March 10, 2006 -
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.
Question Cards Distributed during Worship in January
January 8
From our list of Bradley Hills’ Values, which value most inspires you personally?
68 cards were returned; a few selected multiple values as reflected in the numerical count below. Note, however, that Compassion was unintentionally omitted from the list of values on the response card! Some common themes reflected in the listing of the values are reflected below.
Community (23) - Many drew a connection between community and other aspects of the Christian life – drawing closer to God and the Spirit and finding nurture in the community and being prepared for service and witness in the world through the strength of our congregational ties
Open-Mindedness (14) Respondents emphasized the value in being open and reaching out to those of different connections and beliefs. One noted that this value distinguished Bradley Hills from most churches.
Integrity (14) Respondents tied this value to the honest living out of one’s core beliefs as followers of Jesus Christ, and that the church is a key anchor for this value.
Joy (12) The experience of the sacred in life, thankfulness for the blessings that God has bestowed on us, and the great goodness and grace of God are reasons for Joy.
Honesty (8) Like Integrity, Honesty is a need in a community and in personal life.
Hospitality (7)A couple respondents tied hospitality to other values such as community and open-mindedness. This is the only value where a commenter, who felt the value was lacking in the congregation, listed it as an important need at BHPC.
Beauty (5) Beauty was seen by one as a means of experiencing God without “over-thinking” things; another saw Beauty as important to spiritual nourishment.
Quality (1) Listed among several other values by this one respondent.
January 15
What Does BHPC Do Best?
54 cards were returned. Worship and Community Service drew the strongest responses, followed by comments that can be characterized within Spiritual Growth and Development and Community and Hospitality.
Worship drew about 37 comments as either primary or secondary comments on the cards, with sermons/preaching and music noted as specific aspects of the worship experience that were appreciated by the respondents.
Community Service drew about 19 comments. There was no particular differentiation among the comments, but a couple noted involvement across the congregation and particularly the youth mission trips as strength.
Spiritual Growth and Development also drew about 19 comments, within a range of specific comments commending concrete activities such as adult education as well as more general or personal comments such as “encourages self examination”, “ supports me with love and spiritual nourishment,” and “applies Christian principles to everyday life.”
Community and Hospitality drew about 13 comments focusing on the congregation’s relationship with each other, including member care, fellowship, and a sense of community, to welcoming others, whether specifically a warm welcome to visitors or general tolerance, open-mindedness and acceptance of others. Two respondents indicated that BHPC could do better engaging with one another and being a friendlier congregation.
January 22
What are You Most Passionate about as a Christian?
52 cards were returned, many with more than one response. Most responses could be clustered in these categories: Relation to God and Living Christ’s Message; Mission and Social Justice; and Tolerance and Acceptance.
Relation to God and Living Christ’s Message (23 responses) A yearning to connect to God by living one’s life as God calls him or her to do, being open to seeking, hearing and celebrating God, sharing spirit and shaping ourselves into disciples to become the living Christ, were among the responses. Others emphasized the desire to pattern ourselves on Jesus and his teachings and being open to the opportunities to live out Christ’s message. A number of these responses could just as easily have been placed in the Mission and Social Justice category, because of the connection the writer made with living out God’s love and promises in our work, service and witness in the world. One noted that “BHPC provides education, opportunity and support to me as I live this mission.”
Mission and Social Justice (19 responses): Respondents generally emphasized giving and sharing one’s resources with others, showing compassion for others, promoting social justice in the face of large disparities in wealth, were among the responses.
Tolerance and Acceptance (16 responses): Respondents here placed a strong emphasis on trying to promote respect for the views of others and reaching out across faith traditions to build ties with others. Our relation with BJC was noted as a positive example. “Loving one’s neighbor as oneself” was identified by several.
January 29
Open Forum following the Congregational Meeting
Although this session followed the annual meeting well into Sunday afternoon, about 25 persons stayed to listen or provide comments to the VTF in an unstructured format. The discussion included identification of perceived strengths at BHPC , some strong concerns, particularly in the children’s education area, and some general reflections on values or focuses for the future. Here are some general themes from the discussion:
Authenticity: A couple speakers picked up this phrase from the day’s sermon: Saying what we mean and living what we mean. Being engaged in an open-minded viewpoint towards faith and a metaphorical understanding of the Bible (see Marcus Borg’s Heart of Christianity
Mission and Social Justice: BHPC does mission well. It energizes us and is infectious. Many members travel and speak about our mission work during these travels Look for ways for non-members to contribute to the mission projects of our church.
