In a church context, strategic planning is best done through having lots of deep conversations among the congregation. Conversations give members a safe and structured place to explore what is important for the congregation, such as who we are, what our vision is for the future, and what we are called to do right now in these challenging times. Strategic planning may therefore be seen as a continuous discernment process of guiding, listening and sharing with you what we have learned.
Over the past few months, the Strategic Planning Task Force has been exploring different ways of developing a Strategic Plan. We’ve learned that in the context of congregational life, any plan or process that hopes to reflect our community’s dreams and aspirations for the near future, must be participatory, inclusive, and multi-vocal. To that end, we’ve offered several Listening Circles, and we plan to continue this practice every month, both in person and via zoom.
The Listening Circles will also help to inform us as we begin the process of developing our vision of where we want to be in 5-10 years as a congregation.
Our next Listening Circles will be on Wednesday January 7th and Sunday January 11th and the topic will be “Looking at the wider world around us, what opportunities could East Shore take advantage of, and what threats to our future might we face?” We hope you will join us!
We Practice Love, Explore Spirituality, Build Community, and Promote Justice
While our Mission is clearly articulated and continues to be relevant and inspiring, our vision statement (which was adopted more than eight years ago) is in need of revision. You can find East Shore’s current Mission and Vision at esuc.org
According to the UUA Congregational Handbook: “A vision is a carefully defined picture of the congregation’s future. It is not the current reality of the congregation, but it is a dream of what the congregation wants to make of itself. The vision answers the following question: What do we want the congregation to look like in five or ten years as a result of its efforts in ministry, programming, and outreach in service of our highest aspirational values?
The vision needs to be empowering and energizing. A shared vision, created among and by the people who are in the congregation, enables them to move from the status quo toward a new reality. A shared vision can create new ways of thinking and acting, and it should be broad enough to provide growing room for the congregation. A shared vision needs to be renewed continually as a congregation grows and accepts new challenges. Although it may be tempting to limit the vision to what we conceive as possible or to what we know the congregation is currently doing, the vision must be bigger than this if it is to be inspiring and empowering. A vision requires of us to take a long-term view of ourselves as a congregation. It also must be specific and concrete so that it can be known and worked toward.”
We believe that a clearly articulated vision statement will guide and illuminate our congregation’s future. We encourage you to join us in the coming months as we engage in a series of church-wide conversations to create a Vision statement that paints a picture of where we, as a congregation, would like East Shore to be in 5-10 years. SAVE THE DATE! The first of these conversations will happen on Saturday, February 28!
by Amanda Strombom, chair & Rev. María Cristina