You may remember that back in the Spring of this year, we held several listening circles to find out what you, the church members, were hoping could be achieved by the church in the next year.
Six listening circles were held, focusing on:
- Worship and Spiritual Development
- Congregational Life and Community Building
- Learning and Religious Exploration
- Outreach and Social Justice
- Stewardship and Resources
- Governance and Leadership
The result was a long wish list of many ideas about how to improve all aspects of our community. We appreciate each and every one of them, although obviously it is not possible to focus on such a long list. Some ideas came up in more than one circle, or were suggested by several members, so these rose to the top of the list. We also took into account the goals that our staff leaders had already articulated as priorities that they saw we needed.
After several more meetings within the Strategic Planning Task Force, that had been tasked with coming up with goals for the upcoming year, and with the Board of Trustees and staff leadership, we narrowed the list down to eight key goals which we felt stretched us as a church and yet were achievable within the next year. These goals fit into three overall themes:
Better support and integrate young families into the church
- Plan, design, and build a playground that is accessible to children of all ages and abilities, by the Spring of 2026.
- Continue to make coffee hour more welcoming to families and visitors by expanding out onto the patio, having more food every Sunday, more volunteers to help, and improving the noise abatement.
Deepen our members’ involvement in the life of the church
- Set up and nurture a process for the on-going creation of new sustainable small ministry groups for purposes of support, social connection, and spiritual growth. Small ministry groups include covenant circles, social groups, and specific need groups such as grief groups, by June 2026.
- Intentionally invite the Social Justice (SJ) ministry teams and other teams and committees to organize activities that engage families and Religious Education (volunteers & students) as well as other members of the congregation., by June 2026.
- Promote a culture of volunteerism at East Shore by creating easy ways to volunteer and publicizing volunteer opportunities by June 2026.
- Research and explore the concept of a weekday Evensong service with a view toward implementing a test run of a 6-session Evensong contemplative service by the end of June 2026.
Promote East Shore to the wider community
- Develop a plan for marketing East Shore as a venue for weddings, especially for the LGBTQ+ community, by Nov 2025, with implementation early in 2026.
- Plan for additional tabling opportunities for outreach into the Eastside community for the summer of 2026, and get people excited about participation.
The three broad Church Goals encompass many more specific goals than just the eight goals listed above. We embrace the many goals, efforts, and initiatives beyond the eight goals listed, which is why we wanted to articulate the three broad Church goals which seem to be driving many members’ suggestions. The shorter list of eight were selected because they represent specific, measurable data points we can use to hold ourselves accountable and assess the extent of our success by June 2026. These goals have just been approved by the Board of Trustees on August 28th.
Most of the chosen specific goals are already underway, so you will certainly be hearing more about them all in the coming months. All initiatives take time and effort, so if one of these goals, or something else that fits within the 3 broad church goals above, feels exciting for you, please volunteer to help make it happen. If you’re not sure who to contact, you can always reach out to me or Nicole Duff to help direct you to the best person to talk to.
by Amanda Strombom, Strategic Planning Task Force Chair