Congregational Discernment Team - Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren

Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Congregational Discovery Team

Realizing that there are significant issues we need to address as a congregation if we are to be a vital, growing body of believers as we pass our hundredth birthday, the Church Board initiated a year-long discernment process. Starting in March 2008, a called-out team is studying the Bible, our tradition, our congregation, our surrounding community, trends in congregational life and society, and other areas, under the guidance of an outside consultant. This team meets monthly, and will involve others in the congregation as we go. We want this process to be as transparent as possible. This team will not be making secret decisions. One of the gifts we sought in calling these persons was their ability to communicate with (and be listened to by) others, passing on what we discover concerning our vision and mission as a congregation. As we go, we will post on this page as much of our research, in documents and minutes, as possible, so you might feel a part of the process.

Leadership

Stan Dueck
a consultant from our denomination
Congregational Life Team - 1

Team members

Jeff Wolf (facilitator), Sharon Kagarise (secretary), John Ness, Gail Hanna (secretary), Jeannie Schwartz, Sue Ellen Wheatley, and Pastor Pete.

Upcoming Team Meetings

April 1 - Wednesday, 7pm at the Wolf's

Minutes of our meetings

August 26, 2008

July 29, 2008

June 19, 2008

May 28, 2008

April 30, 2008

March 26, 2008

Documents for Study

- New Tasks for the New Congregation: Reflections on Congregational Studies, by Jeff Woods

FYI - In 1996, Pastor Pete preached a series of sermons based upon Wood's then recent book: Congregational Megatrends. Below are the 7 megatrends Woods identified and Pete's 8 sermons on them.

#1 - Introduction
- "The times, they are a-changing" (9/1/96)

#2 - From Mass Evangelism to Relational Evangelism
- "You are God's Letter to Others" (9/8/96)

#3 - From Tribal Education to Immigrant Education
- "One Person at a Time" (9/15/96)

#4 - From Surrogate Missions to Hands-on Missions
- "Where is Ninevah?" (9/22/96)

#5 - From Reasonable Spirituality to Mysterious Spirituality
- "Letting Down our Nets" (10/6/96)

#6 - From Official Leadership to Gifted Leadership
- "From Official to Gifted Leadership" (9/29/96)

#7 - From Segmented Programming to Holographic Programming
- "Seeing the Big Picture" (10/13/96)

#8 - From Secondary Planning to Primary Planning
- "Lighting the Match" (10/20/96)

- Congregational Statistics 1990-2007 (membership & worship, love feast & Sunday School attendance)

    - Chart of Average Worship & Sunday School Attendance 1961-2007
                                                                            (you need Microsoft Excel to open this file;
                                                                                     if you don't have it on your computer, download free viewer)

- Responses from June 8th Listening Session 1, focus: What do we do well? (Excel file)

- Responses from August 3rd Listening Session 2, focus: What are our growth areas? (Excel file)

- Summary of August 16th Church Board Retreat, focus: The Vital Congregation

- Responses from Sept. 14th Listening Session 3, focus: What is our Vision? (Excel file)

Previous Process

1994 Dream Team Report

1994 Dream Team Vision & Dreams passed by Council

1983 Renewal and Growth Program

Historical Background

The Long Green Valley Story (our brochure, written for our 2003 Homecoming)

Long Green Valley (from a 1936 district history book)

gofindcolleges.com/fl/

Long Green Valley CoB website