What should
be last (if I wrote this chronologically) is first here, because for now it is the
next big step. Lawrence Park Community Church (LPCC) is looking for a few good people
to serve on its launch team for a new worshipping community! And we’re looking
for people who would love to work on our wonderful morning service. Here’s the
back story.
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Toronto's "Brian Barlow Quartet" jazz ensemble leading
worship at LPCC, 2017. |
My
congregation has been discussing strategic planning since shortly after I
arrived in 2012. At first these discussions were about, “maybe doing this someday.”
Later, we pulled a lay committee together to begin the strategic planning
conversation. Finally, in early 2016, the church’s council decided Strategic Planning
was their responsibility. Monthly meetings were given over to the process. We
were organized and led by a fine professional who does this sort of thing,
Warren Coughlin, who also happens to be a member of our congregation.
Along the
way we did some interesting things! We had a Sunday service given over to talking
about what we dreamed about and how we might accomplish those things. On
another Sunday, we invited our members to visit other churches that they had
heard about through the grapevine, instead of coming to our services. The next
Sunday was given over to discussing what we experienced and how we felt about
it. On another Sunday, the sermon was staged as a bit of a congregational revolt against the Strategic Plan. Members rose in the middle of the sermon to complain about the stuff that was going on in church. I, staff, and council members responded to the objections (that was fun!). And, naturally, we posted all the information that came in on the internet,
discussed it at congregational meetings, and finally voted on whether or not to
proceed with our strategic plan, just a few weeks ago.
During the
process, Warren pulled together what he heard from council members and the
congregation, and made up a tentative list of our values, and the vision that
animates us. We discussed one of these values, and people in the congregation who embodied them, each Sunday over the summer. We have not reduced these values and the vision to a snappy line or two—at least
not yet. But we did compile this in written form for editing and sharpening later
on. We also agreed that our final plan needed to both embrace those who
worshipped with us now and it had to reach out to a younger demographic than
our current demographic.
Meanwhile I
used this information to continually draft and redraft the evolving strategic plan. The plan commits
us to being a voice for liberal (and post-liberal) Christianity. We believe our
values, both lived and taught, will inspire our members personally. But they
will also carry those values into the wider world. They will care about social
justice, participate positively in the public square and industry, and be a
healing community for each other and neighbours.
I could go
on for quite a while about the plan’s details, but it boils down to three
things. We’re going to enhance our morning worship service by doing even more
of what our current members already love: great religious music for organ,
piano and choir; a variety of other music from jazz to Broadway; strong
preaching (I hope!); great community; and some drama, dance, and brass. It will
have a strong “arts,” focus.
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| The Arts are already a key focus at LPCC. |
We’ll also
begin a second worshipping community in our facilities. It will meet around
food, secular (but spiritual) music, and small groups (we need to flesh this
out), probably on Sunday later afternoons or evenings. Worship will be brief
but lively. And finally, we’ll bless congregational initiatives (like our Art
Show or Meditation Group) that people want to try with the church’s support and
blessing.
Along the
way I also studied church planting literature intensively. Most of it was
written from an Evangelical perspective. I mined these books for information
about what sort of resources, plans, and personnel were required for a
successful launch. The books covered other matters, too: timelines, practical
advice about research and marketing, and so on. I also read books about the "Millennial" generation, and pored over demographic research about our neighbourhood and city. All this helped inform the launch
plan and staffing goals we settled on.
Early in
the process, LPCC realized that a sizeable amount of money was available from
our Presbytery to help fund a new initiative. To apply for the money,
Presbytery wanted to evaluate our strategic plan, and wanted to see a business
plan, a budget, and a timeline for the length of the funding. Presbytery could grant up to 100,000 dollars the first year. Each succeeding year, if certain
conditions were met, the funding would continue, although it would be reduced
by 10,000 dollars per year. 230,000 dollars would be made available in the first
30 months alone. Funding could continue after that (and a further
reapplication), but only if concrete benchmarks for attendance and
revenue are met. Presbytery wants the new launch to be viable for the long
term. So does our congregation!
At LPCC,
one of the key matters that came up for discussion along the way was “how much
should we contribute to this plan?” The perspective that framed the shape of
our answer was this: If we do nothing, in ten or fifteen years, if present
trends continued, the church will likely “age-out,” and have to close down.
Upon closing the Presbytery would receive the bulk of the value of the church’s
real estate assets—perhaps as much as twenty or more million dollars! Why not
use some of those assets now, to change course and do a new thing? Sure, it is
risky. LPCC might fail. But the worst possible outcome would be that we still
close, but leave a million dollars or so less to Presbytery.
In the end,
the decision was to invest an amount of money about equal to Presbytery’s
commitment over 30 months. That would limit our initial financial exposure to the
amount of money we have in our endowment. Further investment will depend upon meeting our long-term
financial and numbers benchmarks. If we are meeting those, we can continue investing
along with Presbytery for up to ten years before the projects are self-sufficient. We also agreed that we would not ask current members to
increase their giving to fund our initiative. We’d take out a line of credit,
instead, if necessary.
Using those
numbers and the strategic plan itself as a guide, a business plan was written.
It included thirty- and ten-year budgets, timelines, as well as all the other
stuff you expect to find in a business plan. We’ll be investing in church
consultants, in a community engagement person who will focus on getting the
word out about both of our worshipping communities, advertising, and (given our
current plans) a new minister. But we’re flexible, and will seriously consider
course corrections that our consultants suggest.
And that is
where the launch committee comes in. We need half a dozen people who want to fully
engage in this project. You don’t have to be a member of our congregation now, to
get involved. You can be very young or not. You might be in seminary, or in a
neighbouring church that wants to “look in” on what we’re doing, or you might
be a community person who is intrigued. But we need people with a sense of
adventure, people who are spiritually curious, and people who are committed to
our congregation’s “big umbrella” approach to church.
If this is
up your alley, send me an email (johndsuk at mac dot com)! If you want to be the new minister to take on a project
like this, send me an email! (American UCC ministers invited to inquire too!) And if you want to read earlier blogs on this
topic, here is a list of earlier articles I’ve written.
People who
still want angels and shepherds can pick some other date to celebrate
Christmas. December 25 was always sort of suspect anyway. The Roman Emperor
Constantine picked that date for Christmas because he wanted to replace the
traditional pagan solstice celebration with something from that new-fangled
Christian religion he picked up to boost his dictatorship. Constantine guessed that Romans would be okay with giving up paganism, but he knew they wouldn’t want to give up
partying. Ergo, Christmas!
