Vision Task Force

“Vision is a compelling picture of what the community of faith would look like if it was truly effective in living out its beliefs and values through its mission”

~ Michael Foss in Power Surge

Zion has been through a lot of change in the past few years. While many important ministries have continued, much energy has been focused internally on staffing and committee work.  It’s time to take a step back, and think about who and what God is calling us to be—individually, and as a community of faith—in the years to come.

Zion’s Vision Task Force began meeting in the spring of 2010.

In the fall of 2010, small group meetings were conducted with congregation members to begin collecting input.

At the December 2010 Annual Congregational Meeting the Task Force was charged with creating the process for the congregation to develop the vision, with the eventual goal of identifying several big initiatives to guide the congregation’s work for the next several years.

Church Assessment results indicated Zion’s top priorities fell into 6 categories that were then discussed by staff, leaders, and the Vision Team at Zion:

1. Healing and Caring
2. Outreach and Hospitality
3. Education
4. Equipping the Saints
5. Worship & Music
6. Developing Meaningful Relationships

Small Groups met to refine and provide input on the qualities and characteristics of each of the 6 categories, specifically answering the question: Is this ministry what you think God is Calling Zion to do?

Using the input from the staff, leaders, and the Vision Team, Qualities and Characteristics of each category were identified.

Pastor Ted and Pastor Luke turned to scripture and prayed about the summary of information.

The staff began defining and developing concepts and interpreting the information gathered.

The Vision Team processed again, forming 3 encompassing vision initiatives, a vision statement and a strategic plan for implementation of the initiatives.

At the December 2011 Annual Congregational Meeting, Zion adopted the Vision, Initiatives, and their accompanying Strategic Plans recommended by the Vision Task Force and endorsed creation of an ongoing Visioning Team to lead the congregation’s ongoing visioning and strategic planning, implementation of the initiatives, and future re-visioning.

Updates

• Living God’s Call Vision At the core of what it means to believe, is to be a disciple of Christ Jesus. Jesus named his followers disciples. The last thing he did on earth was to commission his disciples to go to the ends of the earth to make disciples. But what is a disciple? How do we as a ...
• Connecting with Care Vision In Acts Chapter 2 we see a model for sharing life together as Christians. The results of the various input received by the Vision Task Force show that developing meaningful relationships is very valued and desired at Zion. The goal of the Connecting with Care Initiative is to create a culture of community life in which ...
• Celebrating on Sundays Vision The goal of the Celebrating on Sundays Initiative is to develop a comprehensive process for attracting and assimilating people into community life at church. In order for people to feel they belong, they need to find a friend and a place to participate. The process will intentionally lead people through this meaningful experience and help ...
• Vision Task Force Motion At the Annual meeting on Sunday, December 4, the Vision Task Force will briefly review the visioning work the congregation has been engaged in over the past year. The meeting packet mailed to voting members includes the Vision Document which outlines: Zion’s Mission & Vision A brief history of the visioning process The 3 initiatives and their accompanying strategic ...
• Please Return Stewardship Cards Throughout September and October, we have focused on the theme of Stepping Into God’s Tomorrow. We have identified three big initiatives for the next stage of Zion’s life: Celebrating on Sundays – our Sunday morning experience Living God’s Call – our discipleship process Connecting With Care – community life We have also highlighted some of the great things God ...
• Grow One Percent It must have been about 1996 or so. We were in our mid-20s, living in our first house, Kirk worked at the local elevator and I was a stay-at-home mom with a toddler. We were somewhat active participants at Zion. We were fairly regular worshippers, Kirk sometimes volunteered as an usher, and I was starting to get ...

• More Stepping Into God’s Tomorrow