*This post concludes a series of reflections based on the Leadership Board and Town Hall conversations that have taken place the last few months. The specific feedback received is in part 1, some initial reflections on points of agreement and future work are in part 2, and a reflection on what it means to love with the heart of Christ is in part 3.
One of the strongest criticisms of our current mission statement is that it doesn’t mean anything all that specific. It is noteworthy that, throughout all of the conversations I’ve had regarding our mission, no one has pointed to the core values or beliefs laid out on our website page entitled “Our Story.” If our mission is specific and clear enough to drive our decisions, at the very least we ought to feel obligated to remember and refer often to the values and beliefs derived from our mission. If we’re fully driven by our mission, some evidence of our mission and values ought to be present at every level - from our budget to our ministry teams to our staff to our events and beyond.
The problem with our current statement is not the statement itself; the problem is that there is no obvious connection between our mission and any practical, strategic, administrative, or programmatic decisions. In other words, we need to be able to say “loving the city with the heart of Christ” means something tangible and definable. And given that definition, we need to be able to evaluate whether our budget and programs help us create people who love with the heart of Christ. And given that evaluation, we can then make changes, seek new members or partners, and do what is necessary to more faithfully follow where God is leading us next.
Having shared the series of feedback and reflections linked above with the Leadership Board and given our need to clarify our mission by connecting it to tangible programs and decisions, the list of next steps below was discussed by the Board at its 3/18/24 meeting.
Already Done
Streamlined Leadership - after our Leadership Task Force completed its work in the Fall of ‘23, a church conference meeting was held to streamline our administrative leadership. The two main purposes of this move were 1) to free up more of our people’s time and energy to focus on the hands on work of ministry and 2) to facilitate better and more strategic administrative decisions.
Conditionally reaffirmed our current mission statement - there has been significant support for and very little pushback against our current mission statement, which suggests that there is no need to go back to square one. In our 3/18/24 meeting, the Board voted to reaffirm that our starting point for further discussion and decisions will remain “Loving the city with the heart of Christ.” This decision is ‘conditional’ because the congregation will be invited to affirm that decision through a congregational vote sometime around the end of 2025. Between now and then, our focus will be clarifying the meaning and implications of our mission statement, so that we know what it would mean to live into that mission going forward.
. By Labor Day
Have Administrative Teams 1.0 up and running - these teams are, in a sense, an extension of the work of the Board. They are meant to ensure practical, concrete tasks get done so that the foundation is laid for the programs and ministries we desire to focus on. Each team needs to have at least 2 or 3 official team members and can recruit and add any/all other church members on a short or long term basis (Board approval required only for tasks involving confidential information). The first two are technically started, but we need to establish more clear rhythms and expectations for how the work takes place.
Finance Team (ongoing)
Support the church staff by assisting with any finance related tasks and by cross training enough to fill in for staff vacations/illness
Support the Board by offering analyses of our standard budget reports, potential investment opportunities, and other account options.
Develop a better understanding of and reporting on our endowment investments and restrictions
Building and Grounds Team (ongoing)
Take care of minor maintenance issues around the church (under $500)
Develop a regular maintenance plan and oversee implementation for maintenance items that need to be done on a regular basis (ie, cleaning the roof, overseeing the quarterly HVAC work Carrier began this year, etc).
Run down bids and make recommendations to the Board for larger maintenance and repair projects (ie, new ac units, sprinkler fixes, etc).
Building Use Team (short term - until completion)
Develop a fair market value business plan to understand how our building might fare as a rental property on the open market. (to be clear, we’d never put the whole building on the market, but we need these kinds of info to make better choices about the kinds of things we will consider doing)
Research actual cost of use data on our facility. (ie, cost to run an AC unit for an hour, how much extra gas is used when we cook for an hour, what is the cost to run lights and sounds in the sanctuary, what about other rooms etc).
Offer initial suggestions for how to strategically utilize more of our space in the short and long range future (perhaps, are there better ways to organize which rooms are used for sunday school? do any storage rooms need to be relocated? which rooms are better candidates for outside renters? etc).
By January 1st, 2025
Name and develop 3 Core Ministry Teams - In order to grow the kind of disciples who love with the heart of Christ, these three core teams will be modeled after a Wesleyan understanding of the threefold grace of God. The Team names below are place holders that may or may not change as we get more clear about our mission and values over the next couple of years.
Hospitality Team - God’s prevenient grace names God’s radical desire to welcome us into the family before we even know God exists. This is the team responsible for teaching us how to show God’s love to outsiders in a way that says ‘you are welcome here.’
Connections Team - God’s justifying grace names God’s transformative work to set all things right in a way that creates and strengthens relationships. This team is responsible for helping every person find the connections that make them feel accepted as part of this community.
Generosity Team - God’s sanctifying grace names God’s ongoing work to make the world a more Christ like place. This team is responsible for developing opportunities to share from the abundance we’ve received in a way that reminds us we are enough to change the world.
Ongoing Work
Values for the transition - These values may or may not be renewed for the long run, but they reflect key themes from how we talk about what we’re trying to accomplish as a church. Giving voice to unspoken values will help us navigate this season of transition until we gain long term clarity. Underneath each value are a couple of further points illustrating what might be entailed by embracing each value.
Relationships are the anchor, goal, and model of what we do
As simple as it may sound to say it, centering Christ like love and relationship as the single most defining characteristic of all that we do is revolutionary
Our UMC connection is vitally important, even if we don’t talk about it all that much. We can do more as part of a larger whole.
Partnerships remind us that we can do more locally and for the sake of this city if we join together in the work others are already doing
Growth in individual faithfulness and communal impact
There is nothing wrong with being a church of any particular size, but it has been expressed over and over that we wish to grow in numbers and impact.
Focus on impact over institution - we need to develop sustainable financial and business models and we need to care for our members. Both are necessary, but the point of stable resources and strong members is to build God’s kingdom here and now.
There is no one size fits all way to define what growth in discipleship looks like, but to be a community that grows together and has a common sense of purpose requires us to provide a framework for what we mean by growth.
Start with the gifts we have
We can’t look for a cookie cutter solution, but we will build around the people and realities of our present for the sake of our future
Our location significantly affects the populations we reach and therefore the ministries we prioritize. We can either embrace or fight against being a “downtown” church here in Beaumont TX. Our mission statement encourages embrace.
Our congregation should, over time, reflect the city in which we are located; in all its diversity and strengths.
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The work listed above is intended to help us clarify and put into practice our mission “to love the city with the heart of Christ.” Throughout the summer (and perhaps the Fall as well), we will gear our worship services toward exploring what it means to love “with the heart of Christ.” Our overall goal, again, is to have a clear enough portrait of what our mission means by the end of 2025 that we can invite all church members to vote in affirmation of the direction we are starting to move. If you have any further feedback about any of these matters, please feel free to contact me or a Board member to discuss. As we clarify our mission and strategies, it is FAR more important that you, the church, gain a shared sense of purpose and direction than it is for me (as an itinerant UMC pastor) to dictate what you need to do. If I am missing or misreading something, please say so!