7-9PM Greenwood; Office; Beth DeVries, Teresa Elenbaas, Mark Nelson, Eric Likkel, Rennie Araucto, David Anema present; Kurt Munson, Ryan Engel excused
Intro to Agenda; anything to add?
Teresa: background check account finally set up
AGENDA: What did we hear from Road Crew mtg. of15th?
1. Mark: encouraging to see lots of fresh faces; not lots of specifics, but lots of affirmation, love of church; others concur
2. Rennie reiterated that he and Amy’s choice to re-engage has been crucial; council members discuss how essential non-programmed socializing is to help foster connections, trust, etc.
3. Mark believes ER used to be better at socializing; busy schedules of parents w/kids has put limits on that; PLUS (Beth), Emmaus Road has diversified – age, socio-economics,e tc. – which is harder to engage
Now What? Pastor’s suggests several specific pieces of vision and discusses w/Council; Council affirms eight out of nine suggestions, striking one, but suggesting their own (see below)
· Rooted/Linked
Pastor shows video from Parish Collective; explains how this follows vision of Forest Canopy and Roots, a vision of strength/growth of Church when congregations discern how to work together, share, etc.; Council affirms
· Visibility (access vs. attract)
Pastor explains difference between “Attraction Mode” (based on consumer model of church) and “Incarnation Mode” (missional, sending model of church), how Emmaus Road works more to be a “we go to them” than a “they come to us” church, BUT, being invisible or inaccessible is NOT right, either; Council affirms being an Incarnational/Missional church, but working on visibility/access to newcomers, too
· Evangelism Beyond Sunday
Pastor believes church members must be equipped to understand/practise relational evangelism and gospel transparency throughout life; bringing friends to Sunday worship as the primary mode of evangelism is misdirected, but even though we may agree with this thinking, our habits belie continuing “attractional mode” hopes for evangelism; inviting people “to church” is fine, but we really need to help people discover Christ; church usually follows, rather than precedes, a person’s growing interest in God and introduction to Jesus personally; we need to own our role in stoking interest and helping make introductions; Council affirms
· Groundworks Beyond Btown
Pastor admits this may be a “far out/far off” vision, to expand the Belltown based Groundworks approach to include neighborhoods where members are spread out, e.g. Lori K’s work on N.49th, Cynthia’s work in her ‘hood; Council challenges this as not right for us now, as it would damage existing small but healthy momentum we are building in Belltown; Pastor agrees to shelf this
· Dads/Dudes multiplied
Pastor believes the semi-regular Dudes/Dads/Drinks nights have been successful, in that they have corralled guys from Emmaus Road, along with some outside friends/coworkers, to have fun together; these outings have not demanded much planning, money, etc.; merely the initiative of someone to schedule and announce; Rennie asks if we could please schedule a bit further in advance to include those who have not hitherto been able to attend; Pastor suggests this approach should expand to include events for women of church; perhaps events targeting parents, kids, etc.; Council affirms, declaring the need for SOCIAL activity between church members as important as any of the other ministry, worship, bible study we share
· Parenting Beyond Sunday
Following several months of ongoing Parenting Beyond Sunday interviews w/Emmaus Road parents (continuing), Pastor reveals how crucial it is to equip parents to share faith at home, break ice around sharing parenting stories/resources w/each other; must cultivate sense of how Parenting in Faith is something we are going through – differently – but none-the-less together; to put Sunday programs in proper perspective, Mon-Sat “real life faith curriculum” must be embraced, as parents are de facto primary witness to Gospel for their kids; Council affirms
· Church Big vs. Big Church
Pastor explains concept learned from INHABIT story about north seattle church/pastor, who embrace vision of having big impact in lives of members, neighbors, without worrying about big size of congregation or Sunday attendance; a different way of seeing church, measuring success, being oriented to ministry, rather than membership, acknowledging power of God to multiply impact from people of faith; i.e., small number of united Christians with big faith is much better than big number of Christians with little faith; Council affirms, however, also expose necessity of wrestling with Emmaus Road’s historic sense of being too small, worrying about resources, esp. volunteer power, burn out, etc.; this leads to vision of cultivating a more functional, encouraging, inspiring subculture of shared participation, in which people will think more positively about volunteering together; see below
· $ Discipline
Pastor relates positive assessment from Treasurer Ryan about church’s financial muscle flexing over last few months, but acknowledges ongoing need to develop Emmaus Road’s financial discipline; Council lists several questions to discuss w/Stewardship Team (Ryan out of town), wanting to replace culture of complacency with culture of urgency around $ generosity, sharing, faithful tithing; Pastor suggests that even if Emmaus Road was “flush with $million”, it would still be incumbent on us to practice spiritual discipline of sacrificial giving/tithing; everyone grateful Emmaus Road is not in midst of $ crisis, but all agree to keep talking, examining, encouraging church to remain faithful, ESPECIALLY through summer months, when giving typically dries up
· Deacons: expand, acknowledge greater presence and role
Pastor suggests that while we make a fairly big deal of Elders, coming and going, there are many who serve in various ways, performing the duties of Deacons; some serve as acknowledged members of Council, but some do not, and Pastor suggests we begin to acknowledge and include them; Council affirms
· Get To versus Have To
Flowing from Council, this piece of vision is about cultivating of a “I get to serve” rather than “I have to serve” thinking/feeling among church; structuring more intentionally ways of evaluating support needs of people in ministry; carefully setting expectations, rather than inheriting them; declaring the value one receives from giving (spiritual, biblical truth); Council affirms
As hour is late, Council adjourns; agree to carry on conversation via email, about how to present and follow up with pieces of vision for June 12 Road Crew
Prayer; dismissal
