Bring 'em In!

Recently, I had the privilege of attending the Bring 'em In! conference on church growth put on by the Wisconsin Conference UCC. This was a great event, with an amazing keynote speaker, and some excellent workshops on the practical implementation of church growth strategies.

Mike Piazza, the Dean of Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, Texas, was the keynote speaker. Mike is a dynamic and impressive speaker on the topic of church growth, with the experience to back up what he is saying. Mike became the minister of the church that became Cathedral of Hope in 1987. At that time the church had a membership of 280, a budget under $300,000, and debts in the form of two balloon notes totaling $160,000. Not only that, but, as a church with a large number of LGBT folks, they were being crushed by the tragedy of the AIDS crises, which was peaking in Dallas in the late 1980's. After Mike led the church through a visioning process, they developed a clear understanding of their mission, which was based on a focus outside their church. In pursuing that mission, they started to grow. Today, Cathedral of Hope has a membership of 3900, and a budget just under $3 million, of which they give away $1.3 million. It is the only liberal mega-church in America.

Mike called on us to consider what happened during the presidential elections, and the campaign of Barrack Obama in particular. Obama campaigned on five themes: Hope, Unity, Equality, Peace and Social Justice. Mike stated that those themes are actually the values of the United Church of Christ. And look what happened when Obama held them up for the American people! Record turnouts at rallies and at the polls. A historic election. A nation filled with hope. Mike suggested that we could simply use the same values to grow our churches. Our message is one that resonates with so many people. We just need to get it out there. He asserted that we must be aggressively progressive, and that people will respond.

Mike also talked about what it means to be a member of Cathedral of Hope. All new members of Cathedral of Hope are told that they need to take off their bibs, and put on their aprons. They are no longer guests, but now they are hosts. They are no longer consumers of what the church has to offer, they are now producers of what the church has to offer.

This seemed like a reiteration of the message that I have read in so many church growth books. Churches exist to serve the communities beyond their walls. To me, this seems like one of the keys to church growth and renewal. If we acknowledge and embrace this message, we will already be on the road to growth.

I have not done justice to Mike's presentations, but I wanted to put out a little of what we received.

Hopefully, I will find time to write about the individual workshops soon.

Church Goals

Does First Congo have goals? This question arose during a conversation about goals for professional staff. Someone pointed out that it will naturally follow for the staff to have goals that align with the goals of the church. In order for that to happen, the church itself needs goals.

I think that the closest thing we have is the Vision Statement, (hereafter referred to as the Vision, http://www.firstcongmadison.org/vision.htm). The Vision is not an official guiding document for the church, since it has never been adopted as such. However, it is a useful working document and a great starting point in thinking about goals. Developed in 2005 by church leadership with input from the membership, the Vision contains "Five Year Planning Possibilities" for six "Acts of Faith." Those Acts of Faith are: Worship, Spiritual Growth, Learning, Mission, Faith Based Citizenship, and Welcoming. The five year planning possibilities themselves could be considered to be goals. One concern is that there are quite a few possibilities, (38 in total - although some do overlap).

I plan for the Executive Council to start looking carefully at the Vision Statement, and to start thinking about distilling out a few goals for the church in the near future. At some point, we will be asking for input from the membership.

Now seems like a good time. Can you suggest a goal or two for First Congo?