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Home > Visioning Task Force
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The Visioning Task Force has issued its report to the Session. From our dialogue with the congregation and its leadership, we sensed that there is nearly complete satisfaction with our core mission and values statements. In our report, we have tried to provide a framework to the Session which can help all of us engaged in the ministry of this congregation answer the question: How can we shine together as a brighter beacon inviting others to be disciples of Jesus Christ? Several clear themes emerge from our dialogue with the congregation that affirm the strengths, embody the hopes, and reflect the concerns over the future of Bradley Hills.
Click here for Appendix E: Reports from Surveys and Congregational Interactions
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April 18, 2006 - 
VISIONING TASK FORCE CONTINUES ITS WORK
The Visioning Task Force (VTF) is continuing its work of trying to discern direction and goals for Bradley Hills’ future. We’ve been richly blessed with the sharing of ideas, concerns, dreams and hopes from our congregation and staff.
The “Holy Conversations” on March 12
About 122 people participated in the small group “Holy Conversations” held as an extension of our worship service on March 12. We were pleased with the diversity of those who participated in the conversations: older members, younger members, those who have been at the church for a very long time and some who have only just joined, and a few visitors. Although, perhaps expectedly, we didn’t see a clearly defined “Big Holy Audacious Goal” (BHAG) emerge from these conversations, the task force sensed that those who attended were energetic, sincere, and totally involved in the conversations. 
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 VISIONING TASK FORCE
The Visioning Task Force (VTF) was created by the Session and initiated its work in October 2005. As a working statement of its purpose, the VTF has identified the following goals for its efforts: (1) To test our mission, values and vision statements against experience and our sense of where our congregation and its leadership is being called. (2) To identify goals that emerge from our deliberations and conversations with the congregation and its leadership and develop an implementation action plan for the lay ministries to follow over the next five year period. (3) To assess whether BHPC’s structure, programs, staffing patterns, and resources present barriers or opportunities to realizing our vision, values and possible goals. Members of the task force are: Steve Burns (chair), Jan Hauck (recorder), Doug Adamson, Ed Hummers, Bob Reutershan, Yoshi Sei, Becky Wagner, Myla Williams, Andy Wolvin, and Susan Andrews (staff liaison). The VTF can be reached at vtf@bradleyhillschurch.org.
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 At a special worship service on March 12, 2006, the Visioning Task Force asked the congregation to engage in “Holy Conversations” about Bradley Hills and its future. If you couldn't be with us and would like to share your thoughts with the task force, please click here and fill out the questionnaire.
Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church
A joyful community of spiritual friends
proclaiming the living Christ in our everyday lives
Curious to learn
Inspired to worship
Energized to serve
All to the Glory of God
As followers of Jesus we share these core values:
Hospitality - we welcome others and embrace our differences
Community - we seek to be a loving and caring Christian family
Compassion - we respond to the pain and need of others
Joy - we celebrate the abundance of God’s grace in our lives
Beauty - we discover God with our eyes, our ears, and our hearts
Honesty - we seek and share the truth
Integrity - we strive to live in accordance with our Christian beliefs
Open-mindedness - we explore a diversity of ideas on our journey of faith
Quality - we strive for excellence, but we realize that only God is perfect
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WHAT ARE WE SAYING?
Preliminary Feedback from the Congregation to the Visioning Process
The Visioning Task Force (VTF) has received initial congregational feedback in response question prompts on index cards included in the bulletin over three weeks in January and in an open forum conducted after the congregational meeting on January 29. In addition, we held an initial dialogue with the Session and Deacons in November. We will consider this information along with the results of the Holy Conversations on March 12 in our deliberations.
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Upon the conclusion of our 50th Anniversary year, nine of our members have shared their vision of where God is leading us during our next 50 years. Please take a moment to read each of these statements.
 Called by God to Serve, a sermon by Rev. Susan R. Andrews
June 4, 2005 - Isaiah 54:2-3
Enlarge the place of your tent;
Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not;
Lengthen your cords.
And strengthen your pegs.
For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left.
