online presence; what would we say about ourselves?
- Is our vision Eric/Pastor driven, or is it congregationally driven? This was the question asked of Elder Juliana by some of the folks in her district
- Eric asks Council for advice; what does Council want Eric to do? Pound out a rearticulation of church mission, vision, etc. in two weeks? But wouldn't this short-circuit the consensus building, or keep people marginalized, unable to feel ownership?
- Also, how could Emmaus Road's time at the upcoming May 31st retreat be leveraged to help our internal conversation and unity, around forming our Identity and Purpose?
RECAP OF PRIOR ELDER'S DISCUSSION, FOR THOSE NOT THERE....
Concern of some current families; the Belltown push, if successful, would bring in people other than families; apparently, this leaves some current families worried about emerging culture of Emmaus Road, how it could become unfriendly or unattractive to families with children
Mark Rosnick asks Eric about Eric's sense of purpose, regarding the Belltown push: is this sense of purpose/mission as certain as it could be, i.e. a direct vision from God? Eric explains a strong sense of purpose for Emmaus Road in reaching out to Belltown, but not claiming direct, extraordinary vision, audible voice, or extraordinary answer to prayer; more of a putting things together, interpreting scripture in local context, applying Kingdom principles, looking at who we are, our gifts/strengths, what's going on around us, etc.
Eric explains that last few years have been time of clarification, understanding about HOW Emmaus Road can effectively reach out to local people
Q: Does Emmaus Road's stated mission need to include all those here and now, or is it OK not to include some segments of congregation as church projects future vision?
BIG QUESTIONS:
Q: How does the congregation have this conversation, articulate Vision? It's unwise for Pastor Eric to be the only one who crafts, chooses, interprets, shapes Vision; but it's unwise to include entire Road Crew in one place and time; seems appropriate for present leaders to take lead here.
Point: it's about reaching people, versus a neighborhood; a church for everyone.
Point: want to avoid casting a net too small to seek relationship beyond itself; i.e., saying Emmaus Road would exclusively focus on Belltown people would be too small a net, discouraging folks from reaching out to friends, family, etc., from greater Seattle
Point: there needs to be "buy-in" - people need to be and feel included in Vision discussion
Observation: if Belltown was an established neighborhood/community, then reaching out to neighborhood would naturally seem like reaching out to known people; but Belltown seems ill equipped to be related to yet; a church presence of some sort, throughout the week, congregants living here, would make a difference
Point: some Emmaus Road leaders/people feel the questions about Emmaus Road's purpose are already settled; some do not feel the questions have been settled
Q: Are we pondering whether to re-articulate Emmaus Road's vision, or re-vision our future?
Proposal: we should present current Vision as matter of course, as routine; ask people if they remember this Vision, if they remember why Emmaus Road exists
Solicit input without opening up a Vision conversation with entire congregation
Observtion: Eric's leadership style is not dangerously bordering on being dictatorial; to some, he may be too timid in proclaiming Vision, direction, etc. Church has defined it's Vision before; no need to bring up, open up again.
Eric to present Council with draft of Emmaus Road's Vision, honoring work of past articulation, but informed by present and recent learnings
Observation: Eric feels a gap between his own sense of Emmaus Road's purpose and others' sense, but perhaps it's a communication or information gap.
Point: Eric envisions the outreach effort to people in Belltown a coordinated effort among Emmaus Road and it's ministry partners; not a solo church effort
Observation: 90% of church's Vision, as with any Christian church, is already set, biblically speaking; what's unique is the 10% that is particular to each congregation in a different time and place
Q: Are people leaving Emmaus Road because of the Belltown idea (10% particular vision), or because the 90% of what the church does, offers, is not connecting with them?
Answer: Two reasons: 1.) Emmaus Road does not seem to be attracting families 2.) Cannot see the church working, fear it is an unsuccessful ministry, e.g. no growth in Children's Worship
Q: If it were successful, what exactly would that mean or look like?
Q: What are the unmet personal needs of these people? How does a Belltown focus stand in the way?
Point: "Church takes care of it's own needs" is an idea being turned upside-down.
Conclusion: Eric to draft a Vision statement; Elders can conduct mini-forums, spending time with people discusing ministry values, probing whether or not there are competing values between the church's statements and individual families' statements
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