2011 - A Vision of Faith

To the People of Faith,  

            In the fall of 2006, Faith Lutheran's Church Council commissioned the Congregational Learning Team to perform three important tasks on behalf of the congregation.  The Congregational Learning Team's (hereby referred to as the CLT) initial task was to learn about size transitions in congregations. As congregations increase or decrease in size, churches must adopt practices and techniques to enable their ministry to continue to flourish. Once the CLT mastered these size transitions, their second task was to begin sharing their insight with the Church Council and other leaders of the congregation.  The hope is that as members of Faith begin to understand the challenges we face as a congregation, the more likely these challenges will become opportunities for our ministry to grow.  Finally, the CLT was expected to gather the considerable research they would be doing over the course of the year and condense it into a single document that would guide the ministry of Faith Lutheran Church over the next five years.  The document you are reading, 2011-A Vision of Faith, is the culmination of the CLT's work. 

As leaders of this congregation, we recognize that the goals and expectations found in this document vary greatly.  Some are easily attainable while others are quite challenging.  After a year of considerable study, conversation, and prayer, we believe 2011-A Vision of Faith is a faithful guide to where God is calling us to be.  It is our sincerest hope that the members of Faith will study and engage this document.   In doing so, it is our prayer that the People of Faith would catch of glimpse of the vision of the congregation we believe God is calling us to become.   

                                                                                                Sincerely,

                                                                                                The CLT

(Dan Fredrickson, Carl Freyholtz, Greg Holmseth, Marian Kleinwort, Val Langworthy, and Denise Nerenhausen; Advisor Pastor Justin Boeding; Council Liason Dennis Midthun)

Chapter 1: The History of Faith?Who We Have Been

            On a frigid January day in 1938, twenty women from Dodge Center gathered in the home of Hazel and Claus Bielenberg.  These devout women from Lutheran congregations in neighboring communities gathered in order to study the Bible together as well as the principles of the Lutheran Confessions.  Eventually, these women formed what became known the Lutheran Women's Society.  Little did these women know at the time but their small meeting would ultimately become the means by which God would create something even greater.  On that cold day in 1938, the Holy Spirit began creating what would eventually become Faith Lutheran Church. 

            After more than five years of monthly Bible studies, these same twenty women gathered for a momentous meeting in the home of Otis Otterness in July of 1943.  This time however, they were joined by their husbands and other interested friends who assembled to discuss becoming a mission congregation in Dodge Center.  After an enthusiast vote by its founding members, Faith Lutheran Church was born.  Almost immediately, the Seventh Day Baptist Church graciously agreed to allow the new Lutherans in town to use their facility for worship on Sunday evenings.  Pastor T.E. Moen of St. John's Lutheran in Kasson preached and presided at these worship services until 1945 when Robert Fitzgerald accepted a part-time call to Faith Lutheran Church.  In subsequent years, Faith's current building site was purchased and on March 20^th, 1949 the current sanctuary was dedicated.  Shortly after this achievement, Faith had reached a point where it was no longer considered a mission church by the Synod.  As funding from the larger church ceased, Faith formed a partnership with nearby Aurora Lutheran Church.  The two congregations began sharing a pastor until 1965 when their partnership was dissolved by mutual agreement and Faith called Pastor Paul Idstrom as its first full-time pastor. 

            The late 60's and early 70's was a very exciting chapter in the history of Faith Lutheran Church.  During this period in the congregation's history, Faith's ministry grew quickly.  Long-time members fondly recall the engaging and dynamic ministry of Pastor Idstrom.   The Bethel Bible series along with other adult studies grew in popularity under Pastor Paul?s guidance.  In addition, a group of talented young people were entrusted with leading worship once a month.  This service offered a unique and exciting style of music for the congregation to enjoy.  Finally, worship attendance rose sharply during this time period.  During the early 1970's, Faith worshipped approximately 170 people per week. 

Congregational histories nearly always include chapters of joy as well as chapters of transition.  After Paul Idstrom's departure, disputes over new pastoral leadership and a number of other issues led to the most divisive period in Faith Lutheran's brief history. During the mid 70's, approximately one-third of Faith's members transferred to other Lutheran congregations. As worship attendance plummeted, financial giving also declined.  Faith began to experience a financial strain that has remained part of our congregation's identity for much of our history.      

Into this divided and tense situation, the congregation called Pastor Larry Nelson in the late 1970's to be its pastor.  It would be an understatement to say that Pastor Nelson was called into a challenging position. Hurt feelings were common and a general lack of trust existed between members.  Still, with the leadership of Pastor Nelson and the patient work of the Holy Spirit, the congregation eventually became stable once again.  Ultimately, a strong sense of community began to form and after years of faithful service, an exceedingly high level of trust was built among the People of Faith and the office of pastor.  

