Mtg Notes from 7/11:
A. Location:
Catonsville/Elkridge area – looking to establish somewhere here
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Looking for space within 3 minutes off the
highway (I-95)
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5 minutes away feels a little long – feels like
you are going far in and the church will be harder to find
B. Timeline:
August 19 – earliest date to start service if we can get a
space
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Gives us enough time between now and then
-
We have a guest speaker (Randy Millwood) from
July 29 – August 12
-
Will be a public service (but not an official
opening)
If August 19 doesn’t happen, it will be pushed to September
9
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8/26 PR will be out of town
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Labor Day weekend most of the people involved in the plant will be out of town
o
Also there will be SSM Serving Community retreat and the church plant retreat on the Labor Day Weekend
This will be announced starting on Sunday at service
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They will either go to the 5pm service at the
Light, the church plant, or SSM, or find another
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Shooting for 10:30am, finish by 12 – 12:30
C. From July to December (3 Timelines)
1. For the Main group
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Ongoing meetings and trainings/ Discipleship
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Creating systems, planning the church, developing ministries, delegation, deciding on
service format, membership class, etc
2. Ministry Strategy
-
What is our strategy for outreach
o
We need to create a base first (people who will
be workers/ already Christian)
o
As we go further out, it will be more outreach
to non Christians or the unchurched
3. Organizational
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As time progresses, how is this group going to
change
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The same group of people can’t stay the same and
do all the ministry
o
that group will evolve into a leadership team or
ministry leaders
D. Our Projection
-
between now and September, there will be a
fluctuation of people but after the offical sunday service starts we will see more of a steady flow of people from which some will stay and becomes members, some will service, some will even lead in the near future
-
starting today, this is a closed group (you
either have to be invited to this group, or you’ve been coming, or people ask
one of us or PR about it)
-
August 19 or September 9 – we will see an infux
of people. By then there will be no Methodist service. They will have to choose
a church for those who are not yet committed to the Light or the SS.
-
Out of the people who will visit (let’s assume 50),
maybe 30 will stay be regular attenders. These 30 will layer into 3 layers
o
I like the church and I want to be a regular
member (Member)
o
I want to do something to participate (Participating Member)
o
I want to serve in ministry or leadership (Partnering Member)
-
That’s when the outreach and groups will start
to change – we may ultimately do less, but for the first 8-12 weeks we will
carry ALL the burden/ministry.
-
Come December, the church will look different
from when we first started
Q&A:
Are you thinking families?
-
We would like families and more established,
single adults.
What’s the area like?
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It’s all suburban – more stable and more
families
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Not right out of college – more established
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People tend to live in Elkridge because they
can’t afford Columbia
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There are some areas that are a little rougher
How many nights a week should we allocate to church plant?
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Probably 2 nights, since we will be starting
trainings
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It also depends what you are doing
-
By the time we start service, we will all be
members (based on all the trainings that will be done)
- If you are serving in other capacities like Small Group Leading, more like 3 nights out of the week plus sunday morning service.
What will the services be like? In terms of style.
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We want it to be worshipful, similar to what we have now, but it will not be
liturgical/traditional
-
We might change the order of service. We will
still use the break, but it might vary when we collect the offering to keep the
reflection time together
- We are looking at 10:30am service when we start.
