Sunday Praise & Worship 10:00
Christian Education - 10:00 - Casual Dress - Loving Childcare
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Charge Conference Co-Pastors’ Report for June 14, 2005-“All Things Are Possible”“All Things Are Possible” remains one of my favorite praise songs. The words speak to me in many ways and the music lifts my soul up to heaven. As I reviewed the ministry of this year, the song also speaks of our life together in the Skyline community. Our Council set the theme for this past year to be “Reach and Connect.” Although the events of last summer threatened to “break and disconnect,” no power stood against God, who made possible a beautiful year of singing God’s praise in word and deed. Because we planted our feet on the Rock of Jesus, we REACHED out to our community in new ways. Some highlights from our Pathways include: Ø Our Council finalized and adopted a Strategic Plan, and presented it to our congregation in five town meetings. We set forth our long-term vision: To become an apostolic church that seeds the development of new Christian communities of believers. See the attached Core Values, Mission and Vision, Strategic Priorities and Strategic Initiatives to discover how we plan to reach out in this new way. Ø Our Council worked hard to open communications this year to reach out to those within and outside our community. We accomplished this through Quarterly Council Coffees, personal phone calls, and a new Feedback Form. Ø In Worship, we began to strategically plan our sermon series, offering seeker-oriented series immediately following Christmas (Creation vs. Evolution) and Easter (Relationships 101). We also created new bands to respond to the dissolution of one of our praise teams. We reached many new musicians. Ø Our Evangelism team, directed by Kim Connell, mailed post-cards for special services and series to new residents in the area. Ø Our Staffing team, headed by Brian Bolender, continued conversations about how to staff for growth. Ø Our Missions team, under the leadership of Sue Wartel, sponsored our last ASP team for the summer and offered several new missions opportunities, such as RAKE, hats to Friendship House and game night offered by the young Singles at Emmaus House, focusing on involving people in hands-on missions. Ø Our Facilities team, led by Susan Durbin, made the new facilities more accessible and welcoming with bulletin boards, pictures and decorations. As we reached out to the community in new ways, we found the hope that comes from Christ alone. That hope enabled us not be shaken through some of the trials this past year. It also helped us praise God with a new song as we deepened our sense of community by CONNECTING to each other. Some highlights from our Pathways include: Ø Our Small Group ministry continued to expand, with sermon-based study groups beginning in the fall, our new men’s Saturday morning small group, and the growth of our women’s ministry, Dreamers and Believers, our children’s choir and youth choir, our youth group, headed by Diane Sacconey, our Spirited Singles and our young Singles, our Single Parents group, and others! Ø Our Education team, under the guidance of Cheryl Wagner, connected with our youngest disciples through Promiseland, where kids deepened their faith by connecting with other young people, learning to pray and study together. We began a new Special Needs ministry, which reached one new family so far. Ø Our Stewardship team, led by Darren Argo and Tom Thompson, connected our resources to our ministries in a fiscally difficult year. Ø Our Caring team, headed by Cathy Doyle, connected people through our prayer chain, new member classes, and through members caring for one another. Ø Our Nominations team, co-led by Karen Roof and the Co-Pastors, offered tremendous ministry this year to our leaders. The team completed our first Servant Leadership Academy, taught by the Co-Pastors and graduating 21 leaders! The team also expressed appreciation to out-going leaders, and provided exit interviews for the first time. While we accomplished our goals for “Reaching and Connecting” in our various ministry areas, we experienced God’s power most intensely in Leadership Development, as the various teams connected with each other in some amazing ways. Our Pathway ministry team has never been stronger, as each person has assumed responsibility for their own ministry area while also providing vital support to the other ministry areas. We are a team now, and not just a group of leaders. We share a common vision and common goals which enable our ministries to multiply. We have prayed and studied the Bible together, providing the underpinning of love so that we can truly support one another. We truly thank God for our leaders. Our Council team responded to the challenges of ministry this year at Skyline as a team as well. We focused on connecting to one another through Spiritual Development as a team in addition to our individual efforts. Through a common grounding in Scripture, we developed mutual trust and respect and love. This attitude of love and respect enabled us to be genuinely honest with each other in loving ways, holding each other accountable and helping to build one another up. These attributes held our team together last August as we made the difficult decision to ask two of our leaders to step down. The team made the decision together, carried it out together, accepted mutual responsibility for the decision, and provided leadership during the unexpected consequences of having several households leave the church. The servant-leadership the Council members offered to God and Skyline enabled God to continue to do mighty works here in this place. We cannot thank God enough for the Council members: Ruthann DeJuliis, Dave Doyle, Phyllis Hite, Doug Roof, Jim Wagner and Kathy Wilson-Freeman. God has reminded us again this year that all things are possible indeed! |
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