OSUMC will practice radical hospitality and intergenerational discipleship so that lives and the community are transformed by God’s love.
-Oconee Street UMC Vision Statement
What now?
You have the vision statement in front of you, so be in prayer for how we will inhabit it and be challenged by it. Aaron Farnham challenged the church to read Luke leading up to our next town hall in November. I would add to also specifically focus your prayer around radical hospitality and intergenerational discipleship.
If you serve on a ministry team, it’s appropriate to begin thinking about how your ministry area already practices radical hospitality and intergenerational discipleship. The Leadership Team is continuing to refine the strategic plan related to these areas, but naming what is already happening and what has happened in the past is always necessary context.
What next?
The Leadership Team is working to complete the strategic planning process. This will provide some high-level goals for the whole church, including indicators of success and projected timing. Ministry teams will then plan and set area-appropriate goals for the next year. These goals will have an impact on how we budget for next year since we will need to anticipate what expenses will be needed to meet these goals. This process is taking longer than I anticipated, but it is ongoing. Ministry teams will have more guidance and direction in their goal setting than only the vision statement, so I would encourage those teams not to jump to making concrete plans yet but to begin taking stock as described above.
We’re also beginning the nominations process, which will help us identify three new people for leadership team and two new people for nominations and leadership development team. If you feel called to serve on either of those bodies, please let me know! More information on that will be forthcoming.
For those interested, our district charge conference is Nov. 13 at Bethlehem UMC.
As you see Leadership Team members at church, offer them your appreciation. They have been working very hard this entire year and have done excellent work!
Peace,
Pastor Laura