Congregational Task Force Recommendations
Initial Timeline of Next Steps October to Mid-November: -
Developing a clarified strategic vision, based on the study results and task force recommendations, that will be our guide for the next several years as we partner in the work God is doing through our church Providing educational opportunities for our congregation to be informed about and grappling with the particular issues studied by the task force
October 5, 2007
Our dear Chapel Hill family:
Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ!
Last spring we commissioned a survey to help us discern the heart of our congregation regarding our future together. One outcome of that survey was to assign a congregational team to study and present recommendations back to the Session in three areas: Debt Reduction, Transformational Missions and Congregational Participation. 25 of your brothers and sisters met faithfully throughout the summer and presented their final recommendations to us last Tuesday, October 2.
You would be proud of them. These task forces met for literally hundreds of hours this summer, in many cases canceling or postponing family vacations, in order to do their work. Representatives from the three sub-groups presented a 26 page report of findings and recommendations with great clarity and passion.
Now our work begins as a session. Because of the complexity of the reports, we feel we cannot do justice to them without meeting with each of the task forces individually for follow-up questions and conversation. On October 11, at our regular meeting of the Session, we will develop a plan for those follow-up meetings and for ongoing communication to the larger congregation to keep you abreast of our work.
A hasty response on our part would not do justice to a proposal of this magnitude. Just as these Task Forces took several months to prayerfully discern what God would have them share with the Session, now we, the Session, must also enter into a time of prayerful discernment.
This does not mean that we will lollygag. Some things will happen quickly; others will take more time. We will definitely move ahead aggressively but a comprehensive master plan that addresses adequately the many different issues raised in these reports will take months to finalize and months and even years to implement completely.
But we believe this is a wonderful start. On Sunday October 14, one of our elders will report to the congregation during our three worship services with an update on our proposed timeline. Last spring, we proposed a tentative All-Church Roundtable in late October. We now realize that such a meeting must be postponed until we understand more fully the implications of the reports.
We are grateful for the good work of our brothers and sisters. You should be, too. We call our entire congregation to continued prayer and sacrifice during this period of discernment. As our Task Forces pointed out repeatedly, there are many, many exciting things already happening at Chapel Hill. Even as we look to the future, let us be faithful and grateful for our God-blessed present. We will keep you posted. Please keep us in your prayers.
God bless us all,
The Session
Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church Our Task Force Speaks
|
