1 | Vision & Culture !What do we believe God wants Red Door to be? !

• People who celebrate God as a refuge & pathway… • …who create communities and places of refuge & pathway… • …which invite others to encounter God as their refuge & pathway.

!This vision is evocative and compelling, but it does not give us immediate clarity on how we will do these things. What does it look like to put flesh on refuge and pathway? How can we gauge our faithfulness or effectiveness in pointing people to Christ as refuge and pathway? !To be a refuge & pathway theologically means: !…actively embracing and honoring the thoughtful posture necessary to be a “both/and” church. To provide both refuge and pathway, we must become a church that is simultaneously, consistently, and culturally: !

• deep and wide • loving and honest • inward and outward • gracious and growing • welcoming and challenging • formational and missional

!To be a refuge & pathway culturally and communally means: !…recognizing that our culture announces itself through everything we do. Even if we haven’t yet named our culture, others have. If culture is created by actually embodying our values - not by merely prescribing or professing them - then living into this culture has a transformative effect on our community. A changing culture will always mean changing people, and when people change in the direction of Christlikeness, everything else we hope to see will follow. The community at Red Door must bleed our cultural values. This will only happen intentionally, as we: !

• embody our culture as qualities we are, not a program we do • unabashedly and repetitively bleed our culture & vision into sermons and messaging • use art and creative expression to create symbols which represent our core values and

post them everywhere • train leaders to share the vision, facilitate through vision, correct through vision, and hold

each other accountable to the vision (refuge & pathway)

If Red Door’s culture is to emanate refuge, each member of the community (beginning with the leadership) must actively commit to embodying the following: !

• practice “relentless hospitality” and friendliness • consistently put yourself “in the shoes” of the outsider (or “not-yet-insider”) who is

vulnerably taking the risk to belong • make decisions about serving and leading based on what will help create the most refuge

(safety/welcome) and opportunity for others to “belong” • resist and lovingly challenge all self-absorbed mindsets which restrict/hinder others’ ability

to experience refuge • in short, we create refuge by culturally becoming people who prefer the others’ comfort to

our own, and this begins the first time someone enters the front door !If Red Door’s culture is to emanate pathway, each member of the community (beginning with the leadership) must actively commit to embodying the following: !

• take responsibility and ownership of your own journey with Jesus • take real-world steps to invite others to walk “in your shoes”, allowing them access to

follow you as you follow Christ • make decisions about serving and leading based on what will most honor the unique skills

and gifts God has given you for the sake of the Church • in short, we create pathway by culturally becoming people who leave behind comfort

when it comes to being formed in the image of Christ !

“One of the limitations of laws is that they cannot tell you what to do; they can only inform you of the consequences associated with certain actions and activities. Only ethos (culture) can affect our decision making. But whenever a culture begins to lose the power of its ethos, it begins to become overdependent on its laws. When we sense the dissipation of our ethos, we begin to undergird it by establishing more laws and more rules. You cannot have a community based on both values and legalism. You can either invest your energy into attempting to control people’s actions and thereby lose their hearts, or you can focus on winning their hearts, so that, in the end, their actions will represent the values that are important to you. -Erwin McManus

To be a refuge & pathway ecclesiologically means: !Embracing our simultaneous responsibility to be a church that is formational and communal and missional. These are not mutually exclusive values - but to hold to them all simultaneously requires intentionality and willingness to embrace church preferences beyond our own personal defaults. !

• Communion: We are given the refuge of being formed into Christ’s image while we embrace the pathways of worship, prayer, service, and celebration.

• Community: We provide one another with refuge and pathway as we intentionally set up spaces to share our lives together.

• Commission: We provide refuge and pathway to Bloomington and the world by walking humbly, loving mercy, and doing justly before our “neighbors.”

!!It follows then that a strategic action plan for our jumpstart is crafted most naturally by naming practical steps that can be taken to live into refuge and pathway around what matters most: communion, community, commission.

!!

2 | Transition Calendar !May !

• Sunday, May 11: Brief presentation of jumpstart calendar and plan to church • Sunday, May 18: Extended presentation of jumpstart calendar and plan to church, with

tentative announcement of new facility • Sunday, May 25: Memorial Day cookout at Allen’s House

!June - August !

• Sunday, June 1: Clean-up, celebration and final gathering at McDoel • Sunday, June 8 - August 17: Ten Summer “Jumpstart Gatherings”

• morning gatherings for worship, communion, and strategic planning / collaboration • one or two visits/studies of “inspiration churches” for each strike team • occasional evening events/outreaches

!August !

• Sunday, August 24 - August 31: “Soft launches” at Fairview !September !

• Sunday, September 7: Publicly promoted gatherings begin again !!

