Achieved
Purchase new hymnals.
Develop Growth Groups to be a core ministry of our church.
– Be on the lookout for testimonies of what God is doing. We will be sharing some of our favorites as we think back on what God has done in 2019.
Start growing a disciple-making culture that effectively moves people from lost to fully mature followers of Jesus Christ. – Growth Groups, Sunday School, and youth programs such as Battlezone and our new “Camp Discipleship Program” (to be announced) are a good start, but there are many things left to think through. We are just getting started.
Continue counseling training and consider how to improve continued education of all counselors. – A pathway is in place now for becoming a counselor at OBC. Currently, we are in our second round of the “Level 1” training for prospective counselors.
Pursue new ministry opportunities with Word of Life. – Battlezone (street evangelism) was a follow-up-training for our S.M.I.T.E. kids.
Consider bulletin insert of 3×5 card with service opportunities on it. – Will now be part of the weekly bulletin.
Host a number of fun community events such as community picnics, game nights, movie nights, etc. – O’ville Community Picnic was a great success, as were our concerts and movie nights. Live Nativity is December 8 at 6 pm.
Develop an awareness of Orangeville Counseling Solutions in the church family and in our community. – Ads at M-89 theater, new counseling website, mass mailing to Delton, Martin, and Shelbyville, church announcements, and ads on church sign.
Almost Achieved
Start work on new website. – We updated the current website and only need to get our web developer a template with general ideas to get the ball rolling on this. Check out our new counseling site. https://orangevillebiblicalcounseling.com/
Seek to have at least two major church-wide prayer initiatives this year such as a 24-hour prayer vigil or week of prayer. – Our second prayer initiative, “24 hours of prayer”, is scheduled for December 13 and 14. Starts at 6pm with a lesson from Pastor Dan. Sign up in the lobby.
Develop a Coffee and Connect time for before and after services. – Growth Groups will be staffing Coffee and Connect starting in January. Brianna Borden has volunteered to lead this ministry.
Plan how and when people will be taught primary areas of theology, core spiritual disciplines, relationship building, practical Christian living, exercising spiritual gifts, and ministry skills. – Sunday school and Growth Groups have laid a good foundation, but one area that still needs to be developed is the discovery and use of spiritual gifts. Pastor Andrew and Josiah will be focusing on this in more depth in 2020.
Continue to evaluate the purpose of our ministries and their effectiveness in bearing fruit and equipping people for ministry and, when needed, implement new strategies or models for greater effectiveness. – We plan to have an intentional sit down with all of our ministry volunteers soon to ask what is and is not working. Be praying about what insights you could share.
Consider creating a children’s and student ministry team. – Core team is in place, but we hope to expand our helpers and establish this as an “official” ministry team by the end of this year (t-shirts, training, etc.)
Consider how to best equip and empower the leaders of our various ministries and programs. – We’ve been doing this, but again, our plan is to sit down soon with each of our volunteers and to strategize what would be of most help to them.
Find creative ways to encourage our youth to be involved in ministry. – In addition to events like Battlezone, we have a team of Student Leaders who have stepped up to lead their peers in this area. Ideas on the table are – a youth worship team, media, and street evangelism events in our local area.
Continue to enhance the welcoming atmosphere of the church building by finishing renovations, improving signage, and creating a building map. – Have you seen the new and improved nursery and toddler classrooms? Next up, the kitchen and coffee station.
Renovate the kitchen so it can be certified and enable us to provide meals for those in need and church community events. – The plan is to increase storage and counter space and install commercial sinks and ovens. This will allow us to be state certified.
Progress w/ Setbacks
Teach and emphasize new church model of Gathering, Growing, and Going. – This model has been put forward and emphasized in the ministries we are doing, but our guess is that people don’t know the phrase and it’s not taught enough.
Start developing compelling church-wide communication strategy by building up the Worship and Media Team and recruiting a few people to oversee church communication. – Pastor Josiah has less time now that he is leading the kids’ and teen ministries. He wants to encourage the teens to be involved in media, but will have trouble overseeing and developing all the other aspects of communication here at OBC. Our secretary, Gina Wittkopp, has been a huge help in this area, but so far, there isn’t a real strategy in place.
Enhance morning worship services by utilizing video announcements, increasing the variety of Scripture readings, and focusing more on excellence and creativity in music. – The setback is video announcements. Pastor Josiah hasn’t found someone yet with the time, talent, and desire to run or oversee a video ministry.
Consider lengthening the Sunday a.m. service by 30 minutes.
Implement church-wide Scripture memory system for all ages. – Many are not aware that we are doing a church-wide memory program called FighterVerses. This week’s memory verse can be found in your bulletin and at FighterVerses.com.
Expand food pantry ministry. – Plans are in motion for moving the pantry into the kitchen. Sharon Boyle is planning to step in as head coordinator for this ministry.
Some Progress – Needs Organized / Point Person / Announced / Trained
Seek to increase the place and priority of prayer in our church family by creating a prayer network that one can contact for prayer updates and emergencies. – There is a prayer chain in place but it isn’t integrated yet with Growth Groups.
Recruit and launch a Care Team to provide a ministry of love and grace to those with health needs and family crisis, and to work alongside Growth Groups to provide loving relationships, support, prayer, and encouragement to the church body.
Equip the welcoming team and church family to be warm, friendly, and engaging with church visitors. – Curt Visser will be point person on this for 2020.
Equip and encourage our church family to engage intentionally in personal outreach. – It may be good to use Pi2, an easy model: Pray for one, invest in one, invite one.
Recruit and launch an outreach team to work alongside Growth Groups, furthering the mission of Jesus in our local communities and encouraging Growth Groups and individuals to live on mission with Jesus.
Develop evangelistic training for church members. – We have run two street evangelism trainings with our youth. The next step is to include the rest of the church. One such training will be available within the next year in Sunday school.
Little/No Progress
Create a welcome packet that provides information on church activities, staff, and ways to plug in. – Curt Visser and Pastor Josiah plan to work on this in 2020.
Yours,
Josiah & Andrew
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