St. John Congregational Update

On our May 5th Congregational Meeting and during informal discussions at St. John with our members, we’ve learned that we need to communicate better. In an effort to help with this I, Mary Meyer, will be writing periodic newsletters to update you on happenings since our meeting.

The May 5th meeting it was very evident that our members are devoted to the St. John and sharing the Gospel. We want to thrive as a church and grow the ministry God has entrusted to us. The church council was very encouraged by the enthusiasm, which helped them identify four equally important focus areas during the May 8th council meeting. These areas are listed at the end of this newsletter. First, we want your help with two things:

1. Be prayerful. Pray for St. John and pray for those leading the focus areas; and
2. Consider your talents. What talents has the Lord given to you? Are you interested in helping in any of the focus areas? Connect with us if you are interested.

Focus Areas:
1) Determine the best approach for strategic planning.
Jeff Abrahamsson and Derek Meyer met with the Ministry Leadership Institute, the consulting group recommended in our self assessment. It was determined that their original approach may not be the best fit for St. John. They are going to rethink their approach to see if they can tailor a program that would be better for us. In addition, Jeff and Derek will reach out to a second consulting group, Crossroads Ministry, to discuss if they are able to help St. John in this area.

2) Informal discussions with Divinity
Jim Connolly and Jim Julian will be leading discussions with Divinity about their future plans. The first occurred on May 23rd (more information to follow).

3) Outreach for straying members
Tom Koepsell will lead outreach for how we can better reach straying members.

4) Getting to know our community through our prospect list
Tony Wimmer is organizing and planning the best ways to contact houses on our prospect list to better understand their needs.