Next

The Vision Team Update 3.0

August 21, 2007

A Congregation working, playing, talking and praying together

Remember the Congregational Conversations last Winter/Spring? What an excellent time that was for the people of Good Shepherd to gather, get to know one another and begin to dream about our shared ministry. The Vision Team grew out of those conversations and has been meeting, studying and praying throughout the summer as to where God might be leading us. We recently talked about the many wonderful ideas and themes raised at those conversations with the main themes being: Small Groups, Worship, Diversity, Youth, Invitation & Welcome, Service & Justice, Education, Young Adults, Environmentalism, Caring, Ministry, Multi-generational Ministry, Church Communications, Ministry Ideas, and Gifts Based Ministry. Specific ideas will be dealt with further down the road. The main task of the vision process is to look at these themes and discern - What does this tell us about what we value? What does this tell us about where God's Spirit is at work in our congregation? Where are we passionate about loving our neighbor and serving God?

The next step is for Good Shepherd to reconvene as a congregation, to pray, study, talk, listen and discern these questions as we seek to faithfully follow Christ. There will be two congregational events this fall, and everyone is invited and encouraged to attend. The first will be Sunday, September 30 at 5pm and the second will be Sunday, October 14 at 5pm. SAVE THE DATES (Nursery Service will be provided!). Together as the GSC community we will share a meal and have small and large group conversations about who Jesus is and where the Spirit is at work in our congregation. This is a large family gathering, your participation is important! We'll see you there.

In addition to these congregational events, the Vision Team will be sharing "Ah Ha!" moments in worship throughout September, reflecting on their study and prayer during the summer. They will also be available for informal conversations after each service. In upcoming weeks, we will also introduce answers to these questions in the newsletter: What is a Church Mission Statement? What is a Church Vision Statement? What are Congregational Core Values?

We are on an exciting journey together. Remember to keep the ministry of Good Shepherd Church in prayer, that we might faithfully follow the Spirit.

In Christ,

The Good Shepherd Vision Team

Pastor Dave, Jeff Brown, Kelly Curtis, Alex Dearborn, Paula Freitag, Dave Herder, Jenny Jaeger, Jenny Kruse, Pam Peterson, George Price, Heather Willman