3 | Summer “Jumpstart Gatherings” !A time for refreshing, shaping, and collaborative planning. !Summer jumpstart gatherings will primarily revolve around Sunday Morning meetings for worship, communion, and collaborative planning for various areas of Red Door. A vital portion of these gatherings will be smaller groups, for now referred to as jumpstart groups. !Jumpstart Groups !These Jumpstart Groups will be short-lived hybrid teams to help shape and strategize for a variety of Red Door areas. These groups will likely overlap and eventually morph into a variety of core Sunday volunteer teams and other big picture areas of involvement in the church (such as outreach, arts, and discipleship). The goal for the summer is for every person at Red Door to have a role in a jumpstart group. !For those already tied to a specific area in the church, it would make sense for them to choose the group that most closely aligns to their current areas of leadership/service. For others who do not already have clear ties to an area in the church, the jumpstart groups provide a simple mechanism to help them get connected to an area of involvement/ownership. !The first few weeks of the jumpstart groups are for collaborative brainstorming and shaping within the confines of a pre-determined vision and framework for each area. After a few weeks, a marked turn needs to be made to transition the groups out of brainstorming and in to strategic planning (what needs to be done, what steps need to be taken, what are the next steps, who is responsible for them, when will they be taken, who are they accountable to, etc.). Leaders of each groups need to be “ahead” of their teams to ensure that each group is prepared to implement their plans/ideas by the start of the fall. !At the end of the summer, each person at Red Door will be asked to join a volunteer team and be involved in outreach (or other big-picture emphasis area). !Inspiration & Training !At some point during the summer session, it would be ideal for each jumpstart group to visit or study another “inspiration” church to learn from them, get ideas, study best practices, etc. This can be done at the discretion of the leader of the group.

Jumpstart Groups !• Family Ministry | Lucas Allen

• K-6th Sub-Group • Youth Sub-Group • Nursery & Pre-School !

• Gatherings, Logistics & Arts | Giff Reed • Arts Sub-Group • Logistics (Setup, Display, Storage) Sub-Group • Construction Sub-Group?

!• Welcome & Culture | Jordan Warner

• Welcome Sub-Group • First Impressions (Hospitality, Details, Food/Drink, etc.) Sub-Group • Design, Signage, Promotion Sub-Group

!• Community Outreach | Fred & Angie Perry, Kiron & Rachel Mateti

• Everyone in the church will belong to this “group” in order to communicate that outreach is a church-wide project, rather than something done only by a certain team.

• However, a core group of people may be needed to focus all of their energies directly on outreach in order to facilitate opportunities for the rest of the church.

!!

4 | Creating Space for What Matters Most !Creating a clear, inviting, and intentional pathway of formation which leads to full participation and belonging at Red Door. !We have been experiencing a tension of how to make space for all that is pastorally important to us. For example, it is simultaneously important to us that our gatherings be centered around the Eucharist, and that they be formational/instructional, and that they help to build a community which both invites people to belong in relationship, serve the church, and serve our neighbors/city. It is challenging to meet all these objectives in a 1.5 hour gathering, once per week. !As we look to the fall, it is vital that we find a simpler way to name how we want people to engage our community and intentionally decide how we will facilitate spiritual growth around all important areas of the Christian life. Rather than providing a myriad of opportunities and options, it would seem to be more effective for us to “boil down” all of what we hope to do into a series of steps, and then invite each person in the church to join in. This makes it easy for us to identify people who are “in”, as well as always be able to know what the next step is for them. The goal is to summarize what it looks like to fully participate and belong in the life of the church in as concise and clear of a manner as possible. Further, “fully belonging in the life of the church” ought to be descriptive/prescriptive of a healthy and growing spiritual life in Christ, not just descriptive/prescriptive of commitment to an organization. !A way of simply and memorably summarizing the various areas of refuge and pathway we feel called to is communion, community, commission. If we believe that each of those three areas are vital for spiritual formation and belonging to the community, it is important that we intentionally shape Red Door’s corporate times together around those three things. !The sections below delve in to how we will wrap our pathway of belonging around communion, community, and commission. Practically speaking, a well-formed plan must intentionally create space for at least all of the following: !

• Opportunities to engage worship/prayer/teaching in ways that edify both the corporate body and individual believer.

• Opportunities to engage the community in ways which build both a wide range of relationships and a well of deep relationships.

• Regular and practical opportunities to serve both the local church and to serve/love our city.

realistic Space for Formation, Community, and Communion

4a | Creating Space for Communion !A Vision for Red Door Worship Gatherings The driving purpose of coming together as the Church is to be communally formed into the image of Christ – not for our own sake, but for the sake of the world. Our goal must not be a cloistered collective of various types and preferences who adequately create a comfortable subculture under the guise of ‘community.’ Rather, we ‘gather to scatter.’ Having encountered Father God, been touched by Jesus, and inspired by the Holy Spirit, in both the mysterious and practical, we ‘go and be’ the people of God. !In our gathering, we are a refuge as we recognize and illuminate the image of God of anyone in our presence. In our scattering, we are a pathway as we welcome the Holy Spirit to illuminate Jesus through our everyday lives. !It is only the work of the Spirit moving through the hearts of people that truly makes the way for these lofty ideals. Our job is to co-operate with, not direct, the Spirit of God. This demands the practicality of curating the contexts for such cooperation. !

