What’s
Your Vision for FCCO?
By God’s grace, FCCO has been a church on the move. In 1989
we added a second service in the traditional church building, and average
Sunday worship attendance increased from 84 to 119. In 1996, when the
But where are we heading from here? What is our primary Purpose? And are we doing all the right things to move towards that purpose? Certainly God has led us and brought us to this point, and we trust He will continue to direct our path and enable this ministry. But, it is also clear that as we grow, planning, organization and unified effort become increasingly more important to maintain direction and effectiveness in ministry.
So our Leadership Council, Management Team and lay ministry leaders met during 4 days in April to do strategic planning with the assistance of our consultant Bob Gilliam. A working group of about 14 met during the days, and were joined by a larger group of up to 70 people during the evenings and all day Saturday, to jointly develop a draft 5-year Master Plan for FCCO.
The first step in developing the Master Plan was to agree on a “biblical purpose” for FCCO. At the end of Day 1, a group consensus was reached that “The purpose of FCCO is to make disciples of Jesus Christ”. This is really the “Great Commission” that Jesus left with The Church before He ascended to heaven (Mt. 28:18-20). It includes the two major steps of (1) bringing people to Jesus (“baptizing them”) and (2) bringing them to maturity (“teaching them to obey everything I have commanded”). And it includes Missions (“of all nations”). This Purpose could have been expanded to include many other details such as glorifying God, worshiping Him, loving Him, loving one another, preaching the gospel, etc. But after much discussion it became clear that all these other purposes will be accomplished if we make disciples, because biblical “disciples” will do these things and God will be glorified.
Having settled on the biblical purpose statement, Days 2, 3 and 4 were devoted to defining a five-year vision for the church and specific strategic goals for each major ministry area (adult ministries, children’s ministry, youth ministry, global outreach, worship and creative arts, technical arts, staffing and facilities).
The resulting Master Plan is a draft document that will be further refined after review and input from the full congregation. It will undoubtedly continue to change as we move along and are guided by the Holy Spirit. But in the meantime it is intended to help us as a Body to be more effective in ministry with a unifying purpose and specific strategic goals with which to measure progress.
It is our hope that you will take the time to read the Draft
Master Plan and attend as many meetings that pertain to your interest so that
we may receive your input. The Master Plan can be accessed on the church
website at www.firstossipee.org and copies are also available in the
The following four meetings have been scheduled to run concurrently with the second church worship service. A brief overview of the overall vision and goals for the church will be presented at each meeting, but the primary focus will be on the topics listed below. Appropriate staff and Leadership Council members will be present at each meeting to guide discussion, answer questions and receive congregational input.
After consideration of comments received at these meetings,
the Management Team and the Leadership Council will put the Master Plan into a
final form for presentation to the congregation on Wednesday June 29th
at
Now, would you like to get a “taste” of the vision? Transport yourself into the future. The year 2010 is coming to a close, and a look backwards at the last 5 years might look like this: