I didn’t know what to expect, but was prepared to spend the
day on our core values. (Click here
to read about that). I told the elders that, if we had time, we could work on
our objectives. Our core values were
clearly stated with time to spare, so we broke for lunch and some recreation,
then started talking about objectives.
Setting up the conversation
I’d been reading Dr. Kennon Callahan’s 12 Keys to an Effective Church, getting ready for a conference, and
shared some of his insights. Too often
we set goals that are connected to paying our mortgage, increasing our
membership or improving our financial situation (i.e. money). Callahan encourages
us to focus on goals that connect people with compassion, community and hope.
He made two other points I had to share. First, these early objectives
should be ones we can do. We
needed the energy and encouragement that easy wins bring. Early wins also build momentum. There’s
an old saying that it’s easier to turn a moving ship, and that’s true for
organizations too. Our objectives were
to the kind of things that build momentum in the right direction, and bring the
energy and encouragement of some wins.
Second, it was ok if the objectives we set were a
mistake. That’s right! Mistakes aren’t bad. Good mistakes are just as important as
successes because they show us what doesn’t work. These objectives weren’t our final ones; they could be
adjusted and changed as needed. Mistakes would help us know when that was
needed.
Our first set of objectives
After looking at our core values again, we opened the floor for
discussion. It flowed easily and by mid-afternoon, we had set three objectives
for the next quarter year:
1. Assist
with the fun-factor at the local Canada Day picnic. Our
congregation meets in a little village where an annual picnic has been going on
for over 25 years. Some of our
folks were even involved in starting it. The picnic had shrunk, and last year there was a
shortage of volunteers. The
organizers weren’t sure they could pull it off. We offered to serve, doing the food stand, and it worked like
a shot in the arm for the event. We
noticed that the fun factor could be improved, so the elders talked about offering
games and activities from a jumping castle and dunk tank to the classic Sunday
school picnic field games. Did this fit our core values? We found it echoed in core values #3, 5
& 7. So, we started making
plans.
2. Include a hymn, done in a
traditional style in each service.
Burns has always tried to intersperse our modern songs with hymns. Since before I came, Burns has intentionally
blended musical styles. However,
in the past months the hymns we included had increasingly been done with a
contemporary arrangement, or were sandwiched by modern tunes, or had new
sections inserted. For some among
us, they felt less and less like hymns.
One older lady said, “There are services where I’ll leave and I haven’t been
able to sing any of the music; I go home feeling like I haven’t been at
church.” We heard God calling us from core values #4, 5 & 6 to be more
deliberate about how we serve each other.
Yes, our worship music should be intentionally blended, and yes, that
means traditional styles need to be represented.
3.
Emphasize personal prayer more
intentionally. We pray in worship every week, but felt God
calling from values #3 & 7 to spend time conveying the power prayer has in
our lives. We wanted to encourage people
to include prayer in the whole of their lives. We set a goal of doing this by:
a.
Including a 1-2 minute reflection on
prayer before our intercessions.
Whichever elder was to lead the Prayers of the People that week would
also share briefly on how or why they prayed on their own. We’d keep this up until Pentecost
Sunday,
b.
Inviting worshippers to pray for a
few families from the congregational role each week. We’d even send them a card saying they had been included in
our prayers.
c.
Gathering requests and thanksgivings
in the foyer. These could be included
then in our intercessions.
Afterwards
In
the weeks that followed, we began implementing these objectives. There have been some hiccups along the
way, like when I forgot to let the person praying know which families we were
praying for! But, there have also
been some successes; just what the doctor ordered.
We’ll
meet again in three months to review these objectives and set some new
ones. This plan turned out to be another
Divine accidents, as the conference some of us attended sparked a bunch of new
ideas (more on that next week).
I
can envision this process becoming a regular part of how we plan for and
evaluate ministry at Burns. At the
very least, it starts building momentum, making it much easier to direct this
ship of ours.
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