Bethel Murdoch Presbyterian Church

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Bethel Murdoch Presbyterian Church

• First annual Church Committee Retreat
• Saturday, April 1, 2006

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Agenda

• Session 1 (1200 -100) Overview
• Session 2 (100-215) Committee responsibilities
• Session 3 (215-245) Planning process training
• Session 4 (245-345) Committee annual plan
• Wrap up (345-400)

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Session 1 (1200-100)
Purpose provide overview of why we are here
today and what we hope to accomplish

• Opening Prayer (Frank)
• Lunch (Melody)
• Overview of Presbyterian Church
  governance/Session, Deacon, Trustee
  responsibilities (Frank)
• Overview of Leadership Committee Efforts (Dave)
• Congregational Life Survey results (Dave)

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Church governance

• Frank

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Session

• The session is responsible for the mission and
  government of the particular church.
• The whole church is under the jurisdiction of the
  session.

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Elders

• Elders are chosen by the people. Together with
  ministers of the Word and Sacrament, they
  exercise leadership, government, and discipline
  and have responsibilities for the life of a
  particular church as well as the church at large,
  including ecumenical relationships.

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Elders

• It is the duty of elders, individually and
  jointly, to strengthen and nurture the faith and
  life of the congregation committed to their
  charge. Together with the pastor, they should
  encourage the people in the worship and service
  of God, equip and renew them for their tasks
  within the church and for their mission in the
  world, visit and comfort and care for the people,
  with special attention to the poor, the sick, the
  lonely, and those who are oppressed. They should
  inform the pastor and session of those persons
  and structures which may need special attention.
  They should assist in worship. They should
  cultivate their ability to teach the Bible and
  may be authorized to supply places which are
  without the regular ministry of the Word and
  Sacrament. In specific circumstances and with
  proper instruction, specific elders may be
  authorized by the presbytery to administer the
  Lords Supper in accord with G-11.0103. Those
  duties which all Christians are bound to perform
  by the law of love are especially incumbent upon
  elders because of their calling to office and are
  to be fulfilled by them as official
  responsibilities.

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Deacons

• It is the duty of deacons, first of all, to
  minister to those who are in need, to the sick,
  to the friendless, and to any who may be in
  distress both within and beyond the community of
  faith. They shall assume such other duties as may
  be delegated to them from time to time by the
  session, such as leading the people in worship
  through prayers of intercession, reading the
  Scriptures, presenting the gifts of the people,
  and assisting with the Lords Supper.

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Trustees

• Overview of BMPC Trustees responsibilities

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Process Overview

• Dave

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Leadership Committee

• Leadership Committee was tasked to provide
  recommendations to session on a comprehensive
  vision for the church, strategic goals, and tasks
  to be accomplished to achieve those goals.
• Other committees of session will be responsible
  for implementation and accomplishment of the
  tasks upon sessions approval.

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Background information to committee work

• Congregational Life Survey, committee members
  sense of issues.
• Growth is here- increasing complexity of church
  activity
• Change is required in some areas
• Need for spiritual growth/application
• Lots of enthusiasm, many good ideas, committed
  membership
• We are doing a lot of things right!
• Often ad hoc/unsynchronized/unfocused
• Sometimes unapproved/unexplained
• Need for intentional/deliberate/coordinated
  action with Christ centered focus that fulfills
  the values and goals of the church at all levels.
  Ensure unity of effort

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• TODAY
• New Committee System in place
• Needs fine tuning, synchronization

Christ
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What matters most

• Purpose of church fulfill Great Commandment and
  Great Commission, Discipleship
• Purpose of BMPC We Exist to Bring people to
  Jesus, Educate them in God's truth, Teach them to
  love God and each other, Heal the brokenhearted
  through a loving family community, Enjoy God and
  each other, Live worshipful lives.
• Cultural values of BMPC Traditional, historic,
  warm, welcoming, church family
• Cannot be all things to all people must do what
  we do best.

