Strategic Planning: September & October
Since celebrating Mission & Vision Sunday on September 22, we’ve been gathering as church in strategic conversations on how to bring our mission to life. Here’s what that looked like in September and October:
9/8, 9/16, 9/22, 9/29
Strategic Outreach Planning Team
Our Outreach Planning Team met several times in September to define how our Mission & Vision applies to outreach, brainstorm ideas, and converge on the best ones to share in October.
8/25, 9/8, 10/8, 10/9
Strategic Ministry Planning Team
Our Ministry Planning Team met in August, working with and giving feedback on early drafts of our Mission & Vision, and regathered in early October to brainstorm strategies for bringing Advent’s mission to life in our ministry.
10/6 & 10/13
Outreach Strategy Feedback
Longtime and new Advent members gathered on Sundays to explore ideas developed by our Strategic Outreach Planning Team, share which strategies were resonating, and engage in conversation about outreach.
In the activity, each participant received 4 post-its to place on the strategies or ideas that resonated most with them. Then, we sat down for a discussion where people could explain their choices, and where we discussed what trends and connections we saw as a group.
People could also contribute their perspective on the wall in the Sanctuary and through a survey in our e-letter.
10/20, 10/27, & 11/3
Ministry Strategy Feedback
Advent members gathered on Sundays to explore ideas developed by our Strategic Ministry Planning Team, share which strategies were resonating, and engage in conversation about outreach.
This activity was a little different than the outreach one. In this activity, each participant received 3 post-its that were numbered (1, 2, and 3) to place on the strategies or ideas that resonated most with them. The numbered post-its allowed people to express which strategy felt most important to them. Then, we sat down for a discussion where people could explain their choices, and where we discussed what trends and connections we saw as a group.
We offered 2 sessions on 10/20, 2 sessions on 10/27, and translated everything for our monthly Congregational Lunch after Spanish worship on 11/3.
Meanwhile,
We’ve left the outreach and ministry activities open on the Sanctuary wall all 4 Sundays in October (2 for outreach, 2 for ministry). We received many other responses that way.
We’ll also be leaving the ministry options in Spanish up two more week in November, since the first time we were able to share that was the congregational lunch on 11/3.
And,
For those who couldn’t make it to Advent in October, we also shared these Outreach and Ministry strategies in a survey format in our weekly e-letter throughout October: 2 weeks for the outreach survey, and 3 weeks for the ministry survey.
We had 40 people engage in Outreach feedback at Advent between the in-person sessions and the sanctuary wall, 40 people engage in Ministry feedback between the in-person sessions and the sanctuary wall, 16 people respond to the Outreach survey in our e-letter, and 8 people respond to the Ministry survey in our e-letter.
Thank you to everyone who contributed!
You are amazing for taking the time to be part of this process.
And, let’s not forget the many more people who already contributed to Advent’s Vision & Mission throughout our 9-month visioning process. Thanks to you, too, for making all of this possible.
Now, in November our pastors, staff, and volunteer teams will continue developing our strategy based on everything we’ve heard, and guided by our Mission & Vision.
This is a long, complex, and sometimes messy process. But we know our strategy will be for the better having collaborated together, threading in so many voices and perspectives throughout our church, and witnessing the movement of the Holy Spirit in all of it.
Expect more opportunities to engage and contribute to our planning in December, and to see some of the results of all this work during our Annual Meetings in January. The process continues, and God is leading the way.