Grapevine – September 2009
by admin on September 9, 2009
in Grapevine - Newletter
September 3, 2009
Sep 8 – Men’s Breakfast @ 8:00 am
Sep 10 – Worship Committee
Sep 11 &12 – Flea Market & Plant Sale @ 8:00 am
Sep 13 – Ice Cream Social @ 5:00 pm
Sep 14 – Parenting Class @ 5:30 pm
Sep 20 – Congregational Meeting @ 10:00 am
Sep 21 – Fellowship Sewing @ 9:30 am
Sep 21 – Tatting Class @ 6:30 pm
Sep 24 – Pastor Leadership Training @ 9:30 am
Sep 24 – Board Meeting @ 7:00 pm
Sep 27 – Mission Sunday
CONTINUING EVENTS
Tues @ 9:30 am – Angel Pin Ministry
Wed @ 5:30 pm – Fellowship dinner
Wed @ 6:30 pm – Youth & Children Groups
Wed @ 6:30 pm – Bible Study
Starting on Tuesday, Sep 15 – Care to Wait
THIRD ANNUAL PLANT SALE
The Paradise Memorial Garden will host it’s Third Annual Plant Sale on Friday, September 11th and Saturday, September 12th. The sale will run form 8:00 am to 3:00 pm each day in the parking lot near the garden. This year’s sale will also include a craft sale featuring garden art. Some of the featured items will be bird baths, hummingbirds on a stake, pottery mushrooms, and plant charms. Please contact Shirley Stanelle if you or a friend would like a space to sell hand crafted items with a garden art theme.
REPORT OF THE PRESBYTERY CONSULATION TEAM
The consultation team identified five strengths, five concerns and presented five prescriptions (solutions). Due to space limitations only the concerns and prescriptions will be addressed here.
Five concerns
1. Mission & Vision: Congregation needs a clear mission and compelling vision.
2. Not Organized and Staffed for Growth: The church is not designed or staffed to achieve the mission and vision of a growing church.
3. Decline of Members: In the last five years the church has lost nearly half its members (49&).
4. Community Outreach: The community ministries are ineffective in connecting service projects with attracting new members.
5. Sunday Morning Worship: The worship services and music are not strategically outward-focused and designed for a particular population.
1. Mission & Vision: The pastor in conjunction with the Executive Presbyter will write an outwardly-focused Mission Statement of the congregation for its approval by the Board and communication to the congregation by October 4, 2009.
2. Not Organized or Staffed for Growth: With consultation from Gary Weaver, the Board will align resources, responsibility, authority and accountability for the Board, the Pastor, the Staff and the Congregational Members to accomplish their mission work together by November 29, 2009. The Pastor’s primary responsibilities will be changed from “congregational care” to “mission leader.”
3. Decline of Members: The Board will be trained to restructure the church’s ministries to effectively prepare for, receive, and fully assimilate new people into the worship and community live of the congregation by October 25, 2009.
4. Community Outreach: All ministries will be aimed at community targets with the mission of connecting new people with Christ and Christ’s body.
5. Sunday Morning Worship: One of the current worship services will be redesigned that is relative to the needs of the current congregation. The other worship service will be designed in music and style and given priority as to the time and day best suited for target populations by April 4, 2010 (Easter Sunday).
A Congregational Meeting will be called by the Board to vote to accept or reject this Report without amendment by September 20, 2009.
JULY MEETING
The July 23rd Board of Directors meeting was opened with prayer and called to order by President Diane Preuss Devotions were led by Stacey Burns.
GRAPEVINE
The deadline for the October issue of “The Grapevine” will be September 21st. If you have anything you would like published please contact Ron Dexheimer at 647-1717 or email fishermandex@msn.com. Written copy can also be left at the church office. The Grapevine is now online at ecopwgrapevine.blogspot.com.
REPORT
CHANGE
It is one of the great constants of life. Whether because of the slow and gradual erosion of time, or swift and cataclysmic moments of trauma, change happens to everyone. People change; relationships change; jobs change; technology changes; indeed life itself can be described as a process of continual change. Some changes are positive: a new friend, a new house, a financial windfall; while others are negative: a tragic loss, a job layoff, the upheaval of natural disaster. Either way, change produces stress. The Bible teaches two great truths about change. The first is that despite the changing world around us, God is changeless and dependable. The second is that God calls for an inner change of heart, called repentance, that produces an outer change of lifestyle, called obedience. .
Posted by Ecumenical Church of Pueblo West at 7:08 PM