lex orandi, lex credenda, lex vivendi the way we worship and pray shapes the way we believe,

and the way we believe shapes the way we live

!Liturgy (in order of relative importance) !In a broad sense, ‘liturgy’ is simply the ‘order of worship’ that any and every group of people employ to bring shape and logic to corporate gatherings. It serves as the template for the Spirit by giving ‘entry points’ for engagement. !We want those entry points to be clear, easy and often – without becoming rote or fluffy. This doesn’t always mean we give a full explanation for what we are doing, but always know why we are doing it. If we can’t explain why, then we aren’t appropriately curating (read: leading).

!Communion/Eucharist This is the literal high point of our gatherings. We must fight to keep it this way. While culture values the amassing of intellectual knowledge (in the form of ‘tips for success’) as the highest end, we boldly assert that it is in mysterious and holy union that we are truly healed and transformed. !Jesus instituted this meal – meant to be primarily shared communally- as a signpost to the far deeper reality of His union with His people (both individually and corporately). We strive to make more than adequate space for this union to be invited, engaged, and celebrated. While our method for partaking in communion is generally intinction (dipping the bread in the cup), we are always open to varying ways as long as they further a deeper understanding of what we are actually doing at this table – being joined with Christ and one another. !In many churches this, typically, incites a solemn vibe, but that isn’t necessarily our hope. Our hope would be an authentic encounter with Jesus – with a response to match whatever thoughts and emotions are presenting themselves in the moment. Sometimes that will be solemn as we are broken people on the mend, but other times (dare I say, often) these moments can incite an all-out celebratory (*party-like) response accompanied by loud singing, prayer and even laughter. We must seek out practical ways to welcome and encourage such responses. !Scripture Reading We read scripture out loud and corporately as a way of ‘letting scripture read us.’ Following the ancient tradition of the Church we stand as a sign of reverence for the sacred words. Practically, this entry point serves to introduce a ‘grounding passage’ that will, in some way, be dealt with in the sermon. However, we must not forget that it is probably the only time during the week when many of us actually engage a larger chunk of scripture at one time. The ‘placement’ of the scripture reading in the overall liturgy can vary, but it will most often be directly before the sermon. !Spiritual Formation There are potential moments in every gathering where we feel the Spirit prodding us in a particular direction and we want to sensitively respond to these moments. They can happen at any time in a gathering, but seem to generally reveal themselves in the moments following the first few songs. Given that they are ‘Spirit-led’ there isn’t much to say regarding form, but the function is always to aid people in delving deeper into an awareness and worship of God – through whatever means feel appropriate at the time.

!These moments should never be used to try and ‘fix’ the assumed responsiveness of the congregation. They are fully and thoroughly Spirit-inspired. We must keep close track of our own motives and reasons for engaging them at all. This being said – the leaders of the community are free to respond to what they are feeling at any time without question or permission. (If there are questions or concerns – they are to be held prayerfully until the next staff meeting before being discussed) !Praying For Others & Prophetic Words We will always create time and space for people to receive prayer from others. At times this may be in response to a particular word or moment that has touched the person asking for prayer, but is often in regards to the many ailments that our enemy uses to threaten us. The prayer team is responsible remaining in an ‘open posture and attitude’ so that people may more confidently approach them for prayer. !The prayer team leader for the day is responsible for sharing any ‘prophetic words’ with the congregation. These are always initiated by the Holy Spirit and must never be born out of the individuals own thoughts/hopes. Members of the prayer team are to gather pre-gathering for discernment concerning ‘what God would say’ to Red Door today. This creates safety for the leader and confirmation of the Holy Spirit’s leading and hopefully ensures the appropriate use of the gifts of the Spirit in corporate settings. !Sermon We strive against the temptation have ‘sermon-centric’ gatherings. This has proven extremely difficult given the church culture conditioning that the pastoral-elders all have. However, notice where the sermon falls on the priority list. We desire to create Jesus-centered gatherings and that very desire can be easily undermined by succumbing to society’s pressure to make the amassing of knowledge the highest goal. The sermon is a time to instruct, encourage, and confront. Often times this will be painfully practical and delve into what it may literally look like to live in the Kingdom of God. Other times the sermon will be a time of exhortation and/or commentary of Biblical text/truth that challenges, illuminates, and provokes thought in the hearers. Regardless of the specific style of any given sermon – the goal is to point people’s hearts and minds towards Jesus alone. !Unless a particular text or topic proves radically important the sermon length needs to stay between 20-25 minutes. Exceptions to the time constraints must remain rare. This is to amplify the value of other more important elements of the gathering and not fall back into the making the sermon the central part of the gathering. It is the responsibility of the

