The Visioning Task Force (VTF) was commissioned by the Charleston Atlantic Presbytery Coordinating Committee to evaluate the effective organizational structure and mission strategy of the presbytery. The VTF completed its work with a final presentation at the September 2015 Presbytery Meeting, which included:
The adoption of the Vision and Core Values of Charleston Atlantic Presbytery,
The adoption of the Vision for Neighborhoods of Charleston Atlantic Presbytery, and
The establishment of a Transition Team to guide the presbytery as we live into our new vision.
There were 13 members on the VTF representing varying viewpoints and experiences across the Presbytery.
Our first priority after commissioning was building trust among members so we could engage in the personal and emotional discussions about the Presbytery’s current challenges and opportunities.
Our second priority has been to clarify and understand what we currently know about patterns and trends within the presbytery, including membership, finances, and leadership.
Using the information gained in clarifying what we know about patterns and trends, the members of the VTF have created a list of questions that will help us understand the needs and desires of our member churches. Over the coming months, members of the VTF will take these questions out to the sessions of our churches and mindfully evaluate the responses as we move into the next phase of our work.
Members:
Maggie Beamguard
Jim Deavor
Sue Mathews – Co-Chair
Eric H. Doss – Co-Chair
Pat Jones
Jeff Kackley
Lizzie Madison
Henry Meeuwse
Pie Mikell
Patrick Perryman
Josephine Pompey
Frank Portee
Junerese Rhodan
Edith Seabrook
Session Questions:
Thank you for agreeing to meet with the Charleston Atlantic Presbytery Visioning Task Force. As you know, we have been at work for over a year, determining the direction of our work and building an understanding of the needs of sessions and the presbytery as a whole. Based on the questions we asked at the February 2014 meeting, the Visioning Task Force has generated a series of questions for sessions.
These questions have two purposes; first, to understand the current situation and future needs of congregations, but just as important, to understand the process your session uses to analyze and respond to new challenges. Because we value the process you use to reach your answers, we want to observe your response to our questions in person. However, to give you an understanding of our goals and to help you stimulate your own ideas, we are sharing the following information about our questions with the hope that your session will prayerfully reflect on these broad topics before our meeting. The goal is not to find consensus, but to hear the different voices of your session.
There are three basic areas to which the CAP Visioning Task Force is seeking responses from our congregations:
- We are inviting you to describe the overall health of your congregation and its ability to respond to needs in your specific community.
- We are a connectional church made up of uniquely gifted congregations. We are interested in knowing the unique gifts your congregation has to share with other congregations in our presbytery; as well as how your congregation can benefit from the gifts of our other 47 congregations.
- We also want to know about your experiences of working with the presbytery.
Our meeting will conclude with several informal questions that are best asked and answered in a spontaneous manner.