Another event important during this time period was the completion of Faith's most recent building project.  In 1989, a new fellowship hall, kitchen, bathrooms, and Sunday School rooms were added to the present building site.  These facilities continue to enable Faith's ministry today.  It should be noted that a significant portion of the costs for this project were provided by the Hazel Bielenberg estate while the congregation was able to support the remaining balance.   

During the 1990's and early years of the 21^st century, Faith became what congregational researchers would call a model pastoral congregation. Pastoral-sized congregations average between 50 and 150 people in worship a week.  Author Alice Mann describes pastoral-sized congregations in the following way:

A coalition of two or three family and friendship networks unified around the person and role of the pastor.  Clergy time is largely taken up maintaining a direct pastoral relationship with each member, coordinating the world of a small leadership circle, personally conducting worship, and leading small-group programs such as Bible study.  The governing board usually operates like a committee, arranging much of the day-to-day life of the congregation.  Members recognize each other's faces, know most people's names, and will notice if someone new is present at worship.[1]

            Faith demonstrated all of these aspects during this period of time.  For example, congregation members remember fondly Pastor Nelson's willingness to be present during emergencies as well as available for pastoral support and counseling.  After Pastor Nelson's retirement in 2002, an interim pastor was called to lead Faith.  As often happens during this discernment period, the ministry of Faith regressed. The congregation that had been averaging between 100 and 110 people a week in worship for more than a decade saw their average weekly worship attendance fall to 72 people per week during this transitional year.  As one would expect, some of Faith's long lasting struggles with money emerged once again during this transitional time. 

The declining worship attendance and stressful money situation encouraged the People of Faith to begin considering how God might move them in new directions.  Perhaps this openness paved the way for the congregation to reconsider their desire not to call a newly ordained pastor to shepherd them because in the summer of 2003, the congregation voted to recent seminary graduate Justin Boeding to serve as Faith's fourth full-time pastor. Mere weeks before Pastor Justin's first Sunday, God also led Nadine Langworthy to accept a part-time position as the church musician which had been vacant for some time.  Bolstered by the improved music in worship and the natural excitement that comes with a new pastor, 2003 started yet another chapter in Faith Lutheran's history. 

We believe this initial excitement has gradually given way to something better.  As members of the CLT, we see a growing commitment in the congregation to reach out with the love of God to the people of this community and the world.  This commitment is can be grasped by looking at the rapid growth in our worship attendance over the last four years. (see chart below). 

Average Weekly Attendance[2]

            The congregation's response to our growth has been overwhelmingly positive.    The vast majority of members believe our growth is the result of the Holy Spirit doing something new in the community, the population boom of Dodge Center, and our congregation's commitment to reach out with God's love.  At the same time, as the congregation has grown rapidly, members have begun to notice a need for the way we do ministry to evolve in order to include more people in the ministry of Faith Lutheran. 

Chapter 2: From Pastoral to Program-What We Are Facing

As the congregation's worship attendance has grown, Faith has begun to experience a myriad of challenges.   As the CLT has discovered, these challenges are not unique to Faith.  Instead, they are natural growing pains that most congregations in our situation have experienced.  The following information is a brief but important summary of congregational size categories.  A general understanding of this information will enable our members to comprehend the suggestions we make later in this document. Moreover, they will help congregation members understand that the challenges we now face are not unique to Faith Lutheran Church. 

Congregational experts use weekly worship attendance as a way of categorizing congregations.  According to the experts, there are four major categories for all congregations. 

A.   The Family Size Church (averages 0-50 people in worship a week)

B.   The Pastoral Size Church (averages 51-150 people in worship a week)

C.   The Program Size Church (averages 151-400 people in worship a week)

D.   The Corporate Size Church (averages 401 or more people in worship a week)  

It is important to note that these categories are not judgments about a congregation's effectiveness or faithfulness.  Bigger churches are not necessarily more effective nor are they more faithful than small congregations.  These categories do remind us however that congregations need to function differently based on their size.  For example, a family sized church (50 people and under in worship) is likely to entrust its entire Sunday School program to two or three committed parents.  On a weekly basis these adults would be capable of offering the elementary youth in the congregation the educational experience they need.  A corporate size church with hundreds of elementary youth would obviously need to approach Sunday School in a completely different way. 

