The Spiritual Strategic Journey is a process that White Plains United Methodist Church began in the Spring of 2015. We began work with George Bullard of the Columbia Partnership to help us discern how we can better live into God’s call onto our church. Our goal as we work with The Columbia Partnership is to create an action plan to live into our Mission, Vision, and Values. We held a congregational assessment in April, followed by prayer triplet meetings during the Summer. A prayer triplet was a group of three people who covenanted to meet together ten times to bathe White Plains in prayer and discerning dialogue about the future of our church. In November, we looked at three scenarios for our future (A Community of Believers, a Missional Church, and A Disciple-Making Church) and discerned from those scenarios what our future story would be. In January, the Future Story scenario was presented to our congregation, feedback was received, and the next Journey Phase began. The MapMakers Team is responsible for the beginning of the Journey phase, setting the foundation and “Map” for how we will move into this Future Story Dream.
Future Story Presentation Information – January 31, 2016
- YouTube Link for Presentation
- Abide. Love. Go – SSJ Future Story Narrative (English)
- Permanacer. Amar. Ir. – Future Story en PDF (Español)
Three Scenarios Information – November 22, 2015
- Information Page
- A Community of Believers YouTube
- A Missional Church YouTube
- A Disciple-Making Church YouTube
Triplet Supplemental Materials for Meetings Summer of 2015
- Visionary Leadership Statement
- Enriching Relationships Statement
- Programmatic Emphases Statement
- Accountable Management Statement
- Staying Contextually Relevant Statement
- Pastoral Leadership Statement
Congregational Assessment and Learning Experience – April 24, 2015
On Friday, April 24th a “Congregational Assessment and Learning Experience” (CALE) was held in the CLC. George Bullard, from the Columbia Partnership, led us in some pre-work for the Spiritual Strategic Journey as we learned from him about the life cycle and stages of congregational development, conducted an exercise on signs of health and strength in the congregation, and engaged in dialogue together about key issues facing our congregation. Our work at the CALE established a framework for the prayer and dialogue that we will engage in throughout the 100 days of our prayer triplets this summer.
For those unable to attend, the event was recorded and is provided here for you to also learn and participate.
- Ray’s Introduction and Exercise 1 Top Ten Positive Signs – Instructions