Did you enjoy watching the 2016 Olympics as much as did? I have to admit that I didn’t watch as much as I would have liked, but I love being able to watch athletes do things that I never thought possible. The athletes have trained hard and have a great support through family and friends. Often times the cameras will turn to their coaches. The ones that have been there every step of the way giving advice, encouragement and when needed discipline. The church, like the olympic athlete, can use the benefit of a coach. As part of the future planning, the Church Council is recommending a congregational counseling program that is offered through the WELS. This counseling program is named the Self-Assessment and Adjustment (SAA) Program. The program is made up of four parts:
- Engagement – This is the phase where the congregation agrees to enroll in the program and meets the congregational counselor. The congregation then completes a congregational profile, community profile and the pulse survey. These items are all done before the counselor is on site.
- Assessment – This is the phase where the counselor is on site for one weekend. On Saturday the counselor (who is an ordained minister and is actively serving a congregation) leads a Bible study at the end of which the congregation compiles a list of key actions by applying the scriptures and confessions which were just discussed. On Sunday, the counselor spends about 90 minutes going through the list that the was compiled on Saturday.
- Adjustment – Within a month of the weekend assessment the counselor provides a detailed report to the congregation. The congregation then decides on the appropriate actions from the report.
- Implementation – During this phase the congregation actively works on the decide actions from the adjustment phase. The congregation provides monthly reports to the counselor so that he can monitor progress, answer questions and offer encouragement.
The Council believes that this structure will help give new perspective to the ministries at Our Saviour Lutheran Church. More information about the program can be found at the following website:
http://ccc.welsrc.net/self-assessment-and-adjustment-program/
I urge you in the next couple weeks to give prayerful thought to the opportunity to use this structured program to evaluate our ministries. This will be presented for vote to the voters at the third quarter voters’ meeting on September 25th.
–Pres. Noah Schoeneck