When a person keeps these congregational categories in mind, it will come as no surprise that studies have shown repeatedly that congregations struggle moving from one size to another.  Often, congregations will grow until they hit one of these transitions and then they will naturally decrease in size over a period of three to five years.  As members of the CLT, we now believe Faith Lutheran Church is experiencing some of the natural challenges other congregations like ours have experienced.  Rather than wait until our weekly attendance does plateau, we are trying to be proactive by casting a vision that will lead us into the future. 

As we look at our congregation, our three most notable areas of challenge are staffing, worship space, and congregational infrastructure.  We will address each of them at this point. 

Staffing: Pastor and Congregational Consultant Larry Johnson came to Faith Lutheran in the Spring of 2007 at the request of the CLT.  One piece of attention Pastor Johnson brought to our congregation is that a thriving congregation will have the equivalent of one program staff person for every one hundred people in worship (1 to 100 ratio).  In 2006, we averaged 210 people in worship per week while employing one program staff person.  Thus are staff to worship average ratio is an unacceptable 1 to 240 ratio. 

Worship Space:Worship space is effectively "filled up" when 80% of the desirable seats (30 to 36 inches per person) are full on any regular basis.  This is generally known in congregations as the 80% Rule.  Faith has twenty-three pews that can seat five people per pew comfortably.  Since the front row pews are considered undesirable, this means that our seating capacity is approximately 105 people per worship.  Indeed, our ushers have noticed that once ninety people or so have gathered in the sanctuary, subsequent visitors will likely go to the overflow seating area in the fellowship hall or in the balcony.  The 80% rule leads us to conclude that anytime our average attendance exceeds 80 people per service over the course of a month, we are "discouraging frequent attendance by current members and presenting a 'no vacancy' sign of newcomers."[3] For two years the average worship attendance at both Sunday Morning services has exceeded 80 people per service through the school year. 

Congregational Infrastructure:  Two examples illustrate our challenge in this area. 

Example #1: As the CLT, we assume Faith is committed to being a warm and welcoming congregation.  In a typical pastoral size church with two families joining the congregation over the course of the year, being warm and welcoming often means that the pastor develops a close relationship with these new members, the kids are invited into the Sunday School or Confirmation Program, and the adults are asked to serve fellowship once or twice a year.  Gradually through these experiences new people will naturally become assimilated into the life of the congregation.  In the last four years, Faith is averaging close to seventy new members a year!  It is unreasonable to expect all of these new members can become active participants through such an informal assimilation process. 

Example #2: In a pastoral size congregation, the church council functions as a committee of the whole.  In other words, when someone suggests that the shrubs need to be trimmed, a person from the council will often volunteer to take care of this task.  When a meal is needed for a congregational activity, people from the council decide who will bring what to dinner.  In a pastoral size congregation, this model of ministry can be very effective.  But when a congregation grows into a program size congregation, the role of the church council moves away from hands-on management towards a greater concern for overarching goals, policy, and oversight. 

Clearly, Faith Lutheran Church is no longer a pastoral size congregation.  We believe that it is imperative for our congregation to begin operating like a program size church.  One author describes a program size church in the following way. 

A program church is known for the quality and variety of its programs.  Separate programs for children, youth, couples, seniors, and other age and interest groups provide entry points for a wider range of people.  The pastor's crucial role is to recruit, equip, and inspire a small circle of key program leaders-lay and ordained, paid and unpaid.  This ring of leadership might include, for example, the choir director, the church school superintendent, the youth group leader, the coordinator of lay visitors, and the head of a committee that tracks new member incorporation.  Working as a team with the pastor, they reach out to involve others as program participants and as leaders.  Decision making is broadly distributed within the wider leadership circle (perhaps 50 people) and the pastoral care is shared by the laity.[4]

2011 A Vision of Faith

In 2011, the CLT believes we will be a congregation that?.

• Worships 350 to 400 people per week
• Offers two unique worship experiences
• Has 30 to 50 functioning adult small groups
• Employs four full-time (or the equivalent number of part-time) staff members 
• Employs the necessary amount of support staff to maintain its effectiveness
• Offers ground breaking faith development opportunities for youth and families
• Has become a visible leader in serving our local and global community  

Chapter 4 How the Vision Becomes a Reality

            As leaders of the congregation, we understand some of these goals appear rather grand.  Nevertheless, through prayer, study, and conversation we have become convinced that God is calling our congregation into a new chapter in our history.  We believe that the God who is calling us to step out in faith will also provide the guidance, energy, and resources to make God's Vision a reality.  The following chapter is a year by year guide outlining the steps we believe are necessary for Faith Lutheran to take in order for 2011: A Vision of Faith to become a reality.  This chapter does not intend to name every item the congregation will need to address in the next five years.  Instead, this chapter intends to highlight the significant areas for growth and a timeline for them to be addressed.  

