We are pleased to announce the formation of the team of people who will be helping to evaluate the multi-site model of SCC! Please be praying for this group as they serve the church in this way over the next several months. The team includes people from all SCC locations and represent a variety of perspectives in terms of age, gender, location, and ministry involvement. The team members are: Steve Janz, Vince Meraw, Steve Kalf, Philip Baskin, Sylvia Siemens, Jan Peters, Daryl Neufeld, Jenna Zinger, and Andy deHoog.
The team held their first meeting on Sunday, March 26 and the following is a summary of what was discussed and accomplished at this initial meeting.
The meeting began with personal introductions and a time of prayer to ask God for his wisdom to prevail (James 1:5). There is a general sense of excitement around the evaluation process and for the future of Shuswap Community Church.
The team then took some time to define the goals for this first meeting. There is a general recognition that much of what we do will be a process of discovery since we have never done an evaluation process like this before and there will be lots to learn!
Using a spiritual strategic journey assessment tool, the team discovered that SCC appears to have a healthy level of readiness to enter into a season of transition including specifically this evaluation process. This is very encouraging!
Importantly, the team was able to define its own purpose and role that falls in line with the direction of the SCC Board. In the course of the discussion, it was recognized that this team is not a pastoral search team. It was also recognized that the work of this team represents a step within the context of the overall transition. That said, the purpose and role of this team includes three main components:
- To gather information about the effectiveness of SCC’s multi-site model.
- To evaluate the general effectiveness of SCC’s multi-site model based on the information that is gathered.
- To make recommendations to the SCC Board regarding the future of SCC’s multi-site model.
Furthermore, the team defined for itself several rules and guidelines for how they will behave and interact with one another and the church in general. These include:
- We will work hard at being good listeners.
- In working toward consensus, we recognize a potential difference between agreement and acceptance.
- Our meetings will be safe places where we will foster open discussion, honesty, and embrace good conflict.
- We will hold sensitive information in confidence while striving for as open communication as possible with the church; what information should and should not be shared will be reviewed at each meeting.
- When necessary, we will define our “hats”. Am I thinking and speaking as a board member? Church member? Employee? Contractor? In general, each person’s default position will be as a member of this evaluation team.
- We will be committed to this team and the process out of a sense of love for one another and the church.
To begin designing the actual evaluation process, the team used the image of a funnel to think about the various information gathering contexts:
- At the top, the widest part of the funnel, we will plan to collect data from as many people in the church as possible through a congregational survey.
- Below the survey level, we would plan to have open Town Hall meetings in each campus. These Town Hall meetings would be an opportunity for people to engage in dialogue about the multi-site structure and approach to ministry.
- The next level would engage smaller, more focused discussion groups with various affinity or ministry-based groups such as LIFEGroups and the church staff.
- At the bottom of the funnel, there would be opportunities for conversations with individuals. This could be provided for anyone in the church who would like to have such an opportunity. This would also likely be an appropriate context to speak with each of the Campus Pastors and other individual staff members and ministry leaders.
One tool that could be helpful, particularly in the various discussion settings, is the SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. In general, Strengths and Weaknesses are things that are currently in existence, whereas Opportunities and Threats are potential items that could come into existence.
In terms of timeline, there is a general tension between “getting on with it” yet while still being careful and thorough. While we did not finalize an exact timeline, one possible goal would be to complete all of our information gathering by the end of June. This is, in part, where the element of “discovery” alluded to earlier comes into play.
While the team agreed that information gathering is an essential function of this process, it was noted that, perhaps, information giving might also be required. What information will we need to give and review so that people can engage in meaningful and informed discussion? At least three main points ought to be included:
- A description of what SCC’s multi-site model actually is.
- A note about the reality of needed change and what is at stake if change does not happen.
- An invitation to engage in the process. The participation of as many people as possible in this process is absolutely essential to the success of the evaluation and future direction of the church. We are all in this together!
So far, the evaluation team has scheduled two more meetings: April 3 and April 17. Please continue to be in prayer for this team, the process, and the church…and stay tuned for more details!
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Pastor Andy deHoog (andy@aplacetobelong.ca) or the SCC Board (board@aplacetobelong.ca)