speaker to make sure that they stay within the time limit. They will be signaled at the 20 minute mark to communicate that it is time to begin wrapping things up. !Artistic Expression/Engagement We value engaging in forms of worship that are creative and artistic. This is a result of a sincere belief that all of life is worship and, therefore, we need a myriad of ways to engage – even if they are foreign to us. To put it another way – we need the depth and breadth of worship experiences corporately to adequately open us, create space for, and hold the infinite number of contexts that God desires to reveal Himself to us in everyday life. We also recognize that engaging in worship through diverse artistic means is often foreign to the majority of North American (mostly) evangelical Christians. We see this as an opportunity – NOT a difficulty or reason to shy away from our overarching convictions about the nature of holistic worship. !Therefore, we will regularly (however we define that) strive to engage the arts (in various forms) during our gatherings. As often as possible we want this to have a direct link to the rest of the liturgy in that day/season, but that is not always necessary. The end goal is to lead people, even if subtly, into a more holistic, full, and vibrant experience of God in worship – both corporately and in the day-to-day. !Opening Call The opening call is the first entry point for engagement. Please don’t confuse this, however, for ‘when God starts moving, shows up, or begins working.’ Those things never cease! The opening call is simply the moment when we communally affirm our intention to become attentively aware of those movements and words. Each week we engage a medium (most often words read corporately) in order to do this. !Ideally the opening call changes to correspond with the theme of the day or season that the community is being asked to join us in exploring. *When this isn’t possible we fall back on the many familiar ‘calls’ that we have used throughout the life of Red Door. !Closing Call & Benediction At the ‘close’ of every gathering we refocus our attention on the cross of Christ – without which we would have no reason to gather in the first place. This simple call and response is meant to create space for people to ‘enter the story’ of Jesus one last time before scattering back into all the cracks and crevices Red Door inhabits weekly. We must not attempt to fill these cracks and crevices with our strategies and devices, but rather in the way of the Cross alone. We are given the ability to live this self-sacrificial, Christ-referenced life through the victory of the Cross of Christ – empowered by the Holy Spirit.

We must never neglect or forget this Truth – nor take it as generally understood, agreed with, and lived. !Following the call and response is a benediction (or blessing). The first 3-5 lines of this spoken charge are crafted (usually) by the person who has offered the sermon. They serve as a culminating and sending words always designed to encourage. !The benediction then ends with the following words – ones that have been prayed over people for centuries: !May the people of our Lord Christ go with you; wherever he may send you: May he guide you through the wilderness; and protect you through the storm: May he bring you home rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you: May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: Amen. !Offering Giving of our material things is an important part of what it means to follow Jesus. Giving, however, is not the only important part and is not a measuring stick for the spiritually mature. !We give because Jesus was clear about the spiritual danger attached to the seduction of money. We give because we break the grip of that seduction by giving away what we have. We give because, in Christ, we are being formed into more generous and generative people and we want to cooperate with that formation as much as possible. We give to affirm, again and again, that God is our provider. We give because the Kingdom of God is resourced by the people of God. And we give because we are a community that has literal, practical, and tangible needs that require money. !In some fashion or another we create space for people to give tithes and offerings within our gatherings. However, this is accomplished – it is never something that should go unmentioned or overlooked. In our culture money has a lot of power (for both good and bad). By intentionally and openly addressing this power, we steal its ability to seduce us into selfish, anxiety-ridden mindsets that don’t ultimately trust in God’s goodness towards us. We do trust that God is good and want to tangibly practice that trust with our money. !Passing the Peace Simply said, this is the short space in a gathering to greet the others around you. For many people this isn’t a needed moment in our gatherings as they are/have already been talking with people since they arrived, but these aren’t the people we do it for.

We insist on having a moment within our ‘formal’ gathering to greet and welcome one another for the guests, the shy, and the unsure among us. They are always there and often overlooked – which only serves to reaffirm their potential feelings of isolation and marginalization. In these few minutes we have the opportunity to extend the welcome of Christ (seriously!). !Confession As the people of God we must always stay attuned to the fact that we are not God. In fact, we are far fallen from such heights, and yet the allure of our self-referenced souls continually pull us back into a fraudulent identity. One of the first steps to recovery is to acknowledge that there is a problem. !Having a time of confession doesn’t happen every single week but it should, in one form or another, be experienced on a relatively consistent basis. Practically, this can be accomplished through written prayers, moments of silent reflection/prayer, in small groups during the gathering, or other creative/artistic initiatives designed to help people engage a particular idea in a new way. !The placement of a ‘time for confession’ can vary to best create space for people to sincerely engage the depth of our own depravity and the glorious nature of God’s grace. However, it generally falls directly following the sermon as we prepare for the Eucharist. !Announcements Taking care of ‘family business’ within the context of a corporate worship gathering is no less an act of worship than singing or sermonizing but, if not executed clearly and succinctly, can become a strange and awkward time that distracts people. We must find ways (and places) for the important information to get to people without making it seem like ‘that’ is the real reason we are here. !This portion of a gathering should NEVER take more than 5 minutes. If it seems as if we have more to announce than that time constraint will allow, then we have likely inflated the importance of one or more items. In the case that there is not any pressing event/happening to announce the time can either be deleted entirely or (and this is more preferable) used to communicate a key portion of the Red Door vision, hope, and/or standing in any given area of the life of the church (money, kids, outreach, etc…). Being a bit more rigid in this area will ideally guard against a few things: 1) wasting time 2) feeling like we have to say ‘yes’ to every request to announce, and 3) distracting from the Eucharist. This may be difficult, but it is worth it. !

