California Dreamin’ at the ACN Church Planting Visioning Workshop
Hollywood is known as a place that encourages people to dream big dreams. Twenty-six people from five southern California mission congregations found out for themselves that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The group, led by the Rev. Tom Herrick, the Anglican Communion Network’s (ACN) director for church planting, met at St. David’s Anglican Church in North Hollywood January 5–6 for a Church Planting Visioning Workshop.
“At the end of the day-and-a-half series of teachings and group activities, these groups left not only deeply encouraged, but with a set of very practical tools they could use to build the foundations of their new congregations,” said Herrick. “Church planting leaders must begin on the same page and come to agreement about what the DNA of the new church is going to be before the congregation settles into its patterns. That is why this workshop is so important.”
Through the teachings and practicum exercises, the church plant teams worked hard to accomplish four specific tasks: 1) articulating their core values, as well as those things which distinguish them from other Christian congregations; 2) agreeing on their vision for ministry, which paints a picture of what their church’s ministry will look like when it has fully matured years into the future; 3) defining their mission, which describes what, how and to whom they will do the things they will do; and, 4) designing the organizational plan to organize their tasks. The teams think through topics such as worship and arts, Christian teaching, finance and administration, pastoral care, communications and advertising, evangelism and outreach ministries, and leadership.
“Like building a house, certain things must be done in a certain order when building a new congregation,” said the Rev. Jose Poch, rector of St. David’s. “If any of these steps are left out, or if they are done in a haphazard fashion, everyone pays a price. The Network’s Visioning Workshop teaches the leadership teams what they need to do up front to lay these foundations correctly. An investment of time in the beginning pays huge dividends later on.”
Like the 54 participants who went through this workshop last March in Newport Beach, these leaders were very enthusiastic about what they learned. One participant said, “The interaction within the small groups that brought us to prayerfully consider God’s calling and direction was outstanding.” Another participant reported that “working with our team on all the practicum exercises made making vision, mission, and ministry plans so easy.”
Church planting teams, who are in the middle of laying the foundation for a new congregation and would like to do a little “California Dreamin’” of their own, can register for workshops in San Diego, March 23–24, or Seattle, May 17–19 by contacting the Rev. Kathleen Adams for details and registration at deansassist@uia.net. The cost is $59 per person, or $39 per person for groups of five or more. Parishes offering to be host sites and groups interested in participating can contact the Rev. Tom Herrick at therrick@acn-us.org to discuss scheduling workshops in other parts of the country.
Posted 1/31/07