Resources from the Congregational Strategy Team

• Partnership for Missional Church
• Congregational Coaching
• Immigrant Dialogue
• Guidelines for Missional Faith Community
• Welcoming Immigrant Communities Guidelines

 

Congregational Strategy Team

As one of the new teams defined by the Missional Plan we have been involved in a number of activities focused on congregations.  First, the team has been divided since its inception into two parts which we have called;

• Coaching and Discerning, and
• Immigrant Ministries

In terms of Coaching and Discerning, one of the first things we were charged
with was the Partnership for Missional Church.  We assisted the staff in meeting with candidate congregations and have also had current and former members of the team as participants in PMC.  We believe that its structure and cooperative approach are very useful in strengthening the participant churches.

Another focus of Coaching and Discerning has been to develop congregational
coaches who can assist congregations to examine their overall strategy and focus with the assistance of trained, friendly contributors who will guide them in the evaluation of their current program, problem or direction.

We have and are working with COM with a number of congregations to assist them. Our members are teamed with a comparable representation from COM and close liaison with staff.

The congregational Strategy Team also developed the ‘Guidelines for Missional Faith Community’ to encourage emerging and creative forms of worshipping faith communities.

Another initiative the Coaching and Discerning group has recently undertaken is to provide support to ‘Opportunity Churches’.  This is an embryonic undertaking but one we feel has great possibilities for those congregations with energy but who may need some outside support and encouragement to maximize their ministry to their neighborhood.

Should a congregation decide to close its doors, Congregational Strategy Team representatives bring their request to presbytery and provide guidance as needed.

In terms of Immigrant Ministries, this part of the team has also been involved
in several activities and initiatives, with most intended to strengthen and assist in the ministries of the Philadelphia Presbytery region’s growing immigrant populations, in particular, those who have traditionally worshipped in their origin countries through the Presbyterian denomination.

Within the Presbytery of Philadelphia there are many Presbyterian rooted worshipping immigrant bodies, and for about 18 of these, English is not their first language.  While many of these congregations desire affiliation with the PCUSA denomination, few have the capacity, structure and means to become chartered churches. Despite their lack of resources, we are still called to respond to, and to seek appropriate means for supporting their desire to affiliate with our presbytery at this time and in this place.

One of the earliest initiatives the Congregational Strategy Team pursued in these efforts was to develop ‘Guidelines for Welcoming Immigrant Faith Communities’.  This document seeks to “guide the Presbytery as we work in partnership and unity with immigrant and international groups seeking affiliations with the Presbytery of Philadelphia.”  As such,
the team continues working to:

•  Develop
  intentional strategies for supporting communities of faith in different
  cultural contexts.
• listen
  to the needs of the people and their circumstances
• support
  designs for ministry that will be an effective response to those needs
• identify
  and overcome the barriers within our Presbytery to ministry in different
  cultures

As part of these efforts, the team works alongside many of these congregations on an ongoing  basis to assist them in navigating many of the challenges they face in pursuing local ministry within a culture that is not only foreign to many, but which is also
sometimes reluctant or even hostile toward their efforts.

The team has also been involved in sponsoring and/or participating in several regional “Immigrant Ministry Dialogue” meetings, which not only work toward assisting immigrant faith communities, but also toward educating and involving traditional local PCUSA congregations to further assist in helping our immigrant brothers and sisters grow their ministries here in the Philadelphia Region where they have been planted.