4a | Creating Space for Community !Creating Realistic Space for Spiritual Formation & Growth !Spiritual formation happens everywhere, all the time, through everything. Even so, the Christian life does not always come naturally so we need to be intentional about creating specific contexts/pathways for people to grow deep in their spiritual life through spiritual formation-based instruction, discipleship, engagement, discussion and community-building. Being intentional about creating separate space for instruction/deeper expressions of spirituality also frees up our worship gatherings to be more centered around Eucharist than the sermon/instruction. !The Challenge !I (Jordan) have been troubled as I meet with people who are committed to the church and the Christian life, yet are not experiencing growth or health in their relationship with Christ. At basic levels, this is almost always because of one or more of the following: !

• A less-than thorough understanding of who God is and the goal/nature of the Christian life • Theological misunderstandings which are not helpful or biblical • Attempts to “white-knuckle” Christian growth without any idea how to actually connect with

Jesus • Running into an emotional wall (fear, shame, unforgiveness, lack of understanding of

identity in Christ, etc.) which prevents next steps from being taken and prevent the individual from being able to be present to God

• Running into a physical wall by trying hard to live the Christian life without any practice or rhythm of soul care and abiding in Christ

!In this season of Red Door, we sense a heightened pastoral responsibility to intentionally address these issues at Red Door. The sermon provides us some opportunity to address these concerns, but we don’t want to become sermon-heavy or sermon-driven in our gatherings. !Therefore it is essential that we create some other context to regularly and intentionally instruct and discuss what it means to practically live out the Christian life and “grow up” spiritually. It will only be as we mature as believers who are regularly abiding in Jesus for the source of our ministry efforts that we will be able to sustain outreach to the Fairview neighborhood (healthy community and sustainable commission must flow out of an abiding communion). !

The Vision What is pastorally clear is that we need some mechanism for intentional spiritual formation/instruction that goes beyond what we can provide in a worship gathering. !What is practically clear is that whatever model we offer has to realistically address four logistic hurdles which may mitigate people’s ability to be involved: time, location, cost, childcare. !If we could get beyond the logistic hurdles, we may find that a class/group like this - gathering together with others from Red Door around tables, over coffee or a shared meal, while digging deep into fleshing out Christianity through instruction and discussion - would simultaneously help address the need for both deep/wide community (in tandem with our other community-building efforts such as small groups and events). !If we create the type of context where individuals are regularly being challenged, edified, and relationally encouraged in the midst of learning about the Christian life, we could see growth in spiritual/emotional maturity, buy-in, and connectivity to Red Door. This would also provide us with a clear “next step” for people who are attending worship gatherings but nothing further, making it a vital link in our integration plan. !The Proposed Solution: Pathway Gatherings As has been previously stated, the primary goal of Sunday mornings is to create a place of refuge which leads the church corporately and individually to Jesus, who is our ultimate refuge. !Beyond refuge however, there is a pathway well-tread by Christians for centuries which leads us to growing up in Christ. The pathway of spiritual growth is marked by a growing union with Jesus, and aided by spiritual practices, a growing understanding of healthy theology, and an awareness of the emotional wholeness found in Christ. These vital aspects of our faith need more expression at Red Door than is possible on a Sunday morning. !A Pathway Gathering would be a class built around instruction/discussion around both practical theology and the deeper journey of the spiritual life. It provides a specific context to intentionally flesh out living the Christian life. It would most likely meet every week or every other week, on a weeknight. !The goal would be for the majority of the community to participate, and this would be a vital part of the pathway of participation at Red Door (going beyond the scope of a typical small group).

Examples of Spiritual Formation Topics to be Discussed !First Steps of the Christian Life

• view of God & purpose of christian life as loving union • theology & practice of kingdom • treasures of the traditions & christian/church history • principles for healthy biblical interpretation

!The Deeper Journey

• the nature of spiritual formation • spiritual practices / disciplines • soul care, sabbath, rest, and spiritual rhythm • identity in Christ (true self / false self) • classical stages of christian journey, dark night & paschal mystery • ministry leadership / practicum • integrating christianity & science • exploration of shame/power/control • work, vocation & calling (utilizing meyers briggs, enneagram, etc.) • healing ministry (prayer ministry, emotional healing, physical healing, etc.)

