For the past several years, the Board of Trustees has had a goal to look at ways to achieve the growth necessary for a sustainable congregation. To assist in the work the board created a Growth Task Force last fall, and we are the volunteers who agreed to be on it.
It’s no secret that U.S. membership in churches, including ours, has been trending downward for years, and Covid has exacerbated that trend. However, there are some breakthrough congregations that have discovered ways to thrive and grow, despite the overall trend. Our work focuses on collecting best practices from as many churches as possible, and considering their applicability to our church. In addition, we will be inviting members of special subgroups of our community to share their ideas on how to attract and retain more members.
We aim to complete this project this spring, at which time we will submit our report to the Board and, pending their review, to the church membership. We further hope that this work will be a useful resource for our new settled minister.
The members of our team are Bill Austin, Tom Doe, Don Durenberger, Mike Radow, Jenny Selby, Marcia Sill, Leroy Smith, Amanda Strombom, LeAnne Struble, Dianne Upton and Laurie Wick. Please talk with any of us or email your ideas!
by Bill Austin