butterfly_dreamstime_s_39494415During this time of transition at Our Savior’s, we have taken great care to come together in prayer and deep reflection to understand where God is leading our church. We are excited to share our refreshed Mission, Vision and Values statements, which will fuel our search for OSLC’s next lead pastor.

Mission: Our Savior’s Lutheran Church is a caring community called by Christ to serve and live in faith.

Vision: We will be energized, engaged and equipped to demonstrate God’s love to all.

Values: With guidance from these core Values, we will deliver our Mission and aspire to our Vision:

  • Supporting children, youth, family, senior and inter-generational ministries.
  • Providing meaningful worship and spiritual growth.
  • Welcoming all people into our faith community and nurturing caring relationships.
  • Reaching out to share God’s gifts with those in need in our community and the world.

Process steeped in member feedback

Following are the steps we’ve taken to inject member voices into our expression of the Mission, Vision and Values of the church.

  • We invited all members to provide feedback and ideas through listening sessions, online and/or paper surveys. About 100 members elected to share their perspectives through these focus groups and surveys.
  • The Transition Team reviewed all member responses and highlighted the three strongest (most frequent) themes that emerged for each survey question. See the summary of the member response themes by clicking on this link: Listening Session Theme Summary.
  • The Transition Team, Staff and Board of Administration participated in an all-day retreat to review the transition research themes and results from the 2017 CAT survey. Collectively that group drafted Mission, Vision and Values statements based on member responses.
  • The Transition Team presented the drafts to the congregation on Oct. 21, and the final statements reflect relevant feedback from members that day.

Next steps

The Mission, Vision and Values statements represent the first of two primary deliverables for the Transition Team. Next up for the team is to translate those statements and the member research results to foundational documentation OSLC will use to call our next pastor, namely the Ministry Site Profile and the Seven Reflections on Ministry and Context.

These documents are required by the St. Paul Area Synod to initiate the call process. In the documents, we’ll describe the leadership strengths, abilities and professional skills that OSLC has identified as critical for our new pastor. The congregation will be invited to review the Ministry Site Profile with the Bishop in January. See the expected timeline for more information. <link to timeline draft below>

Once we have reviewed the Ministry Site Profile with the congregation, we’ll handoff the final versions to a separate Call Committee.  The Call Committee will be elected by the congregation at the Annual Meeting in January. The Call Committee will take on the responsibilities of the formal call process as defined by the St. Paul Area Synod.

Expected timeline (note, dates not confirmed yet)

Now – Dec. 20 – Transition Team works on the Ministry Site Profile and presents draft to Board on Dec. 20.

Now – Dec. 31 – Board compiles the Call Committee member nominations.

January 13 (Christine is following up with Bishop to confirm date) – Bishop presents the Ministry Site Profile to the congregation.

January 20 –  Call Committee is elected by the congregation at the Annual Meeting.

January 27 – Call Committee is installed and begins selection work (including but not limited to applicant profile reviews, referral checks, candidate interviews, sermon observations, etc.). This work may take six months or longer.

After new pastor comes onboard – Strategic planning begins.