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Tasks for BMPC

• Focus/coordinate efforts Christ centered (Great
  Commission and Commandment, BETHEL mission,
  BMPC culture
• Rationally divide areas of work into lines of
  effort, clarify their focus provide guidelines
  for us to design our annual efforts
• Not to displace individual acts of Christian
  love!
• If its a church event/program/activity, it needs
  to work within the overall church effort
• And be accountable to the congregation through
  session

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Christian Education

• TOMORROW
• Christ centered
• Synchronized
• Utilizes time, talent more fully
• Opportunities for service

Fellowship
Mission
Christ
Outreach
Worship
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Constraints, hazards and risks

• Member buy-in/commitment
• Budget
• Communications
• Disagreement between committees, people
  anger/unrest
• Unsynchronized efforts unfocused/BMPC not
  working to full potential
• Lack of focus wasted effort
• Lack of progress Loss of interest,
  discouragement

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Leadership Committee Paradigm

• Leadership committee defines
• Church vision (the Church universal and the BMPC)
• Lines of operations (major focal areas for the
  work of the church towards overall goal) (Blue
  Arrow)
• A goal for each line of operation (nested
  within overall goals) (Green Box)
• Measurable effects that define whether or not
  progress is being made toward the goal (Yellow
  Box)

Programs, events and activities
Goal
Measurable Effects Congregational Life Survey
section used to measure whether we are making
progress towards goal
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The Great Commandment and Commission

• Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
  heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
  mind.
• All authority hath been given unto me in heaven
  and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples
  of all the nations, baptizing them into the name
  of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
  Spirit teaching them to observe all things
  whatsoever I commanded you and lo, I am with you
  always, even unto the end of the world.

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BMPC Purpose
Purpose of BMPC We Exist to Bring people to
Jesus, Educate them in God's Truth, Teach them to
love God and each other, Heal the brokenhearted
through a loving family community, Enjoy God and
Each other, Live worshipful lives.

• Nested within goals of the Church
• Great Commandment, Great Commission, Requirement
  for Discipleship

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BMPC STRATEGY Final Version
BMPC Purpose
LINES OF ACTION
PROGRAMS ANDGOALS
Programs, events and activities
A nurturing Christian environment
FELLOWSHIP LEAD ?
Greater sense of belonging Increased involvement
Programs, events and activities
A spiritually fulfilling experience for each
individual and the congregation
WORSHIP LEAD Worship Committee
Increase in sense of meaningful worship
Programs, events and activities
Comprehensive education system that enhances
knowledge and personal faith
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION LEAD Christian Ed Committee
We Exist toBring people to Jesus, Educate them
in God's Truth, Teach them to love God and each
other, Heal the brokenhearted through a loving
family community, Enjoy God and Each other, Live
worshipful lives
Increase in personal spiritual growth Increase in
participation in CE
Programs, events and activities
Members serve and minister to the community and
the world
MISSIONLead Mission Committee
Increased participation in mission activities
BMPC and its members actively reach out to the
community, witness to the lost and bring people
to Christ
Programs, events and activities
OUTREACH LEAD Outreach Committee
Increased willingness to share faith Increase in
size of congregation
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Committee Goals(Adopted by Session)

• Fellowship A nurturing Christian environment
• Worship A spiritually fulfilling experience for
  each individual and the congregation
• CE Comprehensive education system that enhances
  knowledge and personal faith
• Mission Members serve and minister to the
  community and the world
• Outreach BMPC and its members actively reach out
  to the community, witness to the lost and bring
  people to Christ

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Timeline

• Session approved plan (Feb)
• Congregational life survey (BMPC redesign) for
  baseline (Feb-Mar)
• Aligned with goals to measure progress
• Committee retreat (Apr)

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Longterm Timeline

• Annual Congregational Life Survey (Aug-Sep)
• Annual retreat, with committees. Synchronized
  with budget cycle. (Sep-Oct)
• Budget requests (Nov)
• Session approves budget (Dec)

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Survey results

• Dave

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Congregational Life Survey

• Not a report card! Baseline data
• Pulse of the congregation- guideline to inform
  pastor, boards, committees
• Where are we doing well? (sustain this)
• Where can we improve?
• Average scores by age group
• Congregational comments
• Will use same report in future

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Survey Response

• 100 surveys distributed
• 57 surveys returned
• 18-25 1
• 26-35 7
• 36-50 8
• 51-65 18
• 65 18

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Survey Results
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Session 2 (100-215)
Purpose Sort out who is responsible for what

