“Plans fail for lack of counsel,
but with many advisers they succeed.” Proverbs 15:22
The Fanning the Flame team of St. Paul’s has completed a two day retreat with our coach. Ten members gathered for this time to plan together. I’m starting to see that what we are learning is a process–a way to think through our dreams, our options, our opportunities; a way to look realistically at our strengths and weaknesses. No one person was in charge (no, not even the pastor!) and Joe, our coach, stressed that he is our servant–here to guide us through the exercises, not to make decisions for us.
We came away with our core values:
- The Bible is the final authority and norm for all that we teach and do
- A congregational church polity
- Adherence to the Lutheran confessions
We also established priorities for our Pastor (and he did have veto power on these):
- Worship
- Leadership Development & Deployment
- Shepherding
- Discipleship
- Prayer
We began considering strategies for the areas we want to improve, and this will continue and become more detailed over the upcoming month. We’ve been divided into two team of five, each team to refine and clarify our goals and strategies.
Is anything we’ve come up with new, or even something we didn’t already realize. Probably not. The difference is that we’re taking the time to talk, to plan and to hold one another accountable for the goals we set.
I’ll be telling you more about the process as we continue so keep praying readers!
Lutheran Ladies Connection 