Continuing Ministry Planning - Listening Sessions

With the state of Minnesota starting to lift restrictions, planning is underway to pick back up our ministry planning process. As we plan, we are keeping several core principles at heart:

1. We recognize all good things come from God and ask Him to bless our efforts!

2. Ministry planning is an urgent item. Souls are at stake and we should urgently pursue our ministry planning process.

3. We care deeply for the safety of others. This means we will likely have to do things differently to ensure the safety of our members.

4. Your involvement and contributions to this process are critical to the success of this process.

5. We strive for a Kingdom mindset, expanding our sights to what is best for God’s family of believers while recognizing that God has a plan for the members of St. John.

Isaiah 49:6 “It is too small a thing for you to”... “bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

Jeremiah 29:11-13 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future…”

1 Chronicles 16:11 “Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.”

With those principles in mind, we are in the midst of planning for Listening Sessions, the next step in our ministry planning process. Need a refresher on Ministry Planning? Refer to this blog post and other eNews posts (just search for “Ministry”). 

Listening Sessions are intended to gather a deeper level of member input on our ministry options. While we don’t have all the details yet, we wanted to share the information we have. Here is what we know today:

• We will offer multiple ways to participate so you can choose the option you are most comfortable with (in-person, virtual, paper input, or one-on-one phone discussion)

• We are targeting July to conduct the listening sessions.

• Discussion items will be provided to members in advance so you know what will be discussed and to allow you to collect your thoughts. We’ll email it to members who have provided an email address and mail it to all others.

• In-person sessions will be conducted after a shortened (30 min) worship service and will follow the same safety guidelines outlined in our Public Worship Safety Plan.

Look for more information in the coming days and weeks. Should you have any questions you can reach out to any member of the Ministry Planning Guiding Coalition (Ellen Mueller, Tamara Julian, Jill Abrahamson, Steve Ross, or Derek Meyer) or call the church office and Jan will direct your question to the right person.