What’s happened so far? A brief summary:
December 12, 2022
The SCC Board had a special meeting to follow-up on the announcement of Pastor Ben’s resignation and make some important initial decisions. At that meeting the board asked Pastor Andy deHoog to assume temporary leadership of the church effective January 1, 2023.
January 13-14, 2023
The SCC Board, pastors, and staff gathered together with Fellowship Pacific Regional Director David Horita for a series of conversations about the past, present and future of SCC. A few highlights:
Church Lifecycles: We learned about and discussed the main stages of a typical church lifecycle which include 1.) Initiating 2.) Growing 3.) Consolidating 4.) Declining and 5.) Dying. While no church fits any one category exactly at any point in time, we felt that, on average, SCC is at the “Consolidating” stage. This means that we find ourselves at a critical juncture with limited time to make important decisions in order to catch the next cycle of innovation and growth.
In general, amongst these leaders, there is a very positive feeling about our church and outlook for the future. In spite of facing the transition of the most senior leadership position in our organization, we were able to describe many healthy aspects of our church and identify several negative areas that fortunately do not exist at this time. While we are entering a season of transition, we are probably in almost the best position possible to do so.
One of the most encouraging yet challenging aspects of our church at this time relates to the multi-site model that we have been functioning in for more than the last decade. We describe ourselves as one church located in four communities, sharing important central resources such as leadership, finances, administration, and counselling while, at the same time, allowing for great freedom and flexibility for the implementation of the overall mission and vision at the local levels in Salmon Arm, Sicamous, Sorrento, and Chase.
Based on discussion around the multi-site model as described above, an important next step emerging from these leadership conversations will be for the SCC Board to assemble a team to further evaluate and make recommendations about our multi-site model. This team will be assembled in the coming weeks and will be tasked to answer such questions as “What is this transition giving us the opportunity to do in terms of our model?”, “Can we best fulfill our mission by doing what we’re currently doing in the way that we’re doing it?”. Simply put, we need to decide to either A.) Affirm and continue in the current model, in which case recommendations ought to be made as to what improvements need to be made in order to maximize effectiveness, B.) Alter or adjust the model in ways that are most appropriate for individual campuses, or C.) Begin to move away from the multi-site model and develop a process for doing so.
All of the above discussion and questions are critically important during this time of transition because they will help us better understand our church and inform our search for the next pastor. We cannot begin a search until we have a clear understanding of what it is that we’re looking for. This, of course, will take time so we ask for you to join with the leadership in prayer for wisdom, discernment, understanding, and patience as we fully engage in this process. Remember, “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place” (Hebrews 6:19, ESV). Now is the time to pull together!
If you would like to discuss any of this, please don’t hesitate to reach out to any of our pastors or staff by contacting the church office at scc@aplacetobelong.ca or 250.832.4004. To contact the SCC Board directly, please email board@aplacetobelong.ca