On Sunday July 9th we held a town hall meeting with 2 main objectives.
1. Rev. Dori Little presented his report from the listening interviews he conducted with 45 people in Centre Church
2. Rev. Ellen Gardener explained the vision process Centre Church has begun
Since some of you were traveling, this post will offer brief a recap of the event. I would also encourage you to reach out to anyone who attended the event to hear their perspective, or CLICK HERE to ask any the Elders and Pastors any questions.
Thanks to Nee and Bertha's wedding we had a huge crowd on Sunday morning! It was a blessing to worship together. Pastor Robert preached on Jonah 4, Melissa Keck led the singing, and Karen Crowell gave some very informative announcements at the beginning of the service. (Click play below to view the announcements)
Immediately following worship, we moved to the fellowship hall for lunch where Dori spoke about his process during the interviews and presented his findings. He reiterated that transition is firstly an emotional process, and that it is important to acknowledge the loss we are all feeling as Robert retires and the congregation prepares for Robert and Cyndie leave.
After a brief pep-talk, he talked us through the following slides.
Following the slides, we had a time of Q & A from where many expressed their love for Robert and Cyndie as well as their love for the church. Since some of the findings of the report relflected a negative reality (declining membership, aging congregation, etc.), some felt saddened by the report. Dori reminded the room that this report does not say that Centre is "Bad" it simply explains the reality as we approach the future.
After Dori, Ellen had the vision team members introduce themselves. Some were abstent for the town hall, but the full group is comprised of:
Seven Centre Church Session Members:
- Karen Crowell
- Roger Hamilton
- Rev. Logan Keck
- Jay Luckwaldt
- Joe Mitchell
- Jim Toole
- Rick Wagner
Two People who are invovled with the Table
- Merrilynne Henderson - A member of Centre Church
- Brian Martin - An EPC teaching Elder who works for PastorServe (teaching elders cannot offically become members of a local church because they are members of the presbytery.)
Once the Group was introduced, Ell led us through an exercise looking at the timeline of the many wonderful things that have happened in Centre Church since its founding over 255 years ago. She invited the room to share things they remembered fondly from Robert and Cyndie's time at the church. Many people were shared about their accomplishments and how much they had been impacted by their ministry. We closed this portion with a time of prayer.
Next, Ellen spoke about how churches make decisions. She explained that churches usually make decisions based around 4 main areas (Ministry - what ministries are expected or needed, Relationships - What people in the church want, Structure - Polity requirements or budget limitations, Vision - a church's understading of God's unique call for them). She then broke everyone into groups and had them rank these 4 priorties at Centre Church.
When the groups reconviened the various tables shared their results. The church decided we are an MSRV or MRSV style church. This showed that our church qualified for the "retirement" section of the church life cycle. (Church lifecycles are displayed in the slides below) This means that we are in need of "New Vision, Diminished Structure, New Relational Forms, and New Ministries."
Finally, everyone in the room filled out a Spiritual Gifts Assesment, and turned it in. If you have not yet filled out this form, please click here to email our Admin and she will give you a copy to complete. The plan is for everyone in the church to complete this evaluation.