Mercer Island Presbyterian Church

Key Documents

Update on our Transitional Processes

(Update as of May 1, 2010)

Members

Sheri Edwards Dalton
Paul Barrett
Lindsay Harris (advisory capacity)
Joan Ernest
George Bassett
Jon Stafford, Elder for Planning/Co-Chair
Jody Snodgrass, Co-Chair
Kirk Dawson
Gene Robertson
Mark Martin
Gretchen Wittenberg
Dirk van der Burch

The Strategic Planning Team (SPT) met twice during the month of April.

April 7 Meeting
Our first meeting on April 7 was our organizational meeting to kick off our strategic planning efforts and to lay out the foundation for this work. Pastor Sheri led our commissioning service to annoint our SPT members and then led a devotion based on passages in the Bible related to planning.

We also discussed that we would leverage the following efforts as we plan for the future:

The work of the Ministry & Budget Task Force
Mission and Vision statements from Strategic Planning Report of 2005
Situation Analysis from 2005

The rest of our meeting was spent reviewing and discussing the above documents.

April 22 Meeting
We met on April 22 to review and discuss in detail the Ministry & Budget Task Force report and the Situation Analysis from 2005.

We started by reviewing the Mission and Vision Statements which were created as part of our 2005 strategic planning work. In general, there was agreement that these were still valid for our current strategic planning efforts. We will work to validate this with the congregation as we continue our planning efforts. *The 2005 Mission and Vision Statements are at the end of this document in Appendix A.

The rest of the meeting was spent reviewing the Ministry & Budget Task Force report and then discussing the 2005 Situation Analysis to determine which aspects of it were still relevant. There was a great deal of input shared and a draft of the 2010 Situation Analysis based on that input was distributed for review at our May 4 meeting.

We also discussed preparations for an upcoming Staff & Leadership Retreat that will occur on Saturday, June 5. This will provide for an opportunity to collect input from MIPC staff and leadership with regards to strategic planning. Similar events will be planned for the fall to collect input from the congregation.

If you have any questions about the Strategic Planning efforts, please contact Jon Stafford or Jody Snodgrass.

Appendix A:

Mission Statement:
A church community with a world vision

Vision Statement:
To prayerfully pursue our mission through:

Reaching Out – offering God’s love to those around us through living and telling the Good News of Jesus Christ
Worshiping – drawing nearer to God through Word & Sacrament, sharing music and prayer; and going out to live our faith in the world
Nurturing – creating a community of love, joy, trust and hope that cares and prays for each other; and strengthening and encouraging one another through fellowship and small groups
Learning – encouraging children, youth and adults of all ages to be Christ’s disciples through Bible study, prayer, Christian education, spiritual growth, and community participation
Participating – affirming and equipping lay leadership and calling members to actively use their gifts in God’s work
Giving – committing the financial resources God has given us and committing our time, efforts and prayers to serve others locally and throughout the world
Uniting – seeking unity and diversity in our church community, and justice and racial reconciliation in the world