E.H. Evangelism Mission Team

Why Christ? Study Group Forming

Hi Team -

In the upcoming Tower you'll see this announcement. It's time to start forming the class, please let me know if you are in!

Why Christ? Study Forming

“Would you please tell me why people should be a Christian?” -Excerpt from the book Faith-Sharing

The new 9-week Why Christ? small group study is forming to dive into that question. Meetings are from 6 – 8 pm on Wednesday nights, starting October 17 in room 135. Join us to learn why the world needs Christ, what that means to us, and how we can live that out for others. For more info or to reserve your spot, please contact Chris Eden at -------- no later than Sunday, Oct 14.

Faith Sharing

Hello team -

In advance of the meeting Sunday, I'd like to put some thoughts in front of you for consideration. We'll have a pretty good group but we're missing a few...want to give everyone an advance on the topics.

First, we'll have a bit of "old" business to discuss - namely the Hospitality team. We got a very good thing started. Seems time we nail it down.

Second, the concept of turning outward merits some consideration. Though we may not come up with all the answers, it seems worth it to consider the question: What does "turning outward" look like for the good people of East Heights?

Third, a book has been recommended to us by our pastoral leadership. Mark recommended (and provided) the book entitled Faith Sharing to us last year. It was one of the three books he gave us. I'm ashamed to admit I barely read it at the time. It has been suggested (by both Mark and JC) that we choose that book, of all of them, to read as a group. So I dove back in for four chapters. I now understand why. I humbly propose that we study that book. It has nine chapters...seems perfect for a 9 week study.

Fourth, JC would like for us to focus on the first four of Bishop Scott Jones' Components of an Evangelistically Healthy Congregation. You may recall the list - a link to it is on the left side of this blog. These first four components look to be far more than we can accomplish as a team - - - but that is fine, because we aren't tasked to accomplish them. It is recommended that we understand them, think about them in our planning, and live them in our tasks. Here are the first four:

1. Create and sustain a missional culture.

2. Create and sustain a spiritual culture.

3. Create and sustain a culture of hospitality.

4. Determine your target population and learn to love them well.

So team, that's our agenda for this Sunday. Any questions, feel free to post a comment or shoot me an e-mail. Looking forward to the meet!

Evangelism - and the upcoming meeting

Hi all,

While commenting on my own post, I clicked on the Jeff Slater link at right. Many of you may have known Jeff, I understand he was an EHUMCer. He is a pastor at my boss' church in Hutchinson now. My wife also went to high school with him. Odd connections really. Getting back to the point...

His blog has a decent "Evangelism" posting on it, at the top as of today. Here's the link: http://ministrygeek.net/  It speaks to something that's been rattling around in my head. Something Mr. Strickler communicated in a response to "Hospitality Team Dialogue" - if I understand Mr. Strickler's meaning correctly. It addresses the concept that "Evangelism by internal focus is all well and good, but we need to work on evangelism externally". Good point. Our focus has been helping the church shift thinking, making it a more hospitable place, learning (for ourselves) what evangelism looks like and what it doesn't, and discussing the groundwork that needs to be laid. I looked at it as "triage" really - with the big stuff yet to come. These are very important, still, and unfinished. But I feel a concern within our group that if we don't start thinking externally pretty soon, we may get mired. This is one thing I'd like to bring up in our upcoming meeting. JC/Mark have communicated a list of about 6 items for us to consider and act on in the next few months...one of those is this "turning outward" concept.

As a reminder, our next meeting is set for 12:00 to 1:15 on Sunday, August 19 and I'm bringing lunch. Don't forget to shoot me an e-mail or a comment on this post to RSVP. I don't want to end up short on the food.

Ever yours in Christ,

Chris

Upcoming Evangelism Meeting

Hello All -

Chris Eden here this time. I know I've talked with only a few of you about this - but Mark and I had a series of conversations recently that ended with me agreeing to help lead the Evangelism team. With Mark's next semester of seminary looming, new job responsibilities already upon him, and his desire that this team NOT be lead by a pastor - he asked me which of my current church efforts were most important to me.

I told him that if a suitable replacement could be found for Holy Grounds and running sound, that I'd like to devote my full attention to the Evangelism team and Church Council.

Mark filled me in on what he/JC feel needs to be done over the next 3-4 months. The transition period is still very much underway, with JC focusing on the home meetings and then the upcoming task forces. Meanwhile, our team has some important things to do and consider. In the interest of doing a few things very well, I'm working with Mark to determine a solid approach...more on that later.

For now, I propose that we meet from 12:00 - 1:15 pm on Sunday, August 19. I'll bring the lunch. I'll get you all more info for discussion prior to the meeting. If you're in, please shoot me an e-mail or post a comment to this blog.

Thanks everyone!

Meeting Recap and Schedule

Thanks to all of you that were able to make it on the 4th.

Listed below are some of the things we discussed...

