First United Presbyterian Church is holding the second of two congregational meetings on the future of our church this Wednesday, April 21. The meeting will take place entirely on Zoom, and begins at 6:00 p.m. There will be a short general discussion, and then we will break into smaller groups to discuss action steps to achieve the proposed goals.
Please click THIS LINK to find the Zoom information. The meeting will take place on Zoom One.
You are encouraged to attend this meeting even if you attended the other meeting last month.
These are the goals the planning ministry has discussed proposed for our discussion:
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- Deepen our personal faith and become closer to Christ as members of one body –The church is the Body of Christ, and we respond to God’s love in Christ by seeking to further God’s kingdom in the power of the Spirit. As individual members of that body we need to stay healthy and keep growing spiritually. As a community, we encourage one another as together, we grow up in every way into Christ, building one another up in love. We will provide tools and resources to support and assess growth in each member’s faith journey, and our spiritual progress as a congregation.
- Strengthen Involvement and Connections – Develop a process and system to make internal and external connections among our members and with groups outside our church. This process would result in having 80% of our active members (including baptized children and youth) be connected in some way to worship, fellowship, caring, serving on ministries, spiritual growth or other learning experiences.
- Reach Out with God’s Love in Word and Deed – Increase the number of members who are involved in outreach and service activities by 30% and increase the annual financial commitments the church makes to outreach and service to 25% of the pledges made to the church, drawing on various offerings and church outreach funds in addition to pledges. Engage with other non-profits to work towards fulfilling the Mathew 25 initiative.
- Cultivate Generous Stewardship –Increase the financial resources of the church by increasing the number of pledging units from 125 to 175, Increase the income by 3% a year with a goal of $800,000 at the end of 10 years, and increase the endowments and long-term restricted funds to $3,350,000 by 2031. Broaden our understanding and practice of stewardship to better incorporate each member’s time and talents. Continue caring for the church property and be good stewards of God’s creation.
- Discern God’s Guidance for Appropriate Leadership – Create processes and structures to discern God’s leading for both paid personnel and volunteer leaders to support the ministries of the church as transitions and growth occur over the next 10 years.
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If you would like to share your thoughts but not to use Zoom, you can send us your answers to these questions by mail:
- Goal – How could we better define the goal?
- Action Steps – What are the action steps that should be taken to accomplish the goal?
- Other thoughts to share with the planning ministry.