There will be an all-church meeting after the service to discuss the nature of membership at 8th Day, the levels of membership, the practices of each level, and the overall leadership of the church. This meeting is intended for anyone who worships with us and is an opportunity for everyone to participate as we imagine new forms of membership that will fit our vision for church.
Preparation for 8th Day Faith Community Meeting On June 8, 2014
“Widening the Conversation: Leadership for the Future”
I. Introduction
We agreed in the last Covenant & Interns Members meeting to open up the June 8th meeting to all Members of 8th Day Faith Community, including Community Members and anyone in the worshiping community. The topic of the meeting is “Membership & Leadership”. The purpose is to explain to the community how our levels of membership work, how leadership works and how decisions get made. Then the bulk of the time we want to devote to listening to a broader range of voices on the subject of how 8th Day handles membership and how we can hold the Covenant members & the leadership team accountable. This meeting is a kind of “kick-off” for a time of assessment and discernment, which will include a survey/interview with about 8 questions on several issues to be completed with individuals in the community and possibly focus groups.
II. History/Background of Leadership at 8th Day
8th Day has never had a single Pastor or Minister (although there have been aspirants to that position in the past). 8th day has always had a “team” of some sort – first “Elders” and more recently “Leadership Team” (as we got older, I guess we didn’t like the “old-sounding” name J). Usually there were 2-4 on the team, with one person designated Moderator, who generally facilitates the Members meetings and coordinates the team’s work. We’ve also had a “Co-Moderator” sometimes.
The work of the Leadership Team (LT) is a) administration/coordination of events, meetings, worship, the Compassion Fund; b) taking care of pastoral concerns/conflict resolution/special needs; and c) taking leadership in visioning/goal setting, and other “big picture” issues. LT sets the agenda for Covenant and Intern Member and Community Member meetings. However, it is the Covenant & Intern Members who actually make the decisions. For instance, when 8th Day FC was offered ownership of the Potters House, the Covenant & Intern Members had to decide to accept the offer of ownership and the terms of the agreement. The final decisions on the yearly budget are made by Covenant, Intern and Community Members together.
Each year all Members of the church are asked to reconsider whether they will commit to another year of membership. Recently, our Recommitment Sunday was moved to Pentecost Sunday, in recognition of the “beginning of the early Christian church.” Traditionally, after Recommitment Sunday, we a) choose our Leadership Team for the coming year; and b) ask each Member to say what “gift” they are offering the community as a whole for the coming year. Often that is a role or task the Member takes on, such as recruiting preachers, providing Sunday School for the children, setting up for worship, being a Shepherd for new people, etc. “Called” Members offer their services in a variety of ways, including on the Leadership Team.
- The Problem 2
Currently, the 8D Leadership Team consists of four people who have been on the team for 5 to 15 years (approximately). Covenant Membership has only increased by 4 people over the past 10 years. We have remained static and seem to be “stuck” in some ways. Although there have been many dynamic events and times of sharing, we are at a standstill in terms of increasing our diversity in the “inner circle” of Covenant & Intern Members who are mostly white.
The majority of us members have been around for 30-40 years and don’t want the basic requirements, structures, and values to change. We came to the C of S to find the high level of commitment and “integrity of membership” which characterizes the C of S (to a greater or lesser degree in the various communities) – and don’t want to lose that key “essence” of the C of S, as lived out in 8th Day. In sum, these values and practices include: a set time of disciplines - the “inward journey;” mission groups – the “outward journey;” and a deep valuing of community and in depth sharing. Other deep values include commitment to justice work, leading at the point of one’s gifts, responding to “call” in choosing where to serve, and the “priesthood of all believers.”
There is a deep fear of losing these values if we open ourselves to become more “inclusive.” For years we have struggled to find ways to be more inclusive without letting the core values go. We have been partially successful, in that our community has become more diverse and our worship has changed considerably. But the core Covenant & Intern Membership – the leadership of the community - has not changed.
III. Proposal
As one step toward more inclusivity, I propose to open the conversation on membership & leadership to the wider worshipping community as our “church year” commences on Pentecost. I would like Covenant & Intern Members to hear from the wider community their ideas in these areas – what you like and don’t like about the current system and structures and thoughts about possible changes. I think if we open up the conversation and Covenant Members hear the voices of the wider community on this topic, change may be more possible. Above all, I believe the Holy Spirit will lead us in the direction we need to go if we are all open to hearing one another and finding the “common good” for our community.
- Other Proposals
Recently, there have been other proposals re/changes in membership & leadership. Some ideas are below.
- The Moderator is resigning her role at the end of this year, after at least 15 years of service.
- We have thought about bringing a young person on the LT to be “mentored” into a leadership role.
- One proposal is to form a “Servant Leader Mission Group” which anyone who feels called to grow in a leader role could join.
- Another suggestion is to open up the “voting” for Leadership Team to the wider community (not just Covenant & Intern Members).
- Some say we need to change the membership structures and requirements so as to be more inclusive of young people and people of color, thus having more diverse choices for leadership.
- A suggestion is to open up all the meetings (monthly) to Community Members to enlarge the dialogue among all members.
- Another idea is to have a “team” to work on suggestions for structural changes in 8th Day.
- Racial Justice and Healing Mission Group might take a leadership role in our process of change – should we decide to go that direction.
- One thought is that our process of consensus decision-making may be making it difficult for us to change, because it takes the “sense of the meeting” – or most of the members to make changes in basic structures (rather than a majority) of the group.
IV. Your Preparation for June 8th Meeting
- Read the above carefully.
- Pray for guidance for our community.
- Be ready to engage in a “World Café” style dialogue among all of us.
- Listen carefully to other’s ideas.
- Speak your own ideas from your heart.
V. Proposed Process of the June 8th Meeting
I am suggesting the use of the “World Café” process for our meeting. Tables for 4 are arranged in the meeting space with large sheets of paper and markers on each. A brief introduction to the process is given and then 3 questions – big, open-ended, important questions – are posed (and posted for all to see) with 20 min. given for each question. After the first question is discussed, one person stays at each table to continue the dialogue and the other three move separately to other tables. The same thing happens after the second question. The stationary person at each table is the reporter out at the end (after all three questions have been discussed) when we gather to share main ideas.
The 2 main advantages of the World Café process, as I see it, is that a) people who are not comfortable with expressing opinions in a large group can have their voices heard equally (and there is time for each person to be heard); and b) there is much more “mixing up” of ideas when the small groups change up than if you have stable groups or one large group.