• Hospitality Team Information sessions will be held in the Undercroft at 9:45 am , 11:00 am, and Noon on Sunday February 11th. Saturday night session to be scheduled at the Matt's discretion.
• We will post-pone our Evangelism Book Study until further notice...
• Leadership Team members will spend the next few week putting together Hospitality Team Schedules... CSN - Nate and Julie; Spirit Alive - Donna G. and Dana; 11:00 - Olin, Earl, and Donna F.
• We didn't talk about this, but I think that we should plan to meet again on February 18th to discuss the information sessions and to touch base on the Hospitality Team Schedules.
• We talked about using a cart to help pass out the Worship Books at 11:00 worship.
• Donna F. will help greet and monitor the usher situation at 11:00 am throughout the month of February.
• We decided to stay focused on the development of the Hospitality Team over the next few months. As  well we initiated a conversation around congregational Care... more to come on this.
• ***One item that we did not get to is the information rack in the long hallway. We are in need of a team to create updated brochures for each of the key ministry areas of the church. ***

OUR NEXT GATHERING IS SET FOR FEBRUARY 18TH AT 12:00 NOON, IN THE COVENANT ROOM

Meeting Minutes and Upcoming Meeting Schedule

Greetings friends.... here is a brief recap of our last meeting along with the schedule for future gatherings. We will meet in the Covenant Room this week. The meeting will start as close to 12:15 as possible.

Meeting notes from Jan. 21st:
There was discussion about the Christmas Eve services and how our hospitality team felt it went and what we could change for the next year.  A record of attendance was well recorded with the new folders that were put into action. 

It was decided that there is a need for some sort of mobile transportation for the attendance folders, specifically for the Sanctuary service.  There were several ideas to reduce the number of folders to be carried by one usher:

      +  Increase the number of ushers for that service to 6-8 persons to hand out the folders.

      +  Have a rolling cart that holds the stacks of folders that is wheeled down the isle as they            are passed out.

      + Place a stack of folders at every 6th pew and ushers go to these "holding stations" when       it is time to pass them out, cutting down on the amount of folders needed to be carried.

Next scheduled Meetings:

    Sunday, Feb. 4th-  Review and planning for the next training sessions.

    Team members are to try and catch up on their phone calling by this meeting so to have a plan of action for the upcoming months for your designated service.

    Sunday, Feb. 11th - Information / Training sessions.  (These sessions will be held the second Sunday of all of the even months throughout the year.)

    Sunday, Feb. 18th -   This will be the beginning of a 1-1/2 hour meeting each Sunday for a 7 week study of Transforming Evangelism.  This will be a study for the core team members to engage themselves in creating PowerPoints and teaching resources for the future.  The hope is we will be equipping ourselves to better inform and teach others of our "new" found evangelism philosophy. 

    Things to think about:

        What's our next step as a team to accomplish past creating our greeting teams.

        How will we be following up with our visitors.

        How can we work along side our Church administration that is already working with                 visitors.

        Who will be the "team leads" for each service and the initial organizing of our new                     hospitality members.

    Things to do:

        Dana - CSN needs a basket put together for visitor gifts to keep for their service.

        All - Continue your phone calls and start planning the schedules of your volunteers for next couple of months.

        Mark your calendars for our upcoming meetings.   

 

There seems to be a very positive response to the changes we are making with Hospitality within our church.   Kudos to everyone!

Next Meeting ~ Jan. 21st

Greetings Good People,

If you haven't heard me say it, please know that I appreciate all of the hard work that you all have poured into evangelism over the past few months.

I would like to gather this Sunday (the 21st) @ noon to go over a few things. Dana has another meeting at 12:30, so if we could start right at noon that would be great. As well, I will need to get on the road to KC as soon as possible.

I would like to accomplish the following...

• A brief discussion on our Christmas Plan
• Information Meetings
• Next Steps
• Evangelism Study Outline for our team
• Update on Hospitality Team phone calls and Scheduling (I would like to spend most of our time on this)

I have arranged with Paige to have Chicken Noodles, so please tell them that you are with the Evangelism Team, Grab Your Food and come on down to the Covenant Room.

Thanks,

Mark

Meeting Reflection IV

This spot is open for any general reflections regarding The November 12th Meeting.

Our next meeting is scheduled for next Sunday, the 19th of November. We will gather to develop a strategy and implementation plan for building and equipping our Hospitality team. Thanks for your participation in todays lunch meeting....

Next Meeting

Greetings All!!!

Our next meeting will be on November 12th @ 12:00 noon in the Covenant Room (Room 120, next to Holy Ground Coffee Shop) Some of the Topics...

• Review of our Priorities - Dana
• Church Council Request - $
• Church visit - Dana
• Printed Material - Chris
• Website Update - Mark
• Evangelism Strategy for December
• January Sermon Series
• 2007 Budget
• Congregational Evangelism Study - Mark
• "New Mission and Ministry"

It seems as if we have quite a full plate for this Sunday...I would like to visit, for a bit, about some of the texts we have been reading. For those of you who have engaged one or more of the texts it might be helpful to all of us if you could post some thoughts here on the blog. For a full list of the textbooks select "Text Books" from the category section in the lefthand column. If there is something in a text that might be worthwhile for all of us to read please post a short comment and the page number. I will post the proposed budget for your review as well as a brief writeup on our status as a Healthy Congregation.

Budget Proposal...

Download evangelism_2007_pdf.pdf

East Heights Healthy Congregation Report. (Several of these categories are difficult to pinpoint, please offer your thoughts, comments, and reflection on the ?'s I have posed)

Download eight_characteristics___2006.pdf

Next Meeting

The Evangelism Mission Team will meet again on October 15th @ 12:00 noon...

Dana has challenged each of us to bring along three tangible ideas that we can begin to work on with respect to evangelism. As well we are charged to think through these ideas in light of Christmas...