{"id":1082,"date":"2011-12-17T11:38:19","date_gmt":"2011-12-17T16:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stlydias.org\/blog\/?p=1082"},"modified":"2012-09-20T17:01:42","modified_gmt":"2012-09-20T21:01:42","slug":"lydians-decide-our-governance-system-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/lydians-decide-our-governance-system-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Lydians Decide! Our Governance System Process"},"content":{"rendered":"
Dear Lydians,<\/p>\n

I’m writing today to outline the process we’ll be using to develop the governance system for our community. \u00a0But before I go one step further, I want to stop for a moment, and, as is our practice, notice a few things.<\/p><\/div>\n

At the end of July, we said farewell to Pastor Phil and Trinity Lower East Side, and embarked on a time of transition that was just a little longer and more complicated than we imagined it would be! \u00a0We spend August, September, October and November in a time of significant transition as we moved, wandered, sought, and finally found our new home at the Zen Center.<\/p>\n

What have I noticed?<\/p>\n

That never once did I worry that we would not survive this transition.<\/p><\/div>\n

The ease and flexibility with which we adjusted to each new space we worshipped in, improvising together as we did so.<\/div>\n
The hospitality and generosity of our congregants who opened their homes to us, helped pack and move boxes, and sorted out new subway commutes to Church each Sunday<\/p>\n

In short, that our church is not a building, but a people, made up of all of you, who I am privileged to serve.<\/p><\/div>\n

Now it is time to embark on our next big project: developing a governance system.<\/p>\n

Developing Our Governance System<\/span><\/div>\n

For the past three years, St. Lydia’s has made our decisions informally, with me asking questions of the community, listening to your responses, and guiding us forward. \u00a0Church planting experts confirm that this is an appropriate way for a new community to govern itself. \u00a0In the third year, it is generally time for a community to develop and formalize a governance system.<\/div>\n
It is my hope that this process will be guided primarily by you: the community. \u00a0My role as your pastor is to provide a framework for the process and to facilitate it in moving forward.\u00a0 At the end of this process, my hope is that the community will feel that you have created our governance system as a body.<\/p>\n

The Framework For Our Process<\/span><\/div>\n

We’ll meet once a month for a Community Conversation. \u00a0These meetings will be in the evenings. \u00a0The meetings will revolve around a particular subject or issue that the group has decided on. \u00a0At each meeting, we’ll decide decide when and where the next meeting will be, what we’d like to focus on for the next meeting, and what kind of preparation we should do for the next meeting. \u00a0Notes on the meeting will be distributed via the update so that everyone can stay up to date on the conversation — even ones they couldn’t attend in person.\u00a0 I\u2019ve planed our first two meetings to give us a broad and biblical foundation from which to explore.\u00a0 After that, the community will take the reigns of the conversation.<\/p>\n

Our First Two Meetings<\/span><\/div>\n

The goal for our first meeting is to think broadly and creatively \u00a0by reading about a variety of different types of governance systems used by different communities. \u00a0Jeremy has compiled a list of books and articles for us to explore in the coming month. \u00a0Click here<\/a>\u00a0to see the list of books and articles and sign up on line to read one of them. \u00a0Also on the list are some real, live communities that have interesting governance systems. \u00a0If you’re interested in those communities, you’re invited to set up a phone call or e-mail with a leader there to learn more.<\/p>\n

After doing our research, we’ll gather at our first meeting, to be held from 7:00 – 9:00 pm on Monday, January 30, and report back on what we found.\u00a0 We\u2019ll also put together a preliminary list of topics we would like to explore as a part of this process.<\/p><\/div>\n

I would like our second meeting to focus on biblical models for decision making.\u00a0 We can discuss how we would like to approach this discussion at our first meeting.<\/p>\n

Why This Is Important<\/span><\/div>\n

Read Paul’s letters, and you’ll catch a glimpse of communities in conflict, and sometimes in crisis. \u00a0Paul writes to these house churches, coaching them through the differences they’re having and the changes they’re experiencing, urging them to hold together as the body of Christ. \u00a0Looking around us, it is abundantly clear that trying to make decisions together is difficult. \u00a0Churches, community groups, families, nations — all struggle to remain unified while hearing and responding to diverse voices and opinions. \u00a0St. Lydia\u2019s governance system will not help us avoid conflict and crisis. \u00a0Conflict and crisis are inevitable. \u00a0Rather, our governance system will help us to hold together as the body of Christ when conflict and crisis emerge. \u00a0Our charge is to create a system that, at its best, equips us to become the congregation God is calling us to be. \u00a0Your voice, perspective, and experience \u00a0is important in this conversation, as we build St. Lydia’s together.<\/p>\n

Love,<\/p><\/div>\n

Emily<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Lydians, I’m writing today to outline the process we’ll be using to develop the governance system for our community. \u00a0But before I go one step further, I want to