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REPORTS #6 & 7
Education Committee to Discern the Way Forward (ECDWF)
Dear Congregation Members,
In an effort to continue to keep you informed, here are the latest meeting minutes from the Education Committee to Discern the Way Forward (ECDWF). The Committee held its 6th meeting, November 14, 2022.
All ECDWF members where present (one via Zoom). The group was joined by HFUMC’s new Communication Director, Heather Newman.
The purpose of the meeting was to engage with two advisors (Laura Brantley and Sharon Cox) who have assisted other churches with their Discernment Process.
The evening began with a meal and getting to know Ms. Brantley and Ms. Cox. Ms. Brantley has extensive training in processes and Ms. Cox in organizational transition.
Each member of the ECDWF was asked to reflect on their hopes and concerns for the HFUMC Discernment Process.
Key take aways from the early discussion:
- Meet our mission in an unbiased way
- Make sure the HFUMC congregants feel that they have been heard
- Do not lose disciples in the process
- Define who the church is
- Maintain a close church family despite differences
- Important to focus on both the team and the process with the congregation
- Active listening will be the hallmark of a good process
Laura and Sharon shared that they observed a lot of hope, heart, and desire from the committee members.
Sharon then spent time explaining her background of over 30 years helping organizations through difficult periods of change and explained the three main elements of the transition model.
She emphasized that gaining consensus usually means 70% of the group agrees, but 100% are supportive of the decisions made. Hard, but that should be the goal.
Both guests walked the ECDWF members through the Brentwood Discernment team’s listening sessions and specific roles for each member of the listening team. They also provided 9 principles to follow as the HFUMC team goes through our process.
The almost three hour session was very informative and productive. The next meeting of the ECDWF is November 28, 2022.
The 7th meeting was held on November 28, 2022. Ten of the twelve ECDWF members were present.
The committee reviewed a proposed covenant that would become the guiding principles for team interaction during the discernment process. After discussion, one item was added to the proposed covenant list. The committee agreed to abide by the covenant.
The team had a lengthy discussion concerning the product that would be provided at the completion of our work. The team concluded that we will share our findings that result from the discernment process as we extract and distill information from the questionnaires and the pending listening session which will start in 2023. The findings will be shared with the Council of Stewards.
The team reviewed the status of the questionnaires mailed on November 11th. There were 1,966 questionnaires mailed to members of the church (Confirmands and older). As of the meeting, 188 completed questionnaires were returned. There were also 121 returned as undeliverable. The return date was extended until Friday, December 2, 2022.
The committee discussed the best way to analyze the questionnaires. We agreed to use the model Brentwood UMC developed. The committee will conduct a practice analysis session at the next meeting to ensure consistency.
Next on the agenda was a discussion of church-wide listening sessions. These will take place after the Frequently Ask Questions (FAQ’s) document is posted for congregation review. Sessions are tentatively set to begin late Jan through mid-April 2023.
The ECDWF turned their focus to finalizing the FAQ document. Some minor changes were made during the thorough review. An email will be sent to HFUMC members with a link to connect to the website. Hard copies of the FAQ document will be available at the church office and copies mailed to those who do not have email.
The evening concluded with a review of the proposed meeting schedule through April. The next meeting will be December 12, 2022. The December 26 meeting was canceled.
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