Rev Donna and I attended a meeting, “A Strategic Conversation: Beginning to Soar” sponsored by the Mission and Church Vitality Committee (MCVC) of the Southwest Conference of the United Church of Christ (SWCUCC) on March 7th. This meeting was an opportunity for representatives of the SWC and member churches to positively and creatively discuss our mission and ministry for the next 5 years. The room was filled with positive energy and the hours flew by quickly. The meeting was facilitated by Jackie Stavros, who has written books and aided Fortune 500 companies in leadership development, team-building and strategic planning. We were divided into 10 teams of 5-6 persons and Jackie walked us through the SOAR process – step by step. Soar is an acronym for Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations and Results.
- Strengths: What is a memorable highpoint of SWCUCC?
- Opportunities: ~ Imagine are Future ~ Congregations and communities and where we are tomorrow
- Aspirations: Based on ideas within our teams we visually created our futures using craft materials.
- Results: Design a strategic Initiative.
Our strategic plans were shared with the teams and handed in to MCVC board to follow through some of our aspirations. Examples of our aspirations were various justice ministries, and communication and support for clergy and congregations. It’s very exciting to imagine and work towards future goals for SWCUCC and First Christian Church of Las Cruces. Karen Holmes
