Toolbox For Faith

When I mentioned the possibility of a third service to folks at St. Michael, most were cautiously supportive and genuinely curious about why I thought a third service might be helpful. When I explained that I thought there was an opportunity to reach a group of people in our community who aren’t able to attend worship on Sunday morning, most people agreed that, in theory, the idea made sense. At this point, I don’t know if the service will be on Sunday night, Tuesday night, Thursday night or some other evening. I don’t know if the service will be in the Sanctuary or at a second site. I don’t even know what the style or format of the service will be. I simply believe there is an opportunity that is worth pursuing. Now the question becomes, how do we move from a possibility to a new worshiping community.

Initially at least, I am planning to use an approach presented by Dr. Callahan at the Developing Key Leaders event held in Roanoke in September 2010. Dr. Callahan suggested that one approach is to find five people who would have fun beginning a new service. Gather those people in January and think about who, in the groups they are already a part of, might have fun begin a part of a new service. Between January and March, he suggests inviting the initial five to each find three more people who would be interested in being a part of a new service. In March, he suggests gathering those people for a one-time fun event. During the March event, work with the group to develop excellent ideas for the new service. He suggests repeating the process in May and July by encouraging each of the people from the March event to invite three more people to join the conversation. In August, reach out to the community through personal contacts, phone calls, notes, emails, text messages, etc and then launch the new service in September. I like the approach because it draws on the wisdom of the community and invites broad-based support. I’m sure we’ll modify it as we go, but initially this seems like a helpful way to get started.