2007

Worship-Add a Third Service on Sunday Mornings:  According to the 80% Rule, we are unlikely to continue to grow our worship attendance on Sunday mornings.  In fact, while we have continued to welcome new members into the congregation, most if not all of our growth this year has come from our Wednesday Night worship service.  Our Sunday Morning worship attendance has remained relatively flat.  Therefore, at the Annual Meeting in January of 2007, the People of Faith approved the decision to add another service on Sunday mornings.  In order to appeal to a wider variety of people, it is hoped that this service will feature contemporary praise songs led by guitars, drums, and an assortment of other musical instruments. 

Adult Faith Formation-Add Three Small Groups: A small group is any collection of people from the congregation who gather together on a regular basis for conversation, study, and/or service in hopes of growing in their relationship with Jesus Christ.  By this definition, Faith currently has ten existing small groups.  During the fall of 2007, it would be expected that this number would grow to thirteen small groups. 

Youth Ministry-Add an After School Program for 4^th and 5^th Graders: We hope our confirmation program will continue to evolve with a greater emphasis placed on mentoring and service projects while retaining our commitment to teach young people God's Word.  While our Sunday School program experienced another good year in 2006-2007, it seemed to lose its appeal to our upper elementary youth. Beginning this fall, sixth graders would be welcomed into the confirmation program along with their middle school cohorts.  Starting on September 19th and continuing for the next three Wednesday Nights, Faith Lutheran also plans to offer an after school program for 4th and 5th graders from the community.  If this pilot program goes as well as expected, the after school program would resume after a break in the local school schedule and become an integral part of the Faith's Youth Ministry.  Finally, we foresee Faith beginning to develop a long-overdue high school youth ministry program.   

Mission-An Intentional New Member Assimilation Program: Potential new members will be asked to attend three informative sessions along with a new member celebration.  During these sessions, participants will learn what it means to be a Christian, what is distinct about being in the Lutheran tradition, and what is expected of members of Faith.   New Members will also be partnered up with congregational sponsors who have similar interests, will attend these sessions with them, and will help the new member become involved in the ministry of Faith. 

Staffing-Call a Half-Time Pastor: At the Annual Meeting in January of 2007, the People of Faith unanimously approved the decision to call a half-time pastor and elected a call committee to work on our behalf.  It is expected that this new pastor would have three primary tasks.  First, he/she would oversee the youth ministry program.  Two, he/she would oversee the adult faith formation program, specifically the development of small groups.  And finally, the new pastor would share in general pastoral responsibilities with the lead/senior pastor. 

Congregational Infrastructure-Activate Two More Ministry Teams: In order for Faith's ministry to evolve, we need to incorporate more people into congregational service.  The simplest way to do this is by developing a stronger committee structure.  Currently we have five active committees or teams at Faith.  They are the Building and Grounds Committee, the Strategic Planning Team (Building), the Strategic Planning Team (Finance), the Congregational Learning Team, and the Staff Support Committee.  All five of these teams/committees meet on a regular basis.  Each one also has a liaison from the Church Council who reports the committee/teams work at the monthly council meeting.  While we have some committed individuals who lead activities in familiar areas of ministry such as Youth, Worship and Music, Fellowship, Outreach, and Stewardship; we do not have teams in these areas capable of addressing the substantial possibilities in each area of ministry.  We recommend that the congregation begin adding two active ministry teams ever year for the next three years. 

• Youth Council: A team of adults and young people commissioned to plan and coordinate the youth ministries activities at Faith. 
• Music and Worship Team: Eventually, this team would recruit congregational members to participate in seasonal worship planning sessions.  Initially however, they would be expected to help implement the new worship service on Sunday mornings. 

2008

Building: The CLT believes Faith will be prepared to break ground on our proposed building project during the spring of 2008.  Once it is complete, the larger sanctuary and increased educational space will give our congregation the opportunity to continue to grow and expand.  In addition, we believe the building project has the potential to unify the members of Faith together around a common cause. 

Worship-Seek to Involve More People in the Planning and Implementation of Worship:  In 2008, we expect to average approximately 270 people per week in worship. In addition to offering meaningful worship experiences, it will be important to involve more people as worship leaders.  A more effective system for enabling readers, greeters, ushers, communion assistants, cantors, musicians, and liturgical dancers will need to be developed and implemented. Once the sanctuary is complete, we also foresee returning to two Sunday morning worship services.    

