Strategic Planning
New Hope Presbyterian Church strives to...
•Welcome and Include all
•Worship God
•Grow in Christian Faith
•Serve Others
•Be God’s Love in the World
•Welcome and Include all
•Worship God
•Grow in Christian Faith
•Serve Others
•Be God’s Love in the World
A Pastoral Letter Regarding New Hope’s Strategic Plan
Like it or not, God is always calling the church out of itself and into new realities. In the first few decades after Jesus’ resurrection, the first church in Jerusalem didn’t want to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. They changed human history when they allowed the Apostle Paul to do so. Martin Luther felt God calling the church away from a clergy-centered to a lay-driven movement. The Rev. Dr. Martin King Luther King, Jr., felt God calling the church to take a leadership role in reconciling people of different races in this country. Today, the Holy Spirit continues to call us to reform.
We see this need all around us. Earlier this year a Pew Research Center study found that fewer and fewer Americans are identifying with Christianity than in years past. This decline in religious affiliation is especially pronounced among young adults. You can find the specifics here: http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/, but the long and short of it is that, while people say they still believe in God, they have not found the church to be a credible or effective witness to the love and promises of that God. They may not say it quite like that. They usually describe their departure from the institutional church as exasperation with “organized religion,” or the like. There is a lot more that needs to be said to unpack that statement, but these people simply do not see or experience God in the church. Regardless of whether you think their criticism is legitimate, it’s quite an indictment and the church needs to change.
I know that’s a bad word. We don’t like change. So we do this: “Let’s just add some more classes to attract young adults.” “Let’s just ask people to be on our committees. That will get them involved and the best way to get them involved is to ask them personally.” “Let’s create more programs for people to be involved with. We used to do (this or that). We should try that again.”
It’s what change theorists identify as the difference between a technical problem and an adaptive challenge. Technical problems are solved with known answers and resources. If the lightbulb is burned out, take it out and put in a new lightbulb. If you have high-blood pressure, you can take medication to lower it. The technical problems of no light or high blood pressure can be addressed from the outside with resources and know-how that already exist.
But adaptive challenges are different. They are not solved according to well-accepted standard operating procedures. Adaptive challenges are so named because they are addressed from the inside, by individuals or groups of people changing their habits. So, one way to address high-blood pressure is to take medicine. That’s a technical fix, but the underlying problem still exists. A more holistic approach would be for an individual to change his habits and lifestyle by eating healthier and getting regular exercise.
When our Strategic Planning Team began its work, it did so with prayer, asking God’s Spirit to lead and guide us. We had our own schedule and this process has taken longer than we thought it would or should, but one thing we’ve learned is that we ought not to ask God’s Spirit to conform to our schedule. “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8) I have to admit, that’s one of the more annoying aspects of God’s Spirit, but it’s also what makes God’s Spirit life-giving, as our Strategic Planning Team has discovered.
When the Strategic Planning Team presented its finding and recommendations to the Session in August, it took a while for the Session to warm up to it and I was not surprised by that at all. That’s because many of us expected “the Plan” to involve technical fixes, like building an education wing or sanctuary, or adding a staff person to do this or that. But instead, the Plan is designed to address the adaptive challenge before us. It asks us to change our habits and lifestyles so we, as the church, can give the best, truest and most faithful witness to God’s love and promises in our lives and in our community. We don’t expect it to be easy, but we do expect that it will breathe new life into our midst. We can’t see too far down the road, but we can take the first steps in faith, trusting that God is leading the way. That’s all we are really called to do.
So I look forward to our Congregational Dinner hosted by the Session and the Strategic Planning Team on Wednesday, November 11, 6:00-8:00 p.m. We don’t want you to have to worry about getting a meal together to bring to a pot-luck. We’ll share a wonderfully catered meal at no cost to you. We’ll share with you what we’ve discovered and what opportunities this Plan provides for all of us as a community to “welcome and include all, worship God, grow in Christian faith, serve others, and be God’s love in the world.”
I am excited about what God has in store for us and about walking this road together.
Faithfully,
Christopher Q. James, Pastor
Click on a link above to learn more about each part of New Hope's Strategic Plan