First United Presbyterian Church

All Aboard!

FUPC celebrated 190 years of existence last year. The Planning Ministry discussed what goals may be appropriate for the church to adopt as we sail towards 200 years. This is an exciting time and also a difficult time as the Church is being faced with being relevant in a new culture that does not value the church as much as in the past. How do we accomplish our mission and vison and discover God's purpose for our church? These are questions that we hope our congregation will discuss that will lead us on this journey together. Scroll down to fill out the form!

Meeting Sign Up

Meeting Sign Up

We plan to have two Zoom meetings about our ten-year goals as a church. The Session has proposed 5 goals. We hope to have everyone in the church attend at least one meeting. There will be breakout sessions discussing the goals. Please choose two or more goals that you would like to talk about. Phil, as the host of the meetings, will put members into the breakout groups discussing specific goals. A reminder -- if you and family members use one device, you will all be in one breakout room. All aboard!

Which Zoom meeting(s) I will attend
Which goals I want to discuss

Establishing 10-Year Goals for FUPC

To get the discussion going, and in light of the restrictions on meeting in person, we will be hosting two congregational meetings online on March 10th and April 21st. Both meetings will start at 6:00. We will use Zoom technology to have a general discussion and then break into smaller groups to discuss action steps to achieve the proposed goals. Please mark down these dates on your calendars. We encourage you to attend both meetings and to provide input into two different goals.

These are the goals the planning ministry has discussed with the session:

      1. 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.
      2. 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.
      3. 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.
      4. 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.
      5. 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.

      There will be a 15-minute orientation before the meeting for people who are not sure how to use Zoom and Zoom breakout rooms.

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.

 

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