The group met several times in July and August. The first item of business was to revisit the process as approved last summer and determine where we are in that process, what remains, and what to do. The group recognized that it elected to slow the process down significantly last Fall, believing that the proposed timeline was overwhelming at that time, particularly given that we had just begun our hosting of Family Promise. Slowing the process, we accomplished some but not all of the early action steps that would provide the seeds for our discernment process. This resulted in our not meeting timeline benchmarks of coming up with the “output” in the spring of 2012 because we did not have all of the necessary “input” up to that point. So in May the group identified several short term goals that fit with our overall vision and would be necessary for us to move forward.

1. How can we strengthen our ability to care for one another within the congregation. The Member Care ministry convened: TF, CK, KR & SS to discuss:
   
   1. how we follow up with people in the church who miss several weeks
      
   2. how we support people during times of crisis, i.e. hospitalization, illness, injury, significant loss or other crisis (relationship, employment, etc)
      
2. How can we strengthen our prayer ministry? DS and FB have accepted the responsibility for facilitating this conversation.
   
   1. Their first effort is to build an Emergency Prayer Chain so that people can call, text or email during the week and know that a group of folks will stop and pray for them then and that they will be lifted in prayer during the week.
      

Now that these projects, are underway, the DDP is returning its focus to the process. In particular, we recognize the fourfold exploration illustrated in the diagram above and based in Numbers 1-3 “Taking the Census” – getting to know one another and understanding our needs and resources; and Numbers 13 “Scouting out the Land” – getting to know our neighbors and understanding their needs and resources.

While we have done most of what was involved in Taking the Census, we still have much work to do in Scouting out the Land. The group recommitted itself to the process as originally agreed upon by the board. What remains:

1. In Taking the Census, we still need to compile a comprehensive list of needs and resources so that they can be assessed and matched.
   
2. In Scouting the Land, we have
   
   1. gathered significant demographic data on our community
      
   2. developed an initial set of discussion points for conversation with our neighbors
      
3. We still need to
   
4. Decide how and where we will have conversation with our neighbors, individually, in pairs or small groups, and as a larger congregation. We agree that this is not primarily about telling others about our church, but rather our goal is to get to know them, and communicate that we desire to serve our community. In particular, we might say,
   

   “We at Forest Grove Christian Church are aware that there is more we could be doing to serve our community. We recognize that people have unfulfilled hopes, desires, dreams and needs. We believe that God is calling us to respond to these things and help our neighbors live richer, fuller lives. We would love to hear from you what needs you see in your friends and neighbors, or even in your own family, and if you have any thoughts on how a church might respond to those needs.”
   

We believe that God does have a dream for us as a congregation. Part of that dream, we think, is to live out our commitment to join with other Christians by exploring how we can support the work of the kingdom in our community and beyond, including praying for and encouraging other ministries, because we are not in competition, but are all working together.

We would love to see FGCC host an open house, homecoming, revival, festival or other event this fall.

 

IN

Needs     & Resources

Member Care

Prayer

Worship

Teaching

Fellowship

Outreach

Disciple Making

Spiritual Formation

 

OUT

Needs & Resources

• Demographics
  
• Circles of Influence
  
• Circles of Affiliation
  
• “Fishing Ponds”
  
• “We are here to learn from you. Please tell us what you see, hear, wonder, hope.”
  
• Open house – community calendars – 10/18-21; 11/1-4; 11/8-11
  
• 9/18 – AFCC – @ TML