In the fall of 2010 a Vision Team was formed. The purpose of this team was to develop a strategy to engage our full church body in utilizing the many gifts we have to carry out God’s mission for us. The “visioning” process culminated in a retreat on October 29, 2011, at Camp Don Lee. The retreat was open to our entire congregation with the intended purpose of formulating ideas to make Oriental United Methodist Church a true beacon in our community. In other words, it was a way for us to develop a road map to help us reach out as far as God would have us go.
As we arrived at Camp Don Lee, we were asked to join a group at a table that would become our “team” for the day. We were lead by our minister, Keith Sexton, and Debbie Rodenhouser who was one of the Vision Team Leaders. We discussed areas in our church life where we felt we were strong and also where improvement might be appropriate. No matter what was discussed, our thoughts and discussion were guided by OUMC’s mission statement …Providing help, healing, and hope.
We had short team discussions about “What If” scenarios, where we talked about many things we could offer as a church if there were no limits to our resources. We developed a long list of items we thought we were doing well as well as a list of items we could do better. For each list we identified how to measure our results. Across all teams we developed the following list of common themes that emerged:
- Address issues concerning children/youth
- Better communications
- Match needs and resources
- Nurturing/affirming our own membership
These four common themes evolved into the four new action groups that we refer to as “Design Teams.” It is through these “Design Teams” that we will introduce changes into our church. Each “Design Team” will have a lead or co-leads as well as many volunteers. Each “Design Team” will organize themselves into smaller teams to focus on a particular work effort. This strategy keeps the members of each “Design Team” focused and will guide our efforts to expand our capacity for help, healing and hope. Following is a list of the four Design Teams along with some initial goals for each team:
Connecting People Design Team
- Matching Passions/Needs/Resources
- Attracting New Members
- Getting More People Involved
- Establishing a Resource Directory
Focusing Resources Design Team
- Leadership Development
- ‘Summer Attendance’ Tracking
- Administrative Operations
- Feasibility Study
Communications Design Team
- Interactive & Comprehensive Website
- Technology Center
- Informative, Reader-Friendly Publications
- Information & Teaching Resource
10:00 Hour Design Team
- Social Fellowship
- Children’s Activities
- Design Team Activities
- Bible Study
The “Design Teams” are always looking for additional enthusiasm, energy and engagement! Call the church office if you would like more information about one of the “Design Teams” and how you can become involved. Also watch for upcoming articles about what each “Design Team” is doing.