A Church in Transition

INSTRUCTIONS

OVERVIEW

For this Group Project: A Church in Transition Assignment you will be assigned to a group.

You and your group members will act as an ad hoc committee commissioned by the church to develop a five-year plan in which you will address where the church will be in five years. Your plan will include a methodology with a timeline that depicts how the plan will take place.

INSTRUCTIONS

Your group will need to use the modified Dewey’s Reflective Analysis system to solve the dilemma presented in this document. Listed below are six stages that you will implement as you attempt to solve the issue at hand. Within the group, all stages should be discussed as you work through the problem. You will discuss each of these stages in-depth and then one group member

will submit a 5-page summary of your discussions.

It is recommended that each group member writes a summary based on one of the six stages listed below. Once all summaries are completed, one member of your group will consolidate all the summaries into one document for final submission.

Below are the stages you will discuss.

• Define and analyze the problem–½ page

• Criteria development–1 page- LINDA H.

• Identify possible solutions– brainstorming–½ page

• Evaluate solutions according to established criteria–1 page

• Select best solution–1 page

• Implement–Finalize plan for implementation–½ page

Case Study Problem: A Church in Transition

The church is in the central part of a city of 200,000 people. The building is old, parking is a problem, and some members in the church would like to move out into the suburbs. Others would like to stay right where they are to ministry to intercity problems.

The church currently averages about 350 people for morning worship and is served by a Senior Pastor at $65,000 a year, a youth pastor at $38,000 a year, a music director (PT) at $25,000 a year, a secretary at $26,000 a year, and a janitor at $18,000 (PT) a year. The pastor would like to hire a full-time assistant pastor and projects the cost at $40,000. The church constitution calls for nine deacons. Currently, the church is served by five deacons. Offerings of this church run about $7,000 per week. The church buildings are paid for but are old and could use a facelift. The sanctuary is at capacity for the Sunday Morning service. The youth facilities are poor. The church supports ten missionaries about $150 a month. The church currently has $300,000 in savings for a building fund.

The church has a good evangelism program and has experienced a 25% numerical growth during the past six years. However, during the past two years, the number of people coming into the church as a result of soul-winning endeavors has decreased. There are some members of the church who would like to begin seeker-sensitive programs for outreach.

The church currently uses a blended form of worship. There are some who are unhappy with this style of worship and would like to move back to a more contemporary service. There are some who would like to see a seeker-sensitive service added. There are some who would like to see the church hold two services, one with a traditional approach and one with a more contemporary approach.

The church does not have an organized discipleship program and some members are encouraging the development of such a program. The leadership and spiritual maturity of members in the church may be said to be average.

The pastor has served this church for four years. He is 46 years old and has 3 children. His wife teaches 2nd grade in the local public schools. The church has been served most recently by the founding pastor of the church who served the church for thirty years prior to his retirement. The retired pastor continues to attend the church, but he is in poor health. Many people still look to him for guidance in spiritual matters and in making decisions about the future direction of the church.

The hard times the nation is experiencing have not affected the church income to a great extent.

The budget is generally met, but the threat of layoffs is high.

Issues that frequently come up in the church:

• Let’s start a Christian School.

• Let’s go to a seeker service.

• Let’s go back to a traditional service.

• Let’s start seeker-sensitive groups to reach our community.

• Let’s do more for world missions.

• Let’s build a new building.

• Let’s hire an associate pastor.

• Let’s build a family life multi-purpose building for ministry.

The church has a great desire to be used by God in their community and throughout the world.
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UPDATE from the client:

1-page FOR - • Criteria development–1 page-

Will be incorporated with the remaining group members that will result in a final summary for group assignment.

Thank you and hope this is ample time for completion.