Ministry Renovation Team
August Update
The Ministry Renovation Team welcomes its newest members, Jackie Laba and Maria Cattano, who both bring years of MUMC community knowledge.
A current focus of the Team’s implementing measures to more intentionally welcom all, whether a first time visitor or long-time member. A team of greeters is rotating Sundays with the goal to make sure everyone, no matter which door they enter, is met by a friendly face and warm welcome.
The Ministry Renovation Team is also looking at ways to help connect people into MUMC community activities: soon you will see a bulletin board of the small groups and volunteer opportunities (with photos of the leaders), and names of more of the Sunday morning volunteers will be listed in the bulletin. A new welcome card in the pews will reassure parents of young children that ‘yes’, a bit of kid noise is welcome here at MUMC and that the prayground (with audio connection) is also available to accommodate the needs of a restless little one.
Coffee hour will be starting up after Labor Day with a new twist – a weekly question to discuss – it might be light-hearted: do you prefer bagels or donuts for the coffee hour? Practical: can you hear all parts of the service? How would a regular potluck dinner be received? Or, faith and theology based. You will have a chance to ask yours (in a suggestion box) and then discuss with others.
The photo directory is in the works! More photo days will be held in September (or, of course you can submit your own). The directory will include our church community regardless of membership.
And you can help! There are many volunteer opportunities on Sunday mornings if you can commit to even one Sunday a month.
March Update
The Ministry Renovation Team thanks everyone for staying at church on the 25th to work together to update our mission statement, create shared values and begin benchmarking three year goals. FIFTY! People were involved on Sunday. Markers, flip charts, conversation, wordsmithing, and a few laughs, created the following.
MISSION STATEMENT
Together we nurture and inspire God’s entire beloved community to serve and transform lives.
CORE VALUES
- Affirming: We welcome each person as they are, a beautiful child of God.
- Service: We help and advocate for people and our environment, within our church, the community, and beyond.
- Spirituality: We celebrate God’s role in our lives, embracing the examples and teachings of Christ, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
- Joy-filled Community: We foster joy in everything we do.
- Love: Knowing we are loved and forgiven, we reflect God’s love, and love each other.
Three Year Goals:
In addition, the attendees brainstormed and developed three major areas in which to set three-year goals to be developed as a congregation:
- Witness/Service/Outreach
- Discipleship/Formation
- Stewardship
For example, one of 6 preliminary goals in the Witness/Service/Outreach area is:
“ to develop a new outreach ministry/community partner is added annually.”
2025 Benchmark: A partnership has been explored with the local prison.
2026 Benchmark: not developed
As you can see more work needs to be done to create the goals and work together, executing, keeping on track, and growing. There was real excitement in the air – a sense of opportunity.
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Things have been moving along nicely in other areas – keeping better track of our flock and visitors through attendance tracking and visitor outreach. Soon, you will be able to use your own barcode to “check-in”, this could be your library card or grocery card – see Jean, Kristin, or Paula after service and we can associate YOUR card with your MUMC record.
One more thing – as we continue and grow as a welcoming and inclusive community, please help create an atmosphere where all feel welcomed, wear your nametag and reach out to an unfamiliar person with words like, “I don’t think we’ve met” or “I’m sorry, I forgot your name, I’m XXXX”.
January 2024 – Update
MUMC’s “Ministry Renovation Team” continues to document existing practices and procedures, which also helps to identify areas for improvement. An updated organizational chart – including volunteer roles and ministry areas – is in its final review stage – like any useful tool, this living document will need to be reviewed at least annually to keep up with growth and changes.
The team has been working on a “Volunteer Accelerator”. This tool will help our church family find the best places for their time and talent as volunteers. This is a very valuable undertaking, identifying and naming current roles and identifying needs that can be better met. Each role will get a job description – some are already written, many need editing. Volunteers currently in the roles will be asked to help edit/create these descriptions.
A church calendar is in the early development stage and will include everything from worship planning, missions, committee meetings, building use and scheduled maintenance.
The attendance tools are continuing to provide insight as we work to improve their usability and also the followup with visitors. Please stop by on your way into or out of the sanctuary on Sunday to “check-in” and say hi, and to see how these tools work.
Regina and Pastor Luana have been integral in so much of this – we hate adding to their workload, but the cooperative work we are all doing will result in tools and procedures that will make operations easier/smoother, and, most importantly, allow MUMC to grow into its full potential.
The team wants to thank everyone for their continued input, ideas and enthusiasm as MUMC embarks on this adventure together.
Mark your calendars!
YOUR input is needed! MUMC’s “Visioning Summit” is Sunday, February 25. The congregation is invited for lunch followed by a facilitated workshop (about 2 hrs) to develop/update the Mission Statement, define Core Values, and draft a set of three-year revolving goals with one-year benchmarks
The leadership team (SPRC & Church Council) will continue that work for a while longer in the afternoon.
December 2023
MUMC’s “Ministry Renovation Team” has been working to document existing practices. This has led to exploring ways to more fully utilize the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform that MUMC uses to track membership, attendance, and more. This resource can help to better understand trends, successes, and opportunities. Most importantly, it can help us see who is missing from our flock so we can reach out and care for them.
Building on our Advent theme, “How Does A Weary World Rejoice,” the months of December and January are cold and gray. This provides a perfect time to explore and shed light on better ways to connect, to understand our baseline, and create a springboard for new and more effective ministries!
Another key objective is to document MUMC organizational structure: professional/paid staff, committees, groups, and volunteer roles & responsibilities. As this is documented, holes, inconsistencies, and inefficiencies will be identified. Next steps will include brainstorming with key stakeholders as together we look for potential improvements.
The team wants to thank everyone for continuing to share their input, ideas and enthusiasm as we embark on this adventure together.
In the new year the team will be rolling out pilot initiatives and gathering feedback – stay tuned.
Mark your calendars! Your input is needed! An MUMC congregational “Visioning Summit” is scheduled for Sunday, February 25. Ministry Architects will facilitate an afternoon workshop to develop/update the Mission Statement, define Core Values, and draft a set of three-year revolving goals with one-year benchmarks Members of the congregation will be asked to assist in this design process as we move forward.
November 2023
MUMC’s newly formed “Ministry Renovation Team” met with Lesleigh Carmichael of Ministry Architects on Sunday, November 5th for a “Quick Start Summit”, the official implementation launch that began with the Church Wide Assessment in September.
As you may recall, MUMC hired the Ministry Architects to lead a two year process to design and build healthy and sustainable systems that create space for deliberate innovation. Following the Church Wide Assessment, the “Ministry Renovation Team” was formed to take the lead in exploring and addressing the many areas for growth that were detailed in the Assessment.
The Assessment, which included input from 40 people in 7 focus groups and an additional 7 online responses identified 40 large ideas to be tackled. The Renovation Team reviewed tasks, set priorities, and assigned a leader to each of an initial set of items. The team will be working in 3-month intervals to be sure to focus time and energy effectively, because, again, the goal is building sustainable systems.
Members of the congregation will be asked to assist in this design process as we move forward. A congregational “Visioning Summit” is scheduled for Sunday, February 25 when Ministry Architects will facilitate an afternoon workshop to develop/update the Mission Statement, define Core Values, and draft a set of three-year revolving goals with one-year benchmarks.
MUMC Assessment Report, September 2023
What is "Ministry Architects"?
Team Members
Sue Vance
Greg Schuetz
Jean Stubaus
Bob Goodsell
Paula Michelsen
Maria Cattano
Jackie Laba
Lesleigh Carmichael, Ministry Architects