Adult Faith Formation-Add an Adult Confirmation Course and Three More Small Groups:  As the congregation grows it is imperative we offer a class for people wanting an introduction to the Christian Faith.  More than likely, this would be a six week course introducing people to the Triune God, the sacraments, the importance of worship, the church, and the Christian Life. 

Youth Ministry-Introduce Milestone Ministries, Family Sunday School and Consider Adding 3rd Graders to the After School Program: Milestone Ministries is a cradle to graduation ministry that requires congregations teach parents and sponsors a new faith forming practice every year of a child's life.  Family Sunday School offers parents the opportunity to learn alongside their children.  Depending on how the after school program faired during the 2007-2008 school year, Faith should consider expanding the program to include 3rd Graders as well during the 2008-2009 school year. 

Staffing

• Add a Director of Worship at ¼ time (10 to 12 hours a week) beginning in January: The ideal program staff to worship attendance ratio is 1 to 100.  In 2006, that ratio at Faith was 1 to 210.  If everything unfolds as we anticipate at Faith, that ratio will have dropped to 1 to 120 by the end of 2007.  Still, in 2008 we will now be offering four weekly worship services.  In addition to playing for these services, we will likely be asking our church musician to recruit, train, and rehearse with musicians from the alternative services in addition to her responsibilities as choir director.  It would be both fair to our church musician and advantageous to our congregation's ministry to consider offering her a ¼ time salaried position beginning in 2008. 

• Increase Associate Pastor from a ½ time position to a ¾ time position beginning in September: This would move our ratio of staff to worship attendance to 1 to 135

• Increase Secretary to a ½ time position once the building is complete: As the program staff increases, we foresee the workload of the secretary increasing as well. 

Congregational Infrastructure-Add Two More Ministry Teams: Outreach and Fellowship would likely be the ideal areas of ministry. 

2009

Worship-Seasonal Planning Teams Begin: These teams of lay people would work with Pastors and Director of Worship to plan meaningful worship services for the congregation.  We expect our weekly worship average to grow to 330 people.    

Adult Faith Formation-Add Four to Nine More Small Groups:  This addition would increase the number of small groups to 20 to 25 which means Faith has 200 members participating in a faith enrichment activity on a regular basis.

Youth Ministry-Improve Current Programs:   

Mission-Christian Day Care: Judging by repeated statements made to Pastor Justin from day care providers in the community, there appears to be a shortage of reputable day care providers in this growing community.  There appears to be a special struggle for families with infants looking for daycare.  Faith could provide the community with an invaluable service if it were to open a Christian Day Care Center in the fall of 2009.  

Staffing

• Increase current associate pastor to a full-time position (Spring)
• Increase Director of Worship to ½ time (Fall) 

Congregational Infrastructure-Add Two More Ministry Teams: Stewardship and Adult Faith Development would likely be the ideal areas of ministry. 

2010

Add at least a ½ time program person or the equivalent (Fall): As the average worship attendance exceeds 350, it is imperative for Faith to continue adding program staff while increasing support staff (secretary and janitor), and seeking to improve its current programs. It is impossible at this point in time to know exactly the staff positions the congregation will need.  Some of the possibilities include calling a youth director, a small group coordinator, or a volunteer coordinator.  The CLT does not foresee calling a third pastor.   This addition would move Faith?s staff to a worship attendance ratio of 1 to 120 (assuming an average worship attendance of 360 people per week).  Program additions and subtractions would need to be made as well though we feel it is impossible to predict them at this point.   

 2011

Average worship size would continue to dictate the addition of staff.  As the congregation approaches an average of 400 people in worship for week, it would be important to add another full-time staff person or the equivalent.  Ideally, Faith would eventually achieve a program staff to worship attendance ratio of 1 to 100.  Again, program additions and subtractions would need to be made in 2011 though we feel it is impossible to predict what they would be at this point in time.

Summary

Again, as leaders of the congregation, we recognize that some of the goals and benchmarks set on the previous pages appear rather grand.  Nevertheless, through our year long process of prayer, study, and conversation we have become convinced that God is calling our congregation into a new chapter in our history.  We believe that the God who is calling us to step out in faith will also provide the guidance, energy, and resources to make God?s Vision a reality.  As members of the CLT, we humbly submit 2011: A Vision of Faith to be used by the congregation as a decision making guide over the next five years.  We recognize that even the best laid plans will need to be adjusted as God does something new and unpredictable in our midst.  Still, we believe this statement offers our congregation a helpful roadmap for the journey ahead.   

-       The Congregational Learning Team