Leadership Workshop

1. Leadership Workshop Winnetka Congregational Church, March 10, 2013

2. Goals for Workshop • Building our team, relationships and trust as leaders of WCC • Updating where we are in the strategic planning process; sharing learning from Assessment Report and WCC review and discussion of Report • Identifying key challenges/ priorities for the 2020 Vision/ Strategic Plan

3. Overview of Workshop • Team/ relationship building exercises • Life-Cycles of Churches presentation • Review of Assessment, 5 Key Themes • Break/ Dinner • Key Challenges Conversation • What’s Next in the Strategic Plan process

4. Ground Rules • Speak your mind and heart • Speak for yourself • Listen with interest and curiosity to others • Avoid interruptions and side conversations • Listen together for the guidance and prompting of the Holy Spirit

5. Prayer and Discernment What distinguished Congregationalists has been the conviction that no one person (be it Pope, King or Bishop) had all the tools needed to discern God’s will; but rather God’s will is best discerned in the gathered community of faith. When the early Congregationalists gathered it was not to decide the will of the majority, but to discern the guidance of the Spirit and the mind of Christ

6. Exercise # 1 • Partner up with someone you don’t know or don’t know well and explore the following questions: • Why did you want to be a part of this congregation when you joined? • What needs did this congregation meet for you? Your family? • What holds you here today?

7. Exercise # 2 • Around the hall you will posted see eleven quotes. • Circulate reading as many as you wish. • Pick one that speaks to you and stand there. • Talk with those who gathered at that quotation, sharing what about it speaks to you and listening to others share about the same.

8. A look at church life-cycles • Helps to order reality, not predict it • Four key tracking qualities • E = energy • I = inclusion • P = program • A = administration

9. Life-Cycle Exercise • Make a mark where you would locate WCC • Share your observation with those in your group • Listen to what others have come up with, without comment or debate

10. Review of Work to Date • The Assessment Report – a few comments from Tony • Reports from SPC members on the 5 Themes and congregational input • Leadership Transition • Growing in Faith • Worship • Stewardship • Service

11. Technical Problems/ Adaptive Challenges

12. Key Challenges/ Opportunities Before WCC • I will go through all, providing brief explanation, taking questions for clarification • A few words about a useful concept: “managing polarities.” • You will have the opportunity to suggest changes and to add additional key challenges, before we prioritize • Remember that to be actionable we need to -- and will -- take further steps, beyond priorities to strategies

13. Key Challenge # 1 • Leadership Transition/ Transitions. Planning for Senior Pastor transition. Looking at different models for that transition. Developing time frames. • Consultation with other staff members regarding their own plans .

14. Key Challenge # 2 • Ensuring that WCC’s strengths stay strong during a transition period • Identifying key ministries/ programs – strengths we don’t want to lose or jeopardize • Developing staffing and lay leadership plans for transition

15. Key Challenge # 3 • From a more generic community church identity with a high historic emphasis to a clear, compelling and more contemporary sense and statement of WCC identity, purpose (mission) and core values.

16. Examples (for illustration not discussion) • In every way, in every setting, GROWTH IN FAITH • To grow people of faith who participate in God’s work in the world • To welcome people to faith, to equip people with a faith that works in the real world, to send people to serve in Christ’s name • To be a church where Spirit and Service come together in risky and amazing ways

17. Key Challenge # 4 • From “all people” to identifying WCC’s target audience, those we “hyper-serve”

18. Key Challenge # 5 • “Upping Our Game” as WCC members • From broad or vague expectations/definitions of membership (“being a good person, being involved”) to a higher level of mutual expectation (discipleship) • Areas of mutual expectation might include worship participation, spiritual practices, involvement in a small group or service ministry, giving/ stewardship

19. Key Challenge # 6 • From internal focus (meeting the needs of our members) to a new – renewed – outward orientation (engaging, responding to the needs of our community). • Not only trying to get people to come to us, but more going to them. • “Externalizing”

20. Key Challenge # 7 • From primary emphasis on faith formation of children and youth to faith growth/ development for all ages and stages. • Going deeper • From “civic faith” to changing/ transforming lives • Particular focus on the un and de-churched, on empty nesters, on “spirituality for the second half of life”

21. Review/Re - Work • Changes? What re-phrasing/ re-writing would you suggest? • Add? What additional ‘key challenges’ would you suggest? • Drop? Are there ‘key challenges’ you would omit/ drop? • Note: while we want your comments and suggestions, we will not attempt to wordsmith these key challenges here and now

22. Prioritization Exercise • You have five dots/ votes • You may allocate your dots/ votes among the key challenges any way you like: five on one, one on five, two on one and one on three, etc.

23. Next Steps • What’s next in Strategic Planning process? • Review of tonight’s conversation/ input • Draft of Strategic Plan with priorities and strategies • Review of draft, revisions • Keeping congregation in the loop • Presentation of 2020 Vision (late April or May)

24. An Evaluation Exercise • Too much challenge? • Just right amount of challenge? • Too little challenge?