Friends, at the end of March a new committee within the Church of the Brethren gathered – the Vision Committee. 8 folks, 4 representing denominational agencies and 4 nominated by Standing Committee, gathered to start considering what the 10 year vision for the Church of the Brethren was, with the goal of having it ready to go by Annual Conference 2011. I am blessed to be a member of that committee, along with Bekah Houff, another CoB young adult.
Instead of going through the usual process of having influential members of the denomination fill out another survey, and quietly craft a vision to be brought forth in 2011, we thought it would be a bit more effective to just write a vision statement – and then see what the denomination thought! So, that is what we have done. This statement is in NO WAY final. It is a statement to be edited, for you to have input in, and to hopefully look almost nothing like what it does now when it comes before Annual Conference for adoption. This statement will be making the rounds of CoB folks – it has already been at Young Adult Conference, for instance, where the conversation and input was phenomenal – and will be at NYC, and Annual Conference, and, well, all over the place. As many places as we can think of and possibly be.
And, it is also here. Below is the first draft of the vision statement. Let us know what you think – what doesn’t fit? What is missing? Does this jive with who you think you are as a member of the Church of the Brethren? Try to avoid word-smithing (the time for that will come later!) – but give us the big picture. This is about your vision, after all, and we want to hear from you. Use the comments section, or shoot a longer comment to the email address vision@brethren.org. One final note – this is a pretty short statement, and that is on purpose. Resources will be developed so that this can be used and integrated into congregations, districts, ect. Ok, thanks! And I, for one, am interested to know what you think!
Inspired, challenged and shaped by the New Testament, we have decided to follow Jesus.
We will live as courageous disciples, nurtured in dynamic and missional congregations.
We are led by the Holy Spirit, called to model God’s reconciliation to all creation with words and deeds.
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July 3, 2010 at 12:05 am
Seth M. Keller
I believe this is a good start! I do feel, however, the statement of being “shaped by the New Testament” makes it sound like we dwell on the New Testament only. We cannot completely understand the new without the old! Maybe also throw in something about love and forgiveness, which are the basic teachings of our Lord and Savior. That’s all! God is good!
July 15, 2010 at 3:24 pm
Matt McKimmy
So I’ve been thinking about this whole vision thing a lot recently (I’m actually working on another op-ed / feature-length blog post tangentially related to the subject) and I want to chime in here ..
First off I like the statement as it is – I think it’s a good starting point that describes how we see ourselves as individuals and even as congregations living into an understanding of what it means to be “Brethren.” As I mentioned at YAC I do feel like there’s a distinct omission of some core Brethren testimonies like peacemaking, community, and simplicity.
Most of all, what concerns me is that this doesn’t seem to give any definition of what it means for all of us to gather under this tent we call the Church of the Brethren. How does this statement relate to our life together as a denomination, fraught with differences of theology and opinion as to how we might live into this vision? How could our vision statement somehow touch on what it means for us to be a denomination in this increasingly post-modern, post-Christendom, post-denominational world?
Just some food for thought, for now …
July 24, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Daniel House
I personally take issue with the passive tone of the second half of the second statement. To say that we will be “nurtured in dynamic and missional congregations,” invites us to seek to do so without putting out any effort of our own. It creates expectation to receive without expectation to give. If a vision statement is to inform and guide the membership, then it needs to challenge the membership to build dynamic (whatever that means) and missional congregations.
I also fear that this statement may be too general to have any real impact. Like Matt shared, I would like to see a statement that is more grounded in the distinctives of Brethren heritage. A big tent can be good, as it provides room for us all to gather together, but if it is too big then it can develop its own weather and neither shield nor focus. Essentially, it becomes a pointless tent.
The call to model God’s reconciliation is what I find to be the strongest part of this statement. It declares a specific value and ethic to be lived out among the membership. I would like to see us seek more such language in this statement. Even the openness of “Taking Jesus Seriously” conveys an intensive examination of of what we know about Jesus , along with correlating obedience. Unfortunately, saying that we will live as courageous disciples, no longer makes a declaration of this strength, but instead lumps us in with every other group that says they will follow Jesus.
June 1, 2011 at 4:01 am
Josie Tolton
Is this a vision statement or a mission statement? It sounds like a mission statement, but even as that it seems a bit milquetoast. I might suggest a statement more like this:
We join together in prayer and song; building our community as we draw others in.
We begin by reforming ourselves; turning from consumerism to simplicity and refuse to settle for easy answers.
Moving from worship to action we call the world to stop violence and heal the world by engaging in service.
We wrestle with the Bible and theology; facing the call of the prophets, claiming the wisdom of the sages, seeking to walk in the steps of Jesus, and holding fast to the mystery of God.