MEMORANDUM
Date: May 22, 2006
To: Chairs, Ministry and Operating Committees, St. John’s UMC
From: Tom Hallman, Chair, Strategic Planning Committee
Subject: Preliminary Summary of Cottage Meeting Data
As you know, upon his arrival last June, Rev. Howle initiated a series of
“Cottage Meetings” with members of the congregation. Over the next six
months, George met with over 650 people in small sessions designed to create
candid conversations and to share insights about our church.
In each instance, the observations made in those meetings were captured
through the written comments. For the last four months, the members of
the Strategic Planning Committee have been reviewing those meeting summaries
in order to glean information about all aspects of the church and its
operation. While there are clearly some findings that will need to be reviewed
as part of our comprehensive planning, other issues lend themselves to action
as appropriate by the various committees and operating arms of the church.
To that end, our committee has sorted items as best we could into major
areas of activity that roughly correspond to the working groups of the church.
We have further attempted to provide some context in each area through a brief
narrative or summary of key points. With this correspondence, we are sharing
that overview with you and the members of your committee with the full
recognition that a number of items cited have already been addressed. There
may be, however, some other comments, or collections of comments, that will
provide an opportunity for discussion and action within your group.
In each instance that a specific committee has been identified as the appropriate
group for review, a member of the Strategic Planning Committee has been charged
to contact the chair to set up a briefing on our process to date and our findings.
There is the expectation that each committee or working group in that situation
would make a report to the Church Council in early Fall of their deliberations
and any actions that have been undertaken or which may be under consideration
as a result of this information.
It is very important that we recognize this information as being useful primarily
for its broad overview of congregational concerns and aspirations. This is NOT
a scientific survey. This information may be helpful in identifying opportunities
to gather more opinions from the church members in the future.
You should note that the Strategic Planning Committee will continue to work
with the entire collection of data to assist us in identifying those opportunities
for us to grow in mission and in service to God’s purpose for St. John’s.
Strategic Planning Committee Minutes of 5/16/2006
* Where comments were assigned to multiple categories, the comments were duplicated.
In order to preserve the primary category and not to duplicate the number of occurrences,
all identified categories in the Category field were maintained, and duplicates have
Duplicate" inserted at the end of the comment.
