As we break bread together in the coming year, let’s also think and plan and do.
I am inspired by exploring the intersections between ideas and opportunities and actions. I want to encourage all of you and be encouraged by you to creatively respond to our time in the history of our congregation.
What helps you generate ideas? Here are two suggestions from the Forbes Agency Council of successful PR, media strategy, creative and advertising executives, and Indeed.com career services.
Ask Questions And Don’t Rush Your Solutions
As we age and establish routines, we rarely stop to ask if those are still the right things to be doing. Start by asking questions about why a meeting is needed or if a process is still relevant. Challenge the team to clarify the business problem or opportunity you are trying to address. Then push the team to identify all the questions that need to be asked in order to find the best solution. – Lisa Gearhart, St. John & Partners (SJ&P) https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/04/10/10-brainstorming-strategies-that-work/?sh=312e77875da7)
Think aloud
Saying your thoughts aloud makes the brainstorming process feel natural and conversational. Thinking aloud can help you feel more comfortable sharing your thoughts before they become fully developed ideas. Talking out your thoughts with colleagues as you have them can inspire productive conversation and naturally enable others to build on your ideas. Even if you’re brainstorming independently, verbalizing your thoughts can make it easier to recognize good ideas and talk through any challenges. (https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-brainstorm)
We are created in God’s image to be creative; to respond and interact with God’s world and God’s people to find the best possible ways of living.
In Matthew 13 Jesus tells a bunch of parables: the Sower, Wheat & Weeds, a Mustard Seed, Yeast, a Hidden Treasure, a Pearl of Great Price, and a Net & Fish. Then he puts the disciples on the spot about what they have heard.
“Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked. “Yes,” they replied.
He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.” (Matthew 13:51-52)
It’s not easy to manage old things and new things. And yet with God’s creative energy it can be inspiring.
As the source of novelty, God constantly calls us to new possibilities, personally and institutionally… What will you have to give up to embrace God’s novel possibilities? What traditions will you need to affirm to be faithful to God in your place in time? In what ways will you join ancient gifts and future lures in this holy moment? (Epperly, Praying with Process Theology, 61).
Here are several things I am considering bringing out of my storeroom for 2023. What are yours?
- Offer “Senior Technology Management” services: 45-minute consultations on how to operate your phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer; less confident on helping with a thermostat, TV remote, etc.
-
Launch our new Greenville FUMC phone application. Linda Custer is the champion for this effort.
-
Celebrate Grandchildren/Grandparent Month (of our choosing) with pictures, videos, visits, and activities after worship.
-
Take pictures of the stained glass windows throughout the Church and use them to tell the stories of our congregation.
-
Struggle with a social worker’s observation that in her years of service only one household named the Church as a positive influence.
-
Challenge ourselves as a congregation to do one common good thing at the end of each worship service in the coming week.
-
Offer a spiritual gifts inventory and make immediate connections with the ministries of the Church.
-
With a horizon of 5-6 years for paying off the mortgage, what will our ministry look like then? What will be possible? Let’s begin now to talk and think and plan for that time. I believe God will show us some amazing opportunities as we enter that time of discernment.
Maybe 2023 can be a time to clean out our storerooms and discern what God has in store for us to do.