!Additional Community / Formation Mechanisms !Small Groups Small groups have been a helpful part of what it means to build spiritually vital community, but at least in our context they seem to be more geared toward building a “wide” net of casual relationships than “deep” relationships or the contexts for the type of instruction which provides clear steps for Christian growth. !

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage

(in whose heart are the highways to Zion).” -Psalm 84:5

Comparison of Community / Formation Mechanisms !

!

Small Groups Pathway Gatherings

Geared Toward Formation (Deep Relationships)

low - medium high

Geared Toward Community (Wide Relationships)

high medium - high

Energy Required!from Staff

low - medium high

Energy Required !from Volunteers

high low

Childcare rarely yes

Accessible throughout semester yes, but difficult entry

yes

Allows Others to Use Their Voices

somewhat somewhat

Requires availability at times outside of Sunday

yes most likely

Commitment Level Required to Maintain Group’s Momentum

medium high

Allows us to equip with our unique voice

medium high

Diversity vs. Unity of Direction / Voices / Synergy

high diversity,low unity

high unity, low diversity

Other • Provides greater opportunities for people in community to share about their passion, but requires more initiative to do so well, which also saps energy from those individuals from volunteering/shaping other areas. !

• Provides little opportunity for us to harmonize voices / equipping happening in church.!

• Provides a simple and easy to communicate step for “deep community”

4c | Creating Space for Commission !Serve the City, Serve the Church. !Outreach is a core part of our vision, but one that we have struggled to gain collective traction with. Holding gatherings at Fairview provides us with a direct link to both a school and a neighborhood, both of which provide us plentiful opportunities to care for others. !Loving our neighbors well at Red Door is two-fold: first, we serve our city. The integration plan would call for every member of our community to have regular interaction with some area of outward-focused community care. This would begin during the Jumpstart Gatherings as every participant will be a part of the “outreach team”. !We are currently pursuing a variety of opportunities and partnerships for practical outreach in the Fairview neighborhood. A specific emphasis is on student achievement and literacy at the school. Beyond assisting with literacy efforts, other outreach possibilities would be a once per month outreach day (for example, every first saturday of the month) where a variety of outreach efforts are coordinated by the outreach team for the rest of the church to join with ($1 car washes, water bottles on b-line trail, block parties at Butler Park, etc.). !In addition to serving the city, we serve the church. We ask each individual in the church to volunteer on a core volunteer team: Red Door Kids / Family Ministry or the Prep Team. !All in all, we ask every member of Red Door to create space in their schedule each week for serving others. Ideally once per month (though at first it may be more often), this time is given directly to Red Door through volunteering. The remaining weeks out of the month that service time is available to give to Fairview Outreach or other areas of interest to the individual.

5 | Integration !Putting it all together to create a clear, concise pathway of participation in Red Door Church. !A core organizational goal for this summer is to lock in on how we specifically are asking individuals to “participate” or “belong” in the church. What is the ideal for participating in the life of the church? What are the requirements to be a “member” at Red Door? What pathway are we calling people to take steps on? !According to our Jumpstart Plan, we want to call individuals in the church to a pathway of participation that looks like this: !Communion > Regularly be a part of Red Door worship gatherings. ! Community > Regularly invest in building deep & wide relationships at Red Door. ! Commission > Serve the city + serve the church. !The nature of spiritual formation should inform what belonging to a church looks like. !The pathway above not only provides a healthy model for spiritual formation (everything flows from loving union with Jesus, spills over into those with whom we share life together, and finally overflows into our city/neighborhoods at large), it also gives us a logical, sequential, concise series of steps that an individual can follow to become integrated to our church. !!

Being intentional about relational integration. !A core issue for Red Door is learning how to help people move from casual attenders to people who self-identify as “bought in” to the Red Door community and begin to act accordingly. A good pathway of participation is a nice idea organizationally, but will only be as effective as our ability to engage people with hospitality and invite them relationally (organically) to take next steps. Below is a step by step plan for relational integration: !#1 | First Step - Communion: Recognizing that most people will experience our community for the first time through a corporate worship gathering, it is crucial that our gatherings have intentional space created to both share Red Door’s vision/mission and invite people to join in it. Therefore, each gathering should make space for:!

• Intentionally reaching out beyond comfort: We ensure we have our logistics finished a minimum of 15 minutes before the gathering to ensure there is time for intentional conversation with guests or people who haven’t yet integrated fully into the church. This must be embedded into the culture of Red Door, beginning with leadership, elders, and team leaders.!

• Corporate Welcome & Connect Cards: Our typical welcome time should include a brief recap of our vision/mission and invite people to use the connect cards to find out more. Focus should move away from the email list and toward taking a next step with the Red Door community (assuming that the invitation to take a “next step” will almost always apply to most people in the room in some way). New people can either drop connect cards in offering or bring them to guest welcome time at end of gathering (below).!

