Transition Report

The following report was shared at the Annual Meeting.

We’d like to say a big thank you to all who participated in the listening circles or provided their responses via email. We held 11 listening circles and received 9 email responses. This is a total of 44 responses that we reviewed and summarized into common themes. This participation represents over 50% of our congregation members. Fantastic job!

Last week, we met via Zoom with Pastor Dominic for an hour and a half to review these common themes using a SWOT analysis. The categories are strengths, concerns, opportunities, and tensions. The Transition Team will be writing a transition report. This is an internal document for New Journey. This document helps build confidence that a thorough process was conducted by summarizing the work of the Transition Team. It will also outline priorities for the next season of ministry. Finally, it prepares the Transition Team and Church Council to write the MSP, or Ministry Site Profile.

The Transition Team will meet with the new Council sometime in February to review this SWOT analysis. The Council will confirm this report and move forward with creating the MSP (Ministry Site Profile). This MSP will be submitted to the ELCA website for viewing by potential candidates who may apply to be our next pastor. The next step will be the formation of a Call Committee. Pastor Dominic will then visit us again to meet with the Call Committee members and hold an orientation. He will also meet with the Council to finalize an action plan and present the findings of the listening circles to the congregation.

This is quite a journey that began back in November of last year. It will continue for another few months. Please continue to pray for all of us, as God is surely with us every step and answer along the way. We are church together.