Acts 16:5 Initiative

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Acts 16:5

On Pentecost Sunday, we commissioned a group called the Acts 16:5 Vision Team. The Acts 16:5 Initiative is a three-year process that churches in our presbytery are undertaking in order to become more effective in what we are all about as a church. It is based on a process developed over time by E. Stanley Ott, former pastor of a Presbyterian church in Pittsburgh, and now president of the Vital Churches Institute. Stan has been meeting with representatives from congregations in our presbytery since October 2009, and serves as our coach and mentor in this process.

The purpose of this initiative is to assist and equip congregations in a deliberate process of transformation. The verse that this initiative takes as its motto is Acts 16:5, a summary statement in the story of how the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth and a handful of disciples expanded across the Middle East and into Asia Minor, touching live and changing the world. It says, “So the churches were strengthened in faith, and grew daily in numbers.”

Two things that I mentioned yesterday I want to reiterate, and be clear on. This vision team which was commissioned was not chosen to “set the agenda” for the church. They are primarily a kind of think-tank, working with me to think through the twelve dynamic shifts that Stan Ott suggests as a model for church transformation which honors past traditions while designing ministry for a new future. The people on this vision team were chosen by me with the approval of Session. They represent several generations within our congregation, but they were chosen because they also have a heart for the whole church and for the future of the church. These are people on the staff and from the congregation that I have a good working relationship with.

A second thing to clarify and emphasize is that the vision team will not be implementing the ideas generated from the three-year process. That is where you come in. For this process to be successful it requires that we all take part in it. The vision team and I will be working through the material and attending the seminars and will do our best to introduce a defining vision that will shape the process. But how these ideas and this vision become a vital part of the ministry of our congregation will be up to all of us together.

And we want to hear from you. As you have questions about the process, as you have ideas and visions of your own, please share them with me or any of the members of the vision team: Joyce Hanes, Lisa Ahrens, Steve Ehlers, Nate Ruge, and Beth Ehlers.

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