Good Shepherd Family and Friends,
Amidst all this year's challenges, we’ve had an exciting year at Good Shepherd! It’s vital that we update you about all the important work and progress we’ve had with Next Level Innovations. This is a long letter, and we hope that you will read it to the end.
NLI is an investment in churches with recognized potential for reaching more people in their community and inviting them to become disciples of Jesus. These churches have healthy and coachable leadership (clergy and lay). NLI is based on similar programs in other UMC conferences, such as the Missional Church Consultative Initiative (MCCI) out of the West Ohio Conference and the Healthy Church Initiative (HCI) from the Missouri Conference. Like the programs mentioned above, NLI has multiple components, including a foundation of prayer, monthly clergy training, two to three laity training events, an intensive weekend of church study, a detailed report and recommendation for innovations specially developed for the church, and follow up coaching for a year or more.
Last November, we received our Innovations and have accomplished much since then!
Innovation 1 - A Vision for A New Day
This initiative is about vision, mission, and staff alignment.
We refined our vision - We offer you a space to experience Christ through gathered worship (gather), to explore faith (grow), and to encourage the world by serving (go) so that your life is transformed by grace.
Alignment of staff - We are reviewing all staff position descriptions to align them with our vision and mission. Rev. Lisa and Rev. Renee have new roles, described below. We are also conducting an audit of our Children and Youth Ministries to ensure that we are offering programming that meets the needs of today’s children, youth, and their families.
Lisa will serve as an Executive Pastor. She is responsible for the church's operations to help build the vision and mission of the church. She is developing and supporting the God’s Space Teams - more about this work is later in this letter. This position also implements processes for church operations and manages the church’s resources. For example, she is the liaison with the staff and Finance Office to ensure that we are good stewards of the gifts given to the church. She will continue to have responsibility for communications and guest relations. And will serve in worship and on the congregational care team. In January, Renee will be responsible for planning Adult Discipleship opportunities. Don’t worry; Lisa will continue to teach!
Renee moves into a Discipleship Pastor role. She is responsible for planning and coordinating Children and Family discipleship ministries, Adult Discipleship ministries, and Mission and Outreach. Renee is the Discipleship team lead and works closely with the Discipleship staff and laity to develop and implement a Discipleship Pathway from infant through adulthood for the congregation and community. She continues supporting Mission and Outreach Ministry to discern the community's needs and ways to support those needs through ministry engagement.
Additional goals for this Initiative include developing a 3-5 year sustainability plan for Indian Church RVA and bringing the budget process in alignment with the vision and ministry goals, including collaborative partnerships with multiple UMC congregations. One exciting new partnership is with Shady Grove UMC - Short Pump. Indian Church RVA will begin worshiping there starting October 9. We are excited that they will have a chapel to worship in.
Innovation 2 - Next Level Missions
The Next Level Missions Task Force is discerning how current outreach and mission ministries can be leveraged to go deeper by sharing the grace of God more broadly, including strengthening the relationship with R. C. Longan Elementary School. In addition, the Task Force is considering innovative partnerships with community groups whose mission aligns with Good Shepherd’s vision. The goal is to form new disciples, which is the critical work of all our innovations.
The Next Level Mission Task Force has reviewed our current outreach and mission ministries and is now looking at gaps - those places and people we are not reaching.
Additionally, the relationship with Longan Elementary School has deepened. Each month, the teachers and staff at Longan will receive a small gift of appreciation or a breakfast/lunch from Good Shepherd. We are supporting several PTA events this fall. For their Pumpkins, Pizza, and Trunk or Treat event, we are providing small pumpkins from our Pumpkin Patch and sponsoring a “trunk.” We are also providing free popcorn for their Fall Festival in November. Longan has a new Family Advocate, and we are working with her to help support some of the families at Longan. Several small groups will provide a Thanksgiving Meal basket for five families. We will also purchase coats for children to be distributed in November. We are forming a true partnership with Longan!
Innovation 3 - Expectation of Multiplication
In the early Methodist movement, growth was experienced through multiplication. Disciples in such a spiritual movement expect multiplying disciples, small groups, and other ministries. Good Shepherd will establish an expectation in all areas of ministry to multiply by cultivating a culture of inviting.
One way we have seen an increase in this goal is through 264 people from Chamberlayne Heights transferring their membership to Good Shepherd. We’ve also had twenty new members, which is good news to celebrate!
The development of a Discipleship Pathway will guide this work of discipleship multiplication. We expect to deepen this work in 2023.
Innovation 4 - Using God’s Space
Good Shepherd is blessed with a great campus. With the addition of Chamberlayne Heights UMC, located at 6100 Chamberlayne Road, we are situated to reach more people to build the kingdom of God.
The God’s Space Task Force has completed a facilities assessment at Good Shepherd. Have you seen the renovated restrooms in the Education Halls? Did you notice the newly painted wall in Wistar Hall? We’ve also painted outside doors, power washed windows and the entrance, installed a new water heater in the kitchen, and upgraded electrical capabilities. There are more updates to come! We have also completed an assessment of the Chamberlayne Heights campus facilities.
Our subsequent work is to engage in a space analysis for both campuses. Do we have enough space for our ministries? Do we reconfigure the spaces we have? We have also looked at new partnerships and shared spaces for ministry.
We are conducting a Community Assessment with community leaders in Glen Allen and Chamberlayne about the community's needs. Our primary question is how can we, the church, be more involved in meeting community needs? We’d love for you to participate in the survey. Click here for the Glen Allen area survey and here for the Chamberlayne Area survey. This work will also help us discern the next steps for the Chamberlayne Heights campus.
Let us know if any opportunities mentioned with the Initiatives interest you. Thank you for your continued support and commitment to our shared ministry at Good Shepherd UMC.
In hope and peace,