• Committee Breakout (100-130)
• In your committee, brainstorm a list of what you
  think your responsibilities are or should be-
  events, programs, and etc
• Please use butcher paper so we can post your
  results
• Whole group (130-215)
• Committees report out
• Deconflict responsibilities- who leads, who
  supports
• Identify overlap and gaps

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Fellowship Committee

• Phyllis, Mary and Dana volunteered to serve on
  this new committee.
• Goal A nurturing Christian environment
• Responsibilities
• Ice Cream socials
• Church dinners/breakfasts- Advent, Lenten, Maundy
  Thursday, Easter, Church Anniversary, Veterans
  day
• Oeders Lake Vespers service
• Fall Hayride
• Issues

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Worship Committee

• Goal A spiritually fulfilling experience for
  each individual and the congregation
• Responsibilities
• Sunday Worship service, special services
• Confirmation, baptism, new members, weddings
• Music/Hymns/Choir/liturgy
• Greeters, Acolytes, ushers- training, scheduling
• Offering envelopes, flowers
• Feedback/guidance to pastor on services
• Bibles, hymnals, greeting pads, candles
• Issues
• Deacon/Trustee/Secretary responsibilities in
  sanctuary
• Sound system, certificates, supplies

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Christian Education Committee

• Goal Comprehensive education system that
  enhances knowledge and personal faith
• Responsibilities
• Sunday School- childrens, adults
• Vacation Bible School
• Adult Bible studies
• Evangelism training
• Childrens Christmas program
• Youth group (HS/college age)
• Easter egg hunt
• Halloween party
• Nursery care
• Issues
• Budget for CE- bi/monthly report
• More members

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Christian Education Committee

• Possibilities
• Childrens music program
• Childrens Bible study
• Junior Hi/intermediate age activities
• Seniors education, activities, large print
  materials
• Library
• Nursery education program
• Babysitting for special events
• Womens programming- Bible study, education,
  social
• Preschool/daycare
• More adult Bible studies
• Bibles for children
• Family calendar of events
• Monthly family fun night

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Mission Committee

• Goal Members serve and minister to the community
  and the world
• Responsibilities
• Local, national, global mission support
• One key event each month
• Scouts, etc
• Missionary in Guatemala
• Warren County Abuse Shelter
• Issues
• Participation-by personal invitation
• Survey of what gifts members have that they can
  give or work during their free time
• Events donations where we get our name out
  more-dont be anonymous
• How can we make it more personal so more people
  feel connected to the mission?
• What separates us from other groups that do
  missions? Out of Christian love, not recognition

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Outreach Committee

• Goal BMPC and its members actively reach out to
  the community, witness to the lost and bring
  people to Christ
• Responsibilities
• Reach out, marketing
• Website, newspaper ads, flyers, T-shirts,
  banners, brochures, church sign
• Issues
• Location- identifying where is Bethel-Murdoch
• Making outreach everyones job- bring a friend
  Sunday
• Matching what BMPC is to advertisements
• Bang for buck- is something worth it
• Church directory update

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Other Issues

• Address lists for newsletter
• Responsibilities of boards, secretary
• Publish a policy/procedures manual with all
  committee/boards/employees responsibilities

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Session 3 215-245
Purpose Provide committees with common planning
process

• Planning process training

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Planning Process

• Adam

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Process Steps

• Identify the goal
• Set deadline for achievement
• Identify obstacles needed to overcome
• Identify the groups of people with whom you need
  to work
• Identify the resources needed
• Develop a plan of action (with specific deadlines
  for each step) (as many steps as needed)
• List the benefits of achieving the goal

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Session 4 (245-345)
Purpose Provide committees with opportunity to
begin annual planning process and synchronize
efforts

• Committee Breakout (245-315)
• In your committee, brainstorm plans or refine
  existing plans for events, programs, activities
  through Dec 31, 2006
• Please use butcher paper so we can post your
  results
• Whole group (315-345)
• Committees report out
• Deconflict responsibilities- who leads, who
  supports
• Identify overlap and gaps-

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Wrap Up

• Next steps
• This church year
• Continue efforts in committee
• Prepare for repeating process in fall
• Next church year
• Comments
• Due outs
• Questions?
• Closing prayer