• Communication about our vision: Each gathering needs to intentionally have space for us to talk about what matters to Red Door. These times are not only good reminders for our community, they are invitations to those who are still learning what Red Door is all about. Each week we need to find a way to name/explain the pathway of belonging and invite people to take next steps. To the degree we major on this, we’ll see people more clearly self-identifying to us where they stand in regard to Red Door, which aids our ability to prioritize pastoral care and grow volunteer teams / leaders intentionally. We invest the majority of our energy into those who are self-identifying a willingness to consistently take next steps.!

• Communication about our faith: As odd as it may sound, we need to be more intentional about building in clear descriptions of the faith, what it means to follow Jesus, and explaining the value of practical steps to do so (sacraments of baptism and eucharist).

!• Post-Gathering Guest Welcome: More intentionally invite guests to join us at the end of

each gathering, and one of the pastors/elders meets them in a designated area to introduce core Red Door vision, give them a cd or other relevant info, & invite them to take a next step. !

• Post-Gathering Meals: We have a small team of people willing to spearhead a meal after each gathering. These meals could either be at a restaurant or a host home. Pastors rotate so that we join in the meal at least once per month (the fourth week has been a corporate meal anyway). People are going to be much more willing to take the leap to attend a meal if a pastor who they have seen on stage is the one asking, versus a “random” person from the community. For that reason, the same pastor who runs the “guest welcome” post-gathering also goes the meal that week, enabling them to personally invite someone to join them for a meal after the gathering.

!#2 | Next Steps - Community: We intentionally seek to create opportunities for further interaction: !

• We consistently and “aggressively” ask new(ish) people if they would like to get together for lunch, coffee, etc. If we can get someone to meet us outside of church, their chances of becoming connected to our community skyrocket. Two meetings outside of church almost guarantees they will integrate into at least regular Sunday attendance.!

• We follow up with anyone who filled out a Connect Card, inviting them to a “next step.”!

• Once a month or every other month, we have a “Intro to Red Door” hosted at one of our houses (Allen’s?). This is a meant to be less of a presentation about Red Door, and more of a relational connection. We invite elders or other core Red Door members to come as well, and spend the evening sharing a meal, talking, playing games, and getting to know one another. Rock Family Church says that this event is the single most important thing they do to integrate new people into the church. If it’s only 1-2 people each time, this shouldn’t discourage us, and is better than not doing it at all.!

• We attempt to personally aid in the integration to classes/groups and volunteer teams. !#3 | Taking The Step - Commission: We continue connecting with new people and when it seems appropriate, invite them to pray about joining the Co-Op, which is a commitment to be fully engaged in the life of the church using the pathway of belonging described above.

This means everyone in the Co-Op is regularly attending, connected to community / relationship-building, serving the city, and serving the church. !

• The Co-Op could be guided by a collective Rule of Life (example: http://newlifefellowship.org/docs/RuleOfLife.pdf).!

• We celebrate new members in our community during our corporate gatherings once per month. If we start emphasizing this, more people will join. New members come forward, are prayed for and welcomed, and light a candle (or something) to symbolize their entrance into our community.!

• Every new Co-Op members gets a one-on-one meeting with a pastor for more intentional pastoral care and connection (learning their story, etc.)

!An example of the pathway to belonging. !Most likely individuals will show up to a worship gathering as their first step into the community. Our goal is to actively engage them and invite them to take the next steps. The most natural progression might look like this: !

• First Step - Communion • Show up at a gathering • Hear about Red Door vision & pathway of belonging • Go to guest welcome or post-gathering meal • Show up at a few more gatherings!

• Second Step - Community • Connection through outside church meetings, connect card follow-up, or Intro to RD • Be encouraged to join a class/small group (which are accessible anytime in the

semester). • Join a volunteer team or join Red Door’s outreach efforts.!

• Third Step - Commission • Join the Co-Op, and be recognized during public gathering. • Regularly engage in pastoral care.

!This pathway of belonging at Red Door needs to become a core part of our culture, and should be named/explained at every Sunday gathering, with the constant theme being to take a “next step.”

6 | Family Ministry !Vision for Family Ministry & Red Door Kids. Providing opportunities for children, youth, and families to grow in their relationship with Jesus and know him as the refuge and pathway for their lives. !Vibe/Culture Fun without bowing to entertainment, friendship & caring, unique/memorable, theological/philosophical alignment to the church as a whole, !People

• Leadership: pastoral oversight -> ministry leaders (0-5, K-6, youth)-> lead teachers/trainers-> teachers->helpers

• Other roles: admin (scheduling of volunteers, backgrounds, etc.), worship leaders, prayer team, family events leader, drama/storytellers

!Practice

• Center-based experiences. Each area defines the activity. Lessons/discussions aren’t happening in the same exact location as singing, games, snacks, etc.

• As the kids ministry grows, it would be more of a VBS model where different groups are going through the centers at different times. This starts with one group now doing these different things, but could accommodate each grade having its own group and moving through the areas in a rotation.

