Visioning and Planning Report (Sept. 2011)

I. Process:
          The Visioning and Planning Task Force (VPT) began its work on June 20, 2010 with the charge from Session to discern where God is leading us as a congregation in the next 3 to 5 years, as well as to make suggestions for how we can get to where God is leading us.  Agreeing to serve with Pastor Dave Wright were task force members Gail Hull, Allen Duncan, Dennis Meckley, Brian May, Ann Cowden, Steve Kareha and Linda Thompson.

          We started by reading scripture and the Book of Order to review what is set forth as the mission and purpose of the church.  Following the review of the mission of the church, a list of biblical mandates was developed and the group concluded that the primary mission of the church is to make disciples (fully devoted followers) of Jesus Christ. 
We then looked at the things disciples are charged to do and for several meetings we evaluated how GPC is doing these things at this time.  Mixed in with these discussions were reading and discussion of various articles and excerpts from books about worship including The Great Emergence, by Phyllis Tickle and A Field Guide to U.S. Congregations by Woolever and Bruce. The task force considered trends in church attendance, age groups and worship experience, church size theory, uses of technology and social media.  We also reviewed ten-year trends in GPC demographics and attendance statistics.

          A discussion of pressing needs in our community resulted in the task force meeting with representatives from Healthy Adams County and the County Planning Office to further identify current and future needs and trends in Adams County.  We also started to identify some concerns which currently impact our ability to make disciples.

          In January, Dave attended a conference on “Becoming a Disciple-Making Church”.  He shared models from two churches which have set disciple-making as their focus. In February we met with each staff person to get their sense of where God may be leading GPC in the next few years, as well as their thoughts regarding specific ways in which their ministry area could support our new direction.  We also worked during this time on revising the Mission Statement.
In March, each member of the task force presented what they believed to be the top two or three areas of need or ideas from all of our discussions during the previous eight months.  From this list, a draft outline of Ideas & Issues was developed.  We then considered staffing and Session structure with regard to how each fit with the draft outline; and considered how the work of our committees would need to change to better carry out the new mission.  Our final few meetings were devoted to reviewing and revising the list of recommendations to its current form.

II. Background and Primary Focus:
          As the Visioning and Planning Taskforce (VPT) worked together, we became convinced that God is calling GPC to focus on becoming a disciple-making church.  There were two primary discoveries that led us to this conclusion.  The first was our study of the Scriptures and our Book of Order.  Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  (Matt. 28:18-20)  These words have long been called the Great Commission, and we believe they are the marching orders for the church- to go and make disciples.  The book of Acts then describes how this commission was fulfilled by the church in “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria…” (Acts 1:8)

          The “Great Ends of the Church” according to our Book of Order (G-1.0200) are “the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind; the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; the maintenance of divine worship; the preservation of the truth; the promotion of social righteousness; and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world.”  These great ends of the church accord well with our understanding of the mission of the church to be making disciples.

          In addition to the biblical and constitutional support for this understanding of the mission of the church, our research about the current state of the church and our contemporary culture also drove us toward this emphasis.  Overall, church participation is significantly down throughout our nation, particularly among young people.  Worship attendance & membership in almost every denomination reflects this trend.  Membership in the PCUSA is approximately half of what it was in the 1960’s.  Our own church membership and worship attendance has remained stable for the last 10-12 years.  And like the denomination as a whole, we are aging.  The median age for worship attendees in the PCUSA is 61 years of age.  We are probably close to that.

          Conversations with Dan and Allison Siewert, evangelists in our Presbytery with responsibility to plant a Christian community targeted at young people, as well as reading from The Great Emergence:  How Christianity is Changing and Why by Phyllis Tickle suggest that reaching young people today is a very challenging prospect.  The “attractional” model of outreach, where a church plans and implements programs appealing to young adults, seems to have a very limited audience today.  This is different from just a few years ago when “seeker-targeted” churches and services were flourishing. Today, many young people simply have no interest in entering a church building no matter how attractive the program is.  The best strategy for reaching young people seems to be a time-intensive, relational approach in which relationships are formed and the gospel is shared in the context of those relationships.

          Further, our research into demographic trends in Gettysburg suggests that our community is also aging.  Projections for school attendance for the next five years shows a decline in school-age population, continuing a trend which began several years ago.  Young adults often leave the area after completing high school or college because of the lack of jobs here.  New people moving into the community are often retirees, not young families.

          The combination of all these factors can seem overwhelmingly discouraging to an aging congregation which desires to reach young people!  However, a strong emphasis on making disciples could be our best strategy for reaching unchurched people in our community.  Since many young people have not and probably will not come to us, we must train our members in discipleship so they can effectively reach out to people where they are in the community.

III. Mission Statement:

           We recommend that Session adopt the following as the GPC mission statement:

           Prologue (from the 1990 mission statement, revised 12/94)
           We are a church who believes that God loves all people and wants them to live in the joy and peace of God’s grace.  We believe, as proclaimed in the Bible, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God the Creator, the Hope of all who seek Him, the Lord of all who trust Him.  Jesus the Christ is alive and through the power of the Holy Spirit can change lives.  We know that saying these words is not enough.  Active commitment is required if faith is to make a difference in our lives and if the church is to make a difference in our world.

           Our Mission
           Gettysburg Presbyterian Church believes that God calls us to invite people to faith in Jesus Christ, and equip them to grow as His fully devoted followers.  As disciples we:

• study regularly
• pray daily
• witness boldly
• live faithfully
• serve passionately
• worship weekly.

