Growing Deeper and Wider started as the theme for the 2009 stewardship campaign, but has grown into something more – it captures nicely where this congregation is going.

The contents of this section, listed on the left side of this page, roughly follow the outline of the meetings that were held during the fall of 2008. More than 300 people attended those meetings – their responses and questions are given here as well – but our hope is that more people will take a look at our church’s plans as they develop. Actually, the materials in the section of the website go beyond what was presented at those meetings last fall; in this section you will also find the complete architectural master plan. At the very end you are invited to submit any comments or questions you have.

In the past few years, our church has done a great deal – an unprecedented amount – of visioning, planning, re-examining, redesigning, etc, in an effort to harness our church’s extraordinary resources and potential for the future.  During Pastor Brouwer's first year here, he told an officer's retreat that he thought we were underachieving as a church, and someone said that was a risky statement to make in town where we believe we are “leaders and best.” The Growing Deeper and Wider process will point a way for us to live into our full potential as a church.

Here’s a brief listing of the groups that have participated in this process:

• First, the Vision and Strategy Committee conducted what was almost a year-long visioning process that involved more than 500 church members and that resulted in a new mission statement and five focus areas for future ministry.

• A Youth Visioning Task Force came together to write a clear statement of our church’s vision for youth ministry.

• A Welcoming Task Force met last fall and examined the church’s many “entry points” and made numerous recommendations about how to improve them, about how we could become a more welcoming and hospitable church.

• Also last fall, a Christian Nurture Work Group looked at what happens to our members after they make a commitment to membership, how they grow in their faith.

• Last spring there was a mission retreat, facilitated by Marian McClure, director of worldwide mission for our denomination, the PCUSA, and that retreat resulted in an ongoing re-thinking of what it means to do mission in the 21^st century (you will be hearing more about the term “missional church” in the years to come),

• And finally there has even been a facilities review group which has introduced a master plan for future building improvements and expansion.

The results of this work have been presented in all the usual places – bulletin, newsletter, annual congregational meeting, officers’ retreat last January, and even Sunday morning sermons. What often happens, however, is that church members hear some, but not all, of what has been done. Many people, for example, have heard about a building campaign, but few have heard about a more far-reaching initiative to become a missional church.

Beyond that, sometimes the language we hear – the language of Teaching Church, the Welcoming Church, the Missional Church – while appealing – may also sound vaguely confusing. You may be wondering what all of it means. If so, you’re in the right place.

You should know that the leadership of this church listened carefully to what you told us in those visioning meetings, almost two years ago. From those meetings, from the information you gave us, we identified five focus areas, and all of our planning has been about these areas, which are: Faith Development, Connectedness and Belonging, Worship, Mission, and Targeted Ministries (youth, campus, seniors).

Behind the scenes, a great deal of planning and work has been done. Lots of people have been involved in bits and pieces of this.  We are excited to give you a sampling of the new ministries, new directions, new initiatives, that have started as a result of this rather long, but rewarding process. So much has finally come together!

• Wednesday 2:42 (the complete redesign of our mid-week program is intended to connect our members at a deep level, while giving them opportunities to grow in their faith)

• Ascent model for campus ministry (following the lead of the largest church-based campus ministry in the country, our church has adopted a new model and has called to ministry a leader who is experienced in this model)

• Small group ministry (our church is no stranger to small groups, but this renewed emphasis will lead to new groups and increased participation in ministry designed to deepen faith and develop a stronger community of faith)

• Web site re-design (increasingly people come to know us first by visiting our web site and viewing information about us, making this effort a critical step in becoming a more welcoming church)

• Youth director (no church can survive long without attracting new people, especially young families, and having an outstanding youth ministry is an essential ingredient for our church’s future)

• Facilities master plan (a building with a pleasant and up-to-date appearance will go a long way toward presenting the image of a vital, forward-thinking church)

• Name tags (while not everyone wants to be known, the overwhelming evidence is that wearing a name tag is an important first step in hospitality and welcome)

• Missional thinking, acting, being (our mission is more than our various task forces; our mission is our sense of ourselves as a people sent out into the community to be God’s people, representatives of new life and hope)

• Stephen Ministry (in a 2,000 member church – and perhaps in any-sized church – pastoral care is the responsibility of every member; Stephen Ministry is a new ministry designed to equip church members to be caring and listening friends)

• Residency and candidates (we are a teaching church, not only for our residents, but also for each other)

• Hilltoppers (reaching our seniors was a targeted ministry identified by our visioning process)

• Church-wide theme (while not a program in the usual sense, the adoption of a church-wide theme is one way of encouraging reflection, study, and growth in the Christian faith)

The master plan anticipates the growth and development of the ministries of this church. In other words, refurbishing the building is not the ministry plan. The plan is ministry, which sooner or later must include some serious attention to our facility.

The facilities Master Plan is an architectural term that refers to the first of five stages of architectural work to translate the programmatic vision into realistic improvements to support that vision. The building improvements and space expansions are all intended to facilitate the accomplishment of the program and ministry initiatives that the congregation has identified for the future.

-- Deeper and Wider Steering Committee