The Vision Team, composed of the session plus two Table representatives, had our first meeting last Saturday, July 8th. We spent the day thinking about the future of Centre Church. We started with the transitioning process and talked about how becoming a people who wrestle with God (Genesis 32) would benefit us.

Next, we thought through how Centre makes decisions and related our responses to the Life Cycle of the Church. Our priorities showed us to be a church in decline. All of us agreed that Centre needed to develop a new vision to get us back on the right track and revitalize our body’s impact on the surrounding region. We pledged to work together for many hours over the next five months to discern what work God has for us so we can produce a vision that breathes new life into all that we do. Since we will need to work as a team, understanding how each of us is wired became important. We looked over the personal dynamics of our team members using ProScan results, and learned a bit more about how each person operates. After lunch we considered self-imposed constraints that hinder our missional efforts. We identified a bunch of sacred cows, a few turf battles, and handfuls of things we do that are no longer effective but we keep doing them because of tradition. These are all things we can change as we move through this season of transition.

Finally, we investigated how churches get stuck in cycles of activity that don’t result in transformation – of ourselves or of our neighborhoods. It’s so easy to get comfortable with how things are. Our church building and property are historic. We have dynamic leaders with magnetic personalities. We have programs that provide belonging to our members. We are really good at connecting people together – we are an extremely friendly and caring community. All of that is wonderful, but we recognized it was insufficient on its own if we are going to do and be what Christ commands. Our team finished the day with a renewed commitment to form a vision that leads Centre to become a church community where people are emotionally attached to a sense of purpose beyond place, personalities, people, and programs. We want to be a church that is focused on calling, becoming more like Jesus, and adding people to God’s Kingdom by making disciples.