IV. Recommendations

           Becoming a disciple-making church and maintaining a vital witness in our community is a complex and difficult task, especially in times such as these.  However, we are already doing a good job in making disciples in several areas!  The following recommendations are designed to sharpen our focus, fill in missing pieces, and help us become more efficient in pursuing our mission of making disciples.  Recommendations are grouped under the six marks of discipleship listed in the mission statement.

           Study Regularly

• Continue to offer variety of topics/classes by knowledgeable teachers (Adult Discipleship)
• Develop programs to encourage individual, regular Bible reading (Adult Discipleship)
• Form a system of ongoing small groups for adults.  This appears to be a high-leverage ministry that would address several needs- biblical literacy, congregational care, building community across worship service lines, helping people learn to talk about their faith and pray aloud.  (Adult Discipleship)

           Pray Daily

• Develop a network of small groups in which people will learn how to pray aloud comfortably (see Study Regularly)
• Continue prayer chain, congregational e-mail notification of prayer concerns

           Witness Boldly

• Reach a new group in our community- for example, special needs populations in our community (Children & Youth Discipleship), Latinos (Local Mission), Young adults (Adult Discipleship).  There was significant interest in all three of these areas.
• Offer a class at least annually about sharing faith (Welcome & Outreach)
• Advertise classes or other opportunities (e.g. 10 Great Dates) in the community (Welcome & Outreach)
• Increase use of internet tools, social media, website to connect us with the wider community (Welcome & Outreach should form a task force to explore this.)
• Since many of those moving to Gettysburg are retirees, offer programming to reach them (Adult Discipleship)
• Form a network of ongoing small groups to help people become more comfortable talking about their faith (see “Study Regularly”)
• Look for ways to reach out to college students (HACC & GC), perhaps off-site, possibly through FCA.  (Pastor Dave)
• Explore ministries for other young adults (Adult Discipleship)
• Explore planting a new church- Hanover?  Hispanic? (Session)
• Could we do a better job of reaching out to tourists? (Welcome & Outreach)
• Explore ways to make Contemporary Worship more appealing to youth and young adults (Contemporary Worship)

           Live Faithfully

• Explore being part of some kind of economic development (Mission-local)
• Explore ways to better equip parents to pass the faith to their children, and make faith development a priority. (Family)
• Explore ways to support marriages in our church and community, given the above-average divorce rate in our community. (Family)
• Explore ministries to our Hispanic neighbors- ESL, legal assistance, support of Manos Unidas (Mission-local)
• Explore launching a new SS class for our special needs population (Children & Youth Discipleship)
• Continue to explore contemporary ethical issues as Christians (Adult Discipleship, preaching)

           Serve Passionately

• Explore local mission projects on weekends, in the summer for youth, etc. (Mission-local)
• Explore how we might utilize a parish nurse program (Deacons)
• Determine if we have enough deacons to address our growing need for member care in an aging congregation (Deacons)
• Continue to support week-long missions and commitments (Missions)
• Assess needs and opportunities for local service (Local Mission)

           Worship Weekly

• Explore how we can encourage more regular participation in worship and Sunday School by our younger members (youth director, Contemporary Worship, Worship & Music, Family)
• Explore how we can encourage more regular participation in worship and Sunday School by all our members

           In order to support the mission outlined above, the committee makes the following recommendations:

           Staffing

• Encourage program staff to hand off more things to volunteers (e.g. administrative tasks).  Encourage program staff to focus more on “equipping the saints for service.” (staff)
• Encourage program staff to mentor one or two people each year in discipleship relationships or by leading a small group.
• Explore the need for additional administrative staff (P&A)
• Find 10 hours/week staff time to oversee the small group ministry (Adult Discipleship/P&A)
• Secure and train additional personnel to help in the area of technology- sound, computers, website, etc.(Technology/P&A)
• Explore the need for additional staff support for young adult ministry (Adult Discipleship)

           Facility

• Form a task force to look at our building needs (face-lift, infrastructure issues of heating, roof, sanctuary sound system, lighting, parking, etc.).  Explore the possibility of alternate worship space, and reconfiguring existing space to better accommodate current needs.

           Committees and Structure*

• Form an Adult Discipleship/Christian formation committee which would spearhead the development of options for forming adult disciples- classes, small groups, mentoring, retreats, etc.  This would replace the current “Small Group” committee.
• Make the Peacemaking Committee a Mission Sub-committee, called “Local Hands-on Mission.” This group would focus on developing hands-on local mission opportunities.  It would continue to pick up the other Peacemaking responsibilities.
• Change Christian Education to Discipleship of Youth and Children.
• Add a Social Networking task force to Welcome and Outreach.
• Consider maximum three-year terms for elders to give more energy and fresh ideas for ministry in our changing context.  Elders could serve again after a one-year break.  (Session)
• Look for ways to involve youth & young adults in committees & worship leadership, music, etc. (all committees)
• Explore the possibility of youth deacons (Deacons)

           Misc.

• Explore new income streams via wills, trusts, etc. (Finance)
• Continue to challenge our congregation to sacrificial giving in order to be faithful in fulfilling our mission. (Stewardship)
• Explore and implement more opportunities for environmental stewardship (Property)
• Use social media for congregational communication
• (Welcome and Outreach, Technology, staff)
• Develop congregational connectedness within our church

           We recommend that all committees report their progress on these matters to the Session at six-month intervals following the adoption of these recommendations.