June 4, 2005 - I envision Bradley Hills to be a joyful community of spiritual friends that continues to nurture its flock to be the Image of God in a world so in need of peace and shalom. Bradley Hills will celebrate 50+ years of partnership with the Nursery School and Bethesda Jewish Congregation. It will be a sacred and holy refuge where all Christian denominations and all religions come together to worship God and nurture their Collective Image. Bradley Hills will be an ecumenical beacon of light unto the world.
June 4, 2005 - Someone once wrote:
...The universe is made of stories, not atoms,
and its music is our children...
(author unknown)
I do believe this is true, and it shapes my vision for Bradley Hills Church.
June 4, 2005 - Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church will be known as “The Community Church” with a diversity of members and mission outreach. Evangelism classes will educate us on how to tell our story to the community. Our congregation and budget will double, giving us the resources to expand current programs and build new ones. We will make full use of newspapers, radio, cable TV and the internet to make us better known in the area. Diversity will be our theme. We will welcome all regardless of race or sexual orientation.
June 4, 2005 - My dream for Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church in 25 years is that we will be a community that welcomes and engages all in the worship, education, and mission activities ministering to Montgomery County and the world. I dream that we will have lay liturgists who bring their own language and interpretation to the prayers as well as the scripture; that we will have spiritual support groups in neighborhoods or for cohorts with similar needs; that we will have more than two worship services each weekend with a musical group supporting each service; that lay ministries will have three new members each year as three continue and three roll off; that we will be engaged in a sibling relationship with a Muslim congregation; that we are able to co-sponsor an after-school program at the National Center for Children and Families staffed in part by volunteers from the church; that we have a group traveling every year to a mission project we support on an ongoing basis.
June 4, 2005 - First and foremost, I would like to see us unafraid and unembarrassed in talking about Jesus Christ. I would like us to be able to share our stories with each other—and, very importantly, with visitors—about how we have grown in our discipleship (or attempted to) and the difference that Christ has made in our lives. I would like to see us able to encourage each other more openly in this journey of faith. I would like our Bible classes, whether for youth or adults, to keep ever before us the question, “What is the meaning of this passage for me as a follower of Jesus? What can I carry from this class as I go out into the world as a Christian?” I would like our adult contemporary issues classes to do the same: not just provide forums for social and political discussions, but to engage us in exploring our Christian values as we grapple with the moral issues of our time. It seems that we so fear becoming overly “evangelical”, that we avoid talking directly about Jesus at all. I would like to see us get past that fear, to find our identity as followers of Christ without embarrassment or apology.
June 4, 2005 - I cannot remember what was thrown in my room. But it hit my Jesus and Jesus fell on the floor. Although Jesus was still on the cross I found His left arm broken. I felt my stomach distorted. But my Jewish roommate didn't say "sorry" to me. I left the dormitory 17 years ago. I never had a chance to ask him why he did it.
June 4, 2005 - Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church Concert - “Rejoice! Songs of the Season, Gifts of the Season “
Calendar Listing For Immediate Release
November 20, 2020
Contact: Cindy Stauffer (301)986-0911
Join Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church’s Children Music Ministries (CHCMM) on Sunday, December 6, 2020 at 3 PM at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, MD for a concert entitled “Rejoice! Songs of the Season, Gifts of the Season”.
The concert will feature the CHCMM’s Children’s Choir, Youth Choir, and Vox Humana, a multicultural a capella group.
All concert proceeds will be used to buy holiday gifts for local children and families in need.
Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online at www.bradleyhillschurch.org
Last year’s concert sold out, so buy tickets early!
June 4, 2005 - It’s hard for me to think about Bradley Hills changing. It’s where I grew up, it’s my second home, and it changing, really scares me. I’m used to walking in here Sunday mornings and seeing so many familiar people. I’m used to hearing snippets of conversation concerning politics, faith and everyday life. I’m used to the educational hours where we ask the hard questions about our lives. I’m used to the music and the youth group events. I’m used to all of the different fundraisers and charitable events; Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without the Angel Gift Tree. I don’t know where I would be without the community of the church; the love and the support that emanates everywhere. I don’t think that what I’m used to will change that much. What I’m used to is the essence, the spirit of the church.
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