Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

Spirituality Explorer Team

Our Mission: To develop more specific and deliberate attention to fostering spiritual practices and spiritual growth of ORUCC members.
What we are doing: We’ve brainstormed ideas which centered around
1) Creating space that enhances reflection and spiritual practices
2) Programmatic ideas, such as retreats, small groups, and learning experiences.

We’re beginning to make contact with resources outside ORUCC, and welcome your thoughts and ideas — either at congregational meeting after church on April 27 or at any time!
Members: Rich Hamann (co-chair), Barb Hummel (co-chair). Tammy Boyd, Winton Boyd (staff liaison), Mary Connor, Paul Evans, LuAnn Greiner, , Laurie Irwin, Ann Kehl, Joan Leannah-Brumm, Paul McLeod, Ken Psyck

Music Explorer Team

Our theme: Deepening our faith through Music
Our Mission: Exploring additional musical opportunities for everyone
We are investigating possible directions we might take by:
Interviewing ORUCC staff, talking with outside experts, and visiting other churches with expanded programs.

Members: Ruthanne Landsness & Karen Falkner (co chairs), Nancy Evans, Pat Fellows, John Gilbert, Ralph Petersen, Lee Pray.

January 28, 2007

This is the first in what I hope will be many posts throughout the year reflecting on some of the discoveries and insights from our intentional “exploring.” At our annual meeting, we adopted the report of the Next Generation Mission Team which invited us to see 2008 as a year of exploration and experimentation. While we are creating four Explorer Teams to examine our program life in the areas of music, spirituality, faith in action, and children-youth-and-families – I hope we will all keep our eyes and ears open to what the Spirit is doing around us – in our lives, in other churches, in other communities we value, etc.

Last night I went to a fascinating church in Grand Rapids, MI called Mars Hill Bible Church (www.marshill.org). I learned of it through the videos they have produced called “NOOMA,” which we have used in Java and Jesus for three weeks. Because I had a free evening between a workshop in Kalamazoo and Indianapolis, I decided to drive an hour out of my way to see this church in person. Let me tell you what I saw and heard. I do this without prejudice, but just as a way of sharing how another congregation seems to operate. Continue Reading »

Continue Reading »

Next Generation Report

Executive Summary of the Full Next Generation Mission Team Report (December 2007)

On Tuesday, December 4th, the Next Generation Mission Team (NGMT) co-facilitators formally presented their report to the Leadership Team of our congregation. Last May, we commissioned the NGMT to develop recommendations to “strengthen and deepen our faith through expanded programming for all ages.” The team was asked to make recommendations for ORUCC to live into its vision of being spiritually alive, joyfully inclusive, and committed to justice – over the next 15-20 years. Co-facilitated by Barb Hummel and Helene Nelson, the NGMT met diligently from July through late November.

Rather than identifying a project, the NGMT is suggesting a pathway by which we can enact our vision statement as a community seeking to follow God. (Read both the full report above). In that light, they suggest that 2008 be a year of “exploring and experimenting.”

This faith based and strategic exploration will be guided by:

6 Themes
4 Explorer Teams

Continue Reading »

by co-chair Barb Hummel

You may be one of the 130+ of our members who looked at how we could develop our church over the next 15-20 years to move even more deeply into our vision statement of Spiritually Alive, Joyfully Inclusive, Committed to Justice. That discernment process resulted in the formation of a mission team to strengthen and deepen our faith through expanded programming for all ages.

The Next Generation Initiative (NGI) mission team is co-chaired by Helene Nelson and Barb Hummel and includes: Kythie Boyd, Winton Boyd, Gary DeClute, Paul Evans, Charlene Gallagher, Ellery Hamann, Paul Hedges, Racheal Lancor, Ruthanne Landsness, Ralph Petersen, and Sara Roberts — and we’ve been busy! We have had 6 meetings since July. Here are the highlights of some of our work to date:

• We recognize and honor the current strengths—both existing mission teams and activities—that we already have. In looking at our existing programs, we developed some criteria that helped us look at what else might be possible or desirable. The criteria included:

• How experiential are our programs? That is, how much do they allow us to go beyond talking about God to actually feeling God’s presence, and evoking the mystery of God and our faith?
• How participatory are they? How actively do our programs engage people?
• How well do our programs go beyond the realm of words and intellect to engage all our senses?
• How do our programs allow us to connect with other people at varied, but significant levels? Are there multiple age groups for leadership and participation? Are groups easy to enter, particularly for newcomers?
• How well do our programs connect faith to justice?
• Are our programs consistent and well organized?
• What is the commitment level required to participate in our programs?

• There was a consensus that we need to define the NGI in a way in which the goals and themes of spirituality, community and justice all are part of the strengthened programming to deepen our faith.

• We see our recommendations as a supplement to the important work that our ongoing mission teams have. In that vein, we are looking at the congregational ideas that are “bigger” (i.e., may take longer to accomplish than one year, or represent some new directions).

• We spent three meetings delving into what each phrase of our vision statement could mean or look like for us 15-20 years from now, beginning with a look at the next five years. A few consistent priorities or “levers” emerged:

1. Improving programming for children and youth.

2. Strengthening programming for families, as well as inter-generational/multi-generational activities

3. Community through activities linking music and spirituality

4. Community through a focused series of Faith in Action adventures & retreats with in-depth programming in smaller groups.

5. A series of experiments with meditative/other spiritual experiences

6. After many experiments with programming, to understand how space and design of our church may need to be changed

We are far from done with our task! We are in the process of creating a more specific report, but wanted to let you know we are trying to serve you diligently and faithfully. We welcome your comments and inquiries!