UPDATE TO THE CONGREGATION ON THE CHURCH DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

May 30, 2010

Dear Northside Family, 

It has been a year since we began our Church Development project with the Church Survey and working with Dr. Don Green of Lincoln Christian University. We’d like to update you on actions that have been taken to achieve our Mission through our Philosophy of Ministry.

In September of 2009, to clarify who we are and why we exist, the leadership put forward a mission statement that is the foundation for all of our ministries.

Mission Statement (who we are):

“ Northside Church exists to be a community where people find healing in their relationships with God, others, themselves, and the creation!”

Philosophy of Ministry: (how we accomplish our mission)

Celebration- Christ Centered Worship events at Northside are where the community gathers in part or in whole to authentically glorify, thank, and experience God.

Connection- Christ Centered Relationships are developed through opportunities with groups of all sizes and an intimacy that comes only through being together in community.

Compassion- Christ Centered Service is important to our calling to be a community of redemption.  Northside serves others by sharing faith with the faithless, food with the hungry, friendship with the lonely, and homes with the homeless.

Culture- Christ Centered Life!  Our whole lives are to be formed and transformed by the grace of Jesus Christ.  This includes: raising children, marriage, managing finances, caring for our bodies, dealing with conflict, and the way we have relationships.  It is our intention to live fully in the light of Christ. 

The Church Development Survey results and Dr. Green recommended several areas and issues that needed to be addressed.

Here are the critical issues we’ve addressed:

1.) Church/Personal Evangelism- June and July’s Wednesday meetings curriculum was based around personal evangelism.  The “180 Campaign” was promoted to encourage members to commit to sharing their faith.  Last fall we had an 8 week Thursday night class with guest speakers called “Becoming Outward Focused: Evangelism in the Modern World.”  A “Love and Logic” class, taught by Gary Gawlik, was held for our members and the community. A teen mission trip to New Orleans, the Harvest Festival, a Come and See breakfast and other opportunities were provided as venues for our members to share their faith.

2.) Discipleship/Mentoring- College students and the Young Adult Community are in the process of being paired up with mentors from other parts of the congregation. Teens are constantly being paired with volunteers as mentors.  Dr. Nealy Brown of Lincoln Seminary spoke to parents on raising Christian families.

3.) Children’s Education – The Children’s Ed Servant Group coordinates and maintains new curriculum and teachers for Sunday school, Children’s Worship, and Wednesday night classes each semester.

4.) College & Career (YAC) – The Young Adult Community developed a Sunday school (Willard Weidner teaching), an after church “Common Meal,” and a weekly outreach time. 

5.) Women’s Ministry – Provided numerous opportunities for fellowship and service. Held a women’s retreat, provided refreshments for Habitat for Humanity build, provided meals for those in need, hosted showers, decorated the church, and held a ladies tea party.

6.) Men’s Ministry - Barry Lake has assumed leadership of the ministry and has held: two breakfasts, a Towanda-Barnes roadside clean-up, and a two-day retreat with Neil Windham from Lincoln Christian University. 

7.) Missions- Incorporated a mission’s focus and prayer time in our Sunday Worship.  The Missions Servant Group is currently in discussions and prayer about supporting new missionaries.  Brian Johnson spoke with us about his missionary work in the Dominican Republic. We have held two mission collections to support mission work for the Johnson’s, the Hyde’s in South Africa, the Kelley’s in Brazil, the Phillips in the Far East, Janell Galloway in the Northwest, Amanda Roberts in China, and Courtney Sharp in the Dominican Republic. We also continue to support the after school program at Western Avenue Community Center with tutoring help and a meal.

8.) Leadership Group – Created a leadership group of House Church and Servant Group leaders who meet regularly with Elders and staff to promote our mission and philosophy and address recommendations and issues. 

9.) Worship – Launched a new Northside Website. The Elders, staff, and leadership group have discussed introducing instrumental music in our worship.  Individual talks have also taken place with members as to their concerns with musical style.  In April, Isaac Gaff and Dinelle Frankland of Lincoln Christian University held a workshop on worship planning and leading.

10.) Building and Grounds - Gary Gawlik has assumed leadership of the Building and Grounds Servant Group and has held work days to spruce up the building and grounds, tilled and planted the Community Garden, and made preparations to seal the parking lot.

Items currently being addressed are:

1.)      Staffing for the future.

2.)      A holistic approach to house churches/adding more house churches.

3.)      Increasing our educational offerings. 

4.)      Developing church-wide evangelism and service.

As you can see we have been planning and focusing our ministries to our mission and philosophy.  We have also addressed several critical issues as determined by consultations with Dr. Green. As a result of these efforts, our numbers have stabilized; we’ve enjoyed some baptisms, plus we have been blessed to have new individuals worship with us.  These items are worth celebrating, but we still have more work to do.  Where is God calling you to serve the Kingdom in this community?  There are many places for you to plug in.  Please ask yourself how can you help?  Has God given you gifts to serve in a special capacity that can help the Kingdom work that is being done at Northside? We need you to help us accomplish our mission.

In Christ’s Love,

Chris Conway

Jim Kalmes

Jeff Payne

Larry Sharp

Jarrod Longbons