!Space This is a huge variable, but there should be a demarcation of the worship area (screen/TV/standing or floor sitting only), lesson/story time (carpet squares/tent/cardboard castle), snacks & activities (tables). !Curriculum A curriculum that doesn’t simply teach stories and morals, but helps kids understand the big picture of the Bible, focuses on Jesus, provides learning opportunities that go beyond a verbal lesson (activities, object lessons, crafts, etc.). !

• Children will learn about the power and activity of God here and now. • There will be a global understanding of the church and mission. • The cycle of learning should repeat itself over the course of time (2-3 years) so kids can

access it at age-appropriate levels repeatedly.

!Middle & High School Ministry !The middle and high school ministry would potentially meet during Sunday School or Sunday gatherings. !Next Steps for Family Ministry: !

• Prioritize these steps. Creating a detailed punch list by laying out steps required for every detail of the vision above (what are the ingredients of this “culture”, what specific things need to be purchased/made, what steps need to be taken for leadership roles, curriculum, etc).!

• Coordinating / planning middle & high school ministry and events.

7 | Volunteering at Red Door !Doing what we do in ways that are simpler, but better. !An area of consistent concern is volunteer capacity and energy. The volunteer system seems to be a prime candidate for review to find ways to make volunteering at Red Door simpler but better. !Simpler This begins with minimizing the amount of teams and roles necessary, without reducing the quality of our teams. Right off the bat it seems that we can combine the Setup/Reset and Welcome Teams into a single team focused around “preparing the way” for a gathering. This combined group becomes a “Prep” team, charged with both preparing a space of refuge and welcoming people into that refuge. Second, we are transitioning to a model where musicians also serve on the A/V team as part of their commitment to the band. This will reduce/eliminate the need for additional A/V volunteers. These steps eliminate two of our previous four volunteer teams right away. !Better Being a community of refuge calls for consistent improvement in how we serve each area of the church. Leadership, vision-casting, and effective training are all areas that warrant emphasis and improvement. !

• A medium-range goal is to identify and train a church-wide volunteer coordinator, who facilitates scheduling in tandem with team leaders and helps ensure quality/consistent training and follow-up.!

• New volunteers get an in-person or phone follow up within 72 hours (not email).!

• Each volunteer should be partnered with a dedicated “trainer” who works with them during their first shift to not only demonstrate procedures but also to model the tone/attitude with which we serve. More is caught than taught, so this trainer needs to have the “heart” of the team and model that intentionally. !

• Training is consistent and thorough, and emphasis is placed on culture/ethos/vision, not policies.!

• Each volunteer is contacted regularly by their team leaders.

Jumpstarting the Volunteer Culture & Commitment !Volunteer Culture We need to work throughout the summer to change the expectations and understanding of what it means to serve our church and our city. For years we have defined serving/volunteering as a “once per month” commitment, and will need to work to adapt expectations amongst our jumpstart groups of being willing to serve as often as needed for a season. We also need to adjust the mindset that volunteering only begins with our church, but should overflow to serving the city through outreach as well. Our success in reframing this mindset of volunteering will be determined by our ability to concisely and consistently communicate this new mindset. !Additional Emphasis of the Revamped Volunteer System: !

• reduce volunteer weariness • reduce summer volunteer crisis • reduce the need for semester-based volunteering • improve, harmonize, and simplify volunteer training • reduce the strain on team leaders • reduce the total number of volunteers while increasing the quality of our volunteering • more easily integrate new volunteers !

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9 | Organization and Implementation !Additional Recurring Commitments for Pastors !

• 1x Per Month: Do the “guest welcome” at the end of a gathering and encourage/invite to join the post-gathering meal (the pastor who will be going to the meal that week also does the guest welcome, enabling them to make a personal invite to the meal).

• 1x Per Month: Post-gathering meal with guests and Red Doorians (offered after every gathering, rotated amongst the 3 pastors)

• 1x Per Month or Every Other Month: Intro to Red Door at Allen’s House • 1x Per Month: Community Lunch after gathering !

Leadership Roles Still To Be Determined • Community Events Coordinator • Small Groups Coordinator • Volunteer Coordinator • Welcome / Setup / Reset Team Leader • A/V Team Leader / Facilitator / Trainer

!Red Door Wheel !A calendar has been built to keep us moving on a variety of other rotating items / commitments / events that we need to stay aware of: !Recurring Events:!!

• Community Lunch - every final Sunday of the month!• Welcome New Members - every first Sunday of the month!• Baptisms - September 20, March 15!• Co-Op / Family Town Hall Meeting - October 15, April 15 !• Intro to Red Door - every other month, beginning June 1!!

Recurring Volunteer System Milestones:!!• Semester Recap/Planning meeting with Team Leaders - December 1, May 1, August 1!• Team Training Event for all Volunteers - January 15, September 1!• Check-in meetings with Team Leaders - March 1, June 1, October 1!!!

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the end (if you’re still reading this, be the first person to come up to Jordan

and say “I win” and you’ll get a $5 Starbucks card)