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Small Group Discussion
Following Vince’s presentation, those in
attendance broke off into small dyad group discussion for approximately ten minutes. The attendees were encouraged to speak with
someone who had the same coloured name tag.
The topic of discussion was: what excites you about ministry in your
context?
Those in attendance were then encouraged to
form larger groups and to share the excitement of their previous discussion with
different coloured groups (3 groups).
As well, the question was posed, what
puzzles you about being church today? A quote from Reg Bibby was also provided
to assist with the discussion: “There is
no easier place from which to evangelize than the mainline Protestant church”. How is this statement true/not true for you
in your context?
The groups then took a five minute break at
11:45
Shaping the Process
Following the break, Paul Browning
suggested that there were two spiritual principles that could guide the
process:
As human beings
acting as divine agents, whatever we look for, we find (if you look for
problems in the church you will find them - if you look for the spirit you will
find it)
Secondly, the
amount we invest in something, we will get back in similar return (for
instance, if you plant peas, you will never grow corn or if you are nice, this
will elicit a certain positive response and vice versa)
What we need to do is identify what in our
area of the world the Holy Spirit is doing, what the Holy Spirit is about. A proposal sheet (see attached) was
distributed called Networking With The Spirit.
The goal outlined on the sheet is to
identify the activity of the Spirit in our midst, in as many ways as possible,
so that we can celebrate, learn, and support one another in being a part of
what the Spirit is bringing to life.
We need to find this out, albeit with
effort, and then make known to those who wish to listen, what it is that we have
found. What is the simplest way to do this?
A reasonable place to start is to find out
what the Spirit is up to in Presbytery.
A contact person or group of persons needs to be established for each
Presbytery. Their role would be to find
out what programs at the congregational level are really working, what is
life-giving, where people’s needs are being met, and something good happening. The idea would be to collect specific
information on such programs, including the name of the program and the program
leader, contact information and perhaps a very brief description of the
program. A flyer for each Presbytery
would be created that lists all the particular program initiatives that are
bearing some fruit. There is no need to
think exclusively about clergy, but also social programs (e.g. Rainbow program
dealing with troubled children working well here, contact this person). The flyer should be completed by the end of
September. This will be a great show and tell opportunity to assist with the
circuit rider program (networking). How
can you go to visit and see a program at work if you don’t know it exists? Once the flyer is complete, it is to be
emailed to the Conference office where it will be distributed Conference-wide. In the fall, we will get together again to
review the process.
Paul also spoke of a spring get-together
for two days where we invite all those individuals engaged with programs in community
building, to do four things:
1. to participate in a worship celebration
extravaganza utilizing everyone’s gifts,
2. to bring in an expert for a presentation
to provide us with ‘hard information’ and the necessary tools and skills
required to engender positive Church growth, e.g. facilitation, conflict
resolution, strategic planning, daily management computer systems
3. to network ourselves
4. to throw a huge party blast blow-out
Paul wanted those in attendance, however, to
covenant first and foremost around the pamphlet and the fall meeting.
Questions from the group included how will
we pay for this? How much of this information is already known? What new knowledge will this process ferret
out?
Since the process will be carried out
electronically at the Conference level, the anticipated costs are quite
low. With respect to the other
questions, discussions at Presbytery meetings do not handle good news about
programs but tend to focus more on litigation matters, business etc. A discussion
of positive programs and what is working is hardly ever on agendas at the
Presbytery level. This process will
enable us to seek that information out exclusively.
If we network, our time will be well
invested. Paul expressed a need, shared
by others, that he does not want to feel isolated in his ministry anymore. This is where ‘network initiators’ can assist
in reducing such feelings of isolation and frustration.
The following individuals have agreed to
act as ‘network initiators’ and to commence the process described above. The list is not exhaustive and can certainly
include others in the future. A list of
contact information is attached. A
representative from Dufferin-Peel will need to be found from past participants
to these meetings.
Scarborough - Alan Rush
Simcoe - Kevin Logie
Toronto West - Cheri DiNovo
Toronto South – Brad Newcombe
Toronto Don Valley - John Lee
York - Anne Gajerski-Cauley, Heather Burton
and Frank Elmhirst
Muskoka - Alan Boyd and Allan Parker
Grey - Marina Brown
Dufferin Peel - tba
The question was asked whether the network
initiators should wait until the first meeting of Presbytery in September and get
time on the agenda. Paul responded that
folks should not wait that long but get started right away. He encouraged
everyone that every time they meet church colleagues they should get into the
habit of asking them what is working in their congregations and collecting
information continuously. He suggested
that folks start a list themselves of things that they already know about that
will encourage others to speak out when they see the list.
Others who are interested in acting as initiators
should contact Paul Browning.
A concern was raised that maybe we should concentrate
solely on the really good news stories and focus on the process itself instead
of overwhelming people with a plethora of projects. Paul responded that this is not to be seen as
an advertisement. We are not listing
these projects solely to attract new audiences.
Don’t put down things that you are trying to get going in your
congregation, but things that are really working at the moment.
Paul concluded his presentation by agreeing
to send out a template to initiators that will ask folks to identify what is
working in their congregation, that will ask the leadership of that
congregation whether they are willing to have their programs listed, and then whether
they are willing to have others visit or have program leaders visit other
congregations to speak of their programs.
Barbara White then announced that a vision
statement that is currently under development by the planning team will be
distributed via email once it is completed.
The meeting concluded with the singing of
hymn #884 from Voices United, “You Shall Go Out With Joy”.
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