A New Vision is Coming

By now you know Grace has entered the Healthy Church Initiative Phase III. We received the five prescriptions from the HCI team, accepted them by a vote of 53-1, and now we are forming teams to fulfill those challenges. And the prescriptions are only the beginning. We will institute many new opportunities to reach new people for Christ over the coming months.

Tom Busby, our Lay Leader, was asked to lead the Vision Team for the first HCI prescription. Tom, working with our HCI coach Rev Edlen Cowley, will lead a visioning workshop May 19. The workshop will be attended by about a dozen people from Grace: members of the Vision Team, leaders of the other HCI teams, and a handful of individuals we've drafted. It's not meant to be an all-church deal; there were three all-church opportunities that brought us to this point:

  • The HCI weekend Saturday workshop February 18 
  • The Town Hall February 25
  • The HCI Church Conference March 18.
We have plenty of feedback from the congregation to use in the establishment of a vision for Grace.
On that same day as the workshop-- May 19 at 1:00-- the Administrative Council will discuss and vote on the new vision. Everyone is welcome to participate and give feedback at this meeting. We'll share the new vision in worship the next day, Sunday May 20. That day happens to be Pentecost Sunday, the day we commemorate the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church. It's a perfect alignment of church activity and liturgical calendar. That makes the church geek in me very happy.

The vision work is important, because it will drive every single ministry and opportunity we offer at Grace. The vision will be used to evaluate current ministries-- this is the second half of the first HCI prescription. The vision will inform every potential ministry we'll offer in the future. The Administrative Council will use the vision as a guide for the next several years.

So yeah, it's important!

How can you help? We covet your prayers. Pray for wisdom and discernment. Pray for the vision to be bold, exciting, maybe even a little frightening. It needs to inspire us to take risks for the sake of the Kingdom. Be present in worship May 20 and celebrate our new vision! Thank you for the support and encouragement you have offered throughout the Healthy Church process. We are beginning to see fruit and it is exciting!

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