Healthy Church Report

Dear Council of Essex CRC,

Thank you for participating in the Healthy Church Initiative. This is one of the denominational
priorities adopted by Synod in 2006. The Healthy Church Survey is a result of that initiative and
your church was one of ten test sites for this. The results of the survey and the resultant
Congregational Conversation are included in my report to you dated February 2, 2010. The
recommendations in that report included two follow up planning sessions:

1. Community Service and Sharing the Faith
2. Vision and Leadership

Session #1 was held on Sunday, May 16. There was good attendance that allowed for several
discussion groups. Each group chose which area to work in and then developed strategic
initiatives which were written into tables and summarized as noted in the appendix.

Session #2 was held on May 30. A slightly different approach was used for this session where all
groups were led through three discussions on Blessings, Values and Leadership. These results
were gathered together and are also summarized in the appendix.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
The following are my recommendations based on my observation of the appendices, the Healthy
Church survey and Congregational Conversation, and observations of the church dynamics during
my 3 Sunday visits and my earlier visit with your council.

COMMUNITY SERVICE
Many people are involved in community projects, but the church itself needs to be on board with
community service - as part of its mission. This requires a number of things:

1. The vision for the church must adopt community service as an integral part of what it means
to be a member of this church.

2. One or two projects need to be officially adopted. There are a few mentioned, but you need
to choose at least one substantial project that can involve all generations, especially the
younger members.

3. For the many who are already involved in community service, you can begin to commission
them and encourage them and have them report to the congregation in appropriate ways. This
will incorporate their individual efforts into the ministry of the body but it will also serve to help
these members see their individual community efforts as part of the mission of the church.

SHARING THE FAITH
Sharing the faith, both within the church community and with the community outside the church
requires significant development. 21 ideas are listed in the appendix, none of which is
overwhelmingly difficult. You need to choose something that helps the congregation share faith
with each other that easily accommodates guests.

I recommend that you consider the following:

1. Develop Small Groups in a way that works with Essex's regional character. Perhaps
regionally-based small groups. (see Marian Lensink, Home Missions)

2. Develop a church website that primarily answers the question "Why is Essex CRC here?"

3. Participate in a yearly event such as Beth Moore or Financial Peace - working with other
churches in the region.

4. Monthly (or so) testimonies in the worship service will certainly help. This could be called
"Telling the Story" or something like that.

5. Workshops (training) on sharing your faith are also available. (see Marian Lensink)

VISION AND LEADERSHIP

Your church needs an updated vision that embraces the best of who you are and the call of God
on your church. Based on your conversations to date there are a few things that are clear:

1. Sense of congregational family is an essential part of who you are:

~ There is healthy inter-generational acceptance in your church
~ There is support in times of need
~ There is a "family" atmosphere
~ There is an apparent openness in the family, at least a willingness to be open

2. There is a clear sense in your church that God is calling you to serve the community and the
share the faith.

In order to make healthy progress you need to do the following:

1. Develop clarity about your vision/mission. This can be done by choosing a theme or image
from the data in Question #2 in the appendix. Then you can design a logo or image that
captures this well. Then you can write this up to include the values of family, community service
and sharing faith.
a. The logo can become part of your architecture, bulletins, newsletters, etc.
b. The write up can become a mission/vision statement

2. Preaching needs to regularly develop the vision/mission. This type of preaching needs to be
planned by the entire church leadership - not just the pastor.

3. Leadership needs to do the following:
a. Recognize that the congregation needs encouragement, support and even accountability in
order to meet the goals.
b. The vision/mission must be communicated continuously.
c. A culture of leadership needs to be developed where:
i. All leaders (elders and deacons at least) participate in annual training events such as Willow's
Leadership Summit or the Day of Encouragement
ii. All leaders are involved in leadership development that includes reading and discussion and
prayer. This could be done monthly during the council meetings, or with a leaders' cluster in the
region that follows an agreed agenda for leadership development. (I can give you some ideas.)
iii. Leaders of other ministries are supported and encouraged to develop their leadership. The
church budget contains a leadership training item.

4. In reality, adoption of the initiatives developed over these last few months represents a new
day for Essex CRC. Therefore I recommend that you combine the initiatives above (the ones that
you feel that you can support) into a Ministry Plan suitable for the next five or years. You can
then prepare a Dedication Service that allows the entire congregation to dedicate itself to this
plan as the discerned call of God on Essex CRC.

This process is not about rescuing the church, or even about trying to grow the congregation. It
is about following the call of God. As the church faithfully follows this call, God will look after the
growth.

This report summarizes the work done to date by your congregation and also includes my
observations/recommendations. If there is any way that Home Missions can be of further
assistance - such as in Small Group development or Leadership development, or communication,
please feel free to contact me.

Blessings,
Jack Tacoma
Ministry Specialist
CRC Home Missions