We should have concern for creation in all we do. Look at the cost of energy. It would behoove us to live within the constraints of these costs and to keep environmental issues in focus
Take up issues of science and medicine – a lot of ethical issues are involved. We should have the vision of setting leadership for these issues. Take a stand on the outrageous medical drug pricing.
Church school: Several speakers expressed grave concern with the attendance and health of our church school: declining attendance, greater difficulty in recruiting teachers, lack of parental involvement. An average of 15 children (age 3 to 5th grade) is attending church school. How can we make our children excited to be here? Holding church school concurrently with worship was viewed as worth trying, because some families indicate that hey have only an hour to give on Sunday mornings. We may be splintering the younger families through three groups: church school, Worship for Children, and TASTE (Tuesday afternoons)
We should have a passionate vision to have more kids than grown ups here every week.
Spirituality: The Evangelism brochure, “Peace from the Inside Out,” is great. How do we address spirituality in the course of all we do? Look at the reconciling force the church is to be in the world. How does it apply to the individual person, to the family?
Engaging each other: Welcoming Task Force engaged people to tell their stories, heard each other, brought Biblical understanding to the process. We should have more sharing of stories by members of this congregation, wherever we may be in contact with each other. Really listen to each other. Understand why we want to be living with Jesus Christ in our lives. Meaningfulness is an important word.
We need to structure the way we do business here so we are nurturing our teachers, our leaders, and our parents. Be involved in training people to do the jobs they do here. Be intentional in this and be nurturing so a spiritual element is built in.
We need to find a creative way to interact with each other that doesn’t take so much driving (fossil fuel) and time away from families (which meetings do.) More use of technology and the web. mind . Hold online meetings? Build relationships through church based chat rooms. Kids are tied to technology. Have to think in that direction.
Engaging those outside our community: Where do we come from geographically? Strength may be in a message that transcends parish boundaries. What is this message?
Are we prepared to meet the challenges of a changing society, one that may see greater economic pressure and that has a continuing cultural war? There is a cultural war going on with the theological right. We can be a “beacon of light” standing against a darkening exterior.
See how we can engage the NIH community.
The emphasis in the mission/values statement on quality puts pressure on people. Quality is not a welcoming word.
We need to ask: who are we? How do we make the best use of our resources? Think about what is essential and about what may bring people to us.
November 15, 2005
Joint Meeting with the Session and Board of Deacons
We asked the Session and Deacons to talk in mixed small groups around the following questions. This what we heard.
Where do you believe that we have connected well with our mission, vision and values?
Worship: Joyful
Compassion: Memorial Services
Open-minded: Children/Adults
ATF/Accessibility
Mission: -reaching out
-Faith in action
-community
-BASE program
-outreach, local and global
Opportunities for involvement in congregational life
Diversity in educational offerings
Tackling tough issues respectfully
Where do you believe we have room to grow?
Proclaiming -“living” Christ
-Is there ownership?
Children’s attendance: is church school engaging?
Corporate celebrations
Adult education attendance
Open to new music
Nurturing vital faith in adults and youth
Concrete steps for hospitality: define and act on them
Challenge new members to be involved
No blue stickers (find a better way to identify visitors)
Name three hopes or dreams for the Bradley Hills community in the next 5-10 years.
(The number of stickers following an item indicates how many participants identified the item as important when the group was asked to indicate preferences)
Retirement home
Increase in diversity (4 stickers) -living the statement in our bulletin
More young people and families (17 stickers)
More commitment and connection of/with members (2 stickers)
Increase in % participation in church life (15 stickers)
Strong youth program Sunday and during week (6 stickers)
Reaching youth at risk and in community (1 sticker)
Accessibility, particularly Memorial Hall side
Van (accessible)
Acceptance of and involvement in Nursery School
Revitalizing our building (education wing) (3 stickers)
Attaining financial goals and reserves (1 sticker)
Name three important challenges or concerns you have for the Bradley Hills community.
(The number of stickers following an item indicates how many participants identified the item as important when the group was asked to indicate preferences)
Nurture active membership (7 stickers)
Help people feel connected (14 stickers) (both new and long time members)
Difficulty recruiting leadership/volunteers (5 stickers)
Hunger for spirituality/commitment (8 stickers)
Finding replacements for burned out volunteers (7 stickers)
Securing financial base (5 stickers) – establishing reserves, etc., caring for an aging building
Encourage stronger prayer life (1 sticker)
Bethesda bias (2 stickers)
