Growth Group

Meeting Minutes of March 23, 2009

Members present: Jim Kupel, John McCall, Rick Angell, Dave Allen, Kendra Palmer, Stan Jordan, Sue Ross, Elinor Redmond.

Jim opened the meeting with a prayer at 6:30 p.m. No minutes were kept at the February meeting due to low attendance.

**indicates future action

I. 1/11 Focus Group
Stan had sent us all copies of his notes from the gathering. We discussed the highlights: new members want what they called a ‘buddy program’. That news confirms the thrust of our Parish Host idea. No real constructive criticism was offered; the group validated what we are doing now (name tags, welcome in the Narthex). Kendra described the experience as positive: the group was willing to talk. They experience our ministers as very accessible, in contrast to other churches they have attended.

**Jim will write up the key points from the discussion group. Richard will pass along Stan’s notes to SL&W; Dave will send them to EF&G via Elsa.

We had a general discussion concerning ‘getting the word out’ about our church and who we are. John noted that the church is almost big enough for interest groups (parenting pot luck, pilgrims and pints: they are great when enough people can attend). The role of the church (ministers) is not to make those things happen but to set things up so that they can happen (enable them). We thought about the many people who come through the church doors for scouts, Mother’s group, food pantry, yoga, 12 step groups etc. and discussed reaching out to individuals involved in these groups. A first step is to provide fliers about the church when the groups meet.

** John will ask Cyndi for a list of the groups, meeting times and contact person.

II. Mission Statement
We feel we are very close. We worked on Elinor’s suggestion from the January minutes:
To provide structure to warmly welcome newcomers to our church, build relationships so that they are part of our church community, attending services, participating and joining.
Edit:
To provide a structure and a process to warmly welcome newcomers to our church and to encourage the building of meaningful relationships so that newcomers feel they belong and can participate in our church community.

III. Parish Host Program
We looked again at the outline of the Parish Host Program.

**Jim will draft a version to describe the program for someone who is considering being a Parish Host. We want the document to include a sense of celebration if it works.

IV. New Member Process
John provided the group with an outline of the steps he and Elsa take as newcomers attend services and become known to them. Jim considered adding ‘touch points’ so that we can see the impact of other church members on the newcomer’s experience. Step 4 is a natural point to introduce a parish host. We discussed ways members could contribute to the process: being available with Sandy to escort someone to coffee hour, standing at the back of the church at the beginning of service and sitting in a pew with a newcomer (and then being friendly, of course).

Sue suggested direction from the front of the church on passing the friendship pads back across the pew once they are signed so that we can all know the names of the other people in the pew. John will talk with Elsa about consistent language.

Jim suggested that a goal for the congregation is to see (welcoming) as their responsibility.

**John will re-draft the document and invite additions. He said finding a lay person to shepherd along new arrivals – paying attention to detail – would be terrific.

V. Group Information
Stan proposed creating a booklet with information about all the small groups in the church. He made a template with the Growth Group as an example. We agreed such a booklet would be very useful to have. John acknowledged it would be hard to keep it current so it would not be practical to print a number of ‘hard copies’. Rather the group suggested creating a pdf which can be reached through the website and be easily updated.

**Dave will work on collecting the information via e-mail from each group. We will ask for examples of activities.

VI. Other
John passed out articles for people to take home and read.
Kendra will spend more time on her web review of ‘best practices’ in other churches.

The meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

NEXT MEETING: Thursday, April 30 @ 5:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Elinor Redmond

With special thanks to Dave Allen for his leadership at keeping a group on task during a meeting and his skill at keeping track of agenda items.