Thursday July 19, 2007

Meeting Place: Home of Patty and Justin Douthat

Persons present: Boyd & Donna Comer, Linda & Buzzie Douthat, Justin & Patty Douthat, Rita Pauley, Cis Barrett, Cindy Workman, and Opie Forbes.

The focus group was led by Justin and Rita. They used an affinity analysis to gather the following information. The categories that follow are the condensed categories that were developed from all the answers submitted. Indents below the main bullets reflect the thoughts and ideas of those present at the Church Health team meeting and not those at the focus group.

In response to the question, “Why do you think gift based ministry was the lowest score on the surveys?” those present said (in no particular ranking of importance)

·         We don’t ask people what their gifts are and just assume that they will do what we ask them to do.

o   The church assigns people to positions without respect to the gift that they might have.

·         People won’t get involved because they have an “I can’t” attitude and are afraid of “looking bad” if asked to do something they don’t feel gifted to do.

·         The church doesn’t say thank you enough to those persons that serve.

o   While it is important to say thank you, it is also important to realize that what we do is not done for acclamation. We serve as a sign of our adoration of the God that has gifted us.

·         Service is not seen as a “priority”—People don’t want to give the extra time to the church that is needed.

o   The Church Health Team felt that in the past there was more of a sense of obligation and duty within the church. We feel that our congregation has lost these virtues and this contributes to our current lack of giving the church priority time in our lives.

·         People don’t want to step on someone’s toes—if someone is already doing a ministry, they assume that they can’t help without offending the person already engaged in ministry.

o    This leaves newcomers unable to find a place in the system.

o   We feel that newcomers and many that are longer term members currently feel as if they are outsiders looking in on the life of the congregation. There is nothing to tie them to the greater body.

·         We do not provide written job descriptions with time limits and time expectations.

o   We do provide this for all the main jobs in the church, just not all the jobs.

·         We have difficulty helping new people feel as if they belong.

o   We are not good at assimilation.

o   Our church lacks a set of core values that we can convey to newcomers to help them feel as if they are a part of the congregation.

After discussion of these results, the Team decided that we would conduct more data gathering and made the following assignments.

·         Reverend Goodman will ask for time to meet with the choir members on a Wednesday night and lead an affinity analysis with them.

·         In addition, we are going to target the following families and solicit their input>

o   Fred and Sherry Cook – interviewed by Willie Lowe

o   David and Karen Alvis – Interviewed by Willie Lowe

o   Donna Ward – interviewed by Justin Douthat

o   Chris and Robin Calo – interviewed by Rita Pauley

·         The following persons will be interviewed by either Terry Goodman, Cis Barrett, or Barbara Nash.

o   Tom and Michelle Carter—

o   John and Alesia Simpson –

o   The McGlothilins –

o   John and Linda O’Neal –

·         All interviews will be conducted by the end of August.

·         Reverend Goodman will develop a questionnaire based on the data gathered so far to be used in the one on one interviews.

·         Reverend Goodman will contact the Church Consultants and arrange a time in September to meet and begin discussing step 3-Planning

·         The meeting scheduled for August 12, 2007 has been canceled. Reverend Goodman will inform the team of the next meeting date.

The following quotes represent actual answers from the Focus Group:

These items are uncategorized and in no particular order:

·         Say thank you for a good job

·         Say Thank you. Encourage people. Ask questions

·         Don’t say thank you enough for what you do

·         We need to thank people for what they do

·         Say thank you!

·         Don’t say thank you enough

·         Do a questionnaire for all the church to participate in

·         Help cultivate new and also old church members for jobs that will enhance our congregation

·         Thank people more often for what they do for the church

·         Some are accustomed to coming to church for one hour a week and do not want to getinvolved in work or service that would take additional time.

·         People do not see church work as a priority

·         No time limits on things

·         Job descriptions not given with assigned tasks

·         Some compare themselves to others and are intimidated

·         Fear of using their talents

·         Fear

·         Fear of failure-making a fool of ourselves

·         People think their gifts are insignificant or they feel they don’t have a gift at all

·         Some think they don’t have any gifts

·         Don’t step on anyone’s toes

·         Help others know they have their own talents

·         Let someone else do it

·         Some think someone else is already doing that job

·         Church has not taught enough on spiritual gifts

·         People don’t know what their gifts are

·         Seek to know skills of members and encourage growth

·         No questionnaire—don’t ask what talents are

·         Some need to be asked to serve

·         Ask questions

·         Ask—Seek involvement