This Sunday, September 8th, Jordan Bowman returns to tell the story of our stories! Last spring West Raleigh commissioned Jordan, his colleague Chris West, and eight Story Collectors to listen to members and friends tell the stories of what brought them to West Raleigh and why they stayed; the stories that best reflect the heart and spirit of West Raleigh. Jordan introduced the project last June during an all-church faith formation gathering. Later that month, Jordan and Chris trained the Story Collectors to ask good questions and listen deeply to your responses. In July (and even through early August), they spent hours with you at church, in homes and coffee shops, listening to the stories that make us who we are. Jordan then spent more hours listening to and reading your stories to discern the emerging values they reflect. This Sunday Jordan returns to share the values that he heard embedded in our stories.
Throughout September – in leadership & committee meetings as well as in worship – we will be reflecting on these values, discerning how they influence current decisions, strategies and policies and where they can help us focus more. In October, committees will be using these values as we engage a process called, Zero Based Budgeting. Instead of tweaking last year’s budget line items and making incremental changes, Finance & Stewardship is asking all committees to build a budget request that reflects the current values, vision and needs of the ministry. In November, the Stewardship team will pull all of this work together in Commitment Season, highlighting how our budget reflects the values embedded in our community.
This work also connects to an even bigger picture. Last January, the session commissioned Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal to explore how congregations are rethinking how they use underutilized buildings and best practices for capital campaigns. In April the Gyllenhaals shared their report, Shaping West Raleigh’s vision for the future; Exploring how WRPC and its building can best serve our community with the session and diaconate. Church leaders embraced this report with curiosity and hope, even as they acknowledged the grief in the changing church. They committed to a process that began with 40 Days of Prayer and Story Collecting, and Zero Based Budgeting as an exercise in how to evaluate the congregation’s resources to ensure alignment with our values. They also commissioned a thorough assessment of the building. Beverly and Anders will be presenting their report to the congregation next Sunday, September 15th at 9:45am as the first in a series of speakers that will help us keep connecting the dots, gathering information and engaging the whole congregation in an ongoing conversation about West Raleigh’s vision for the future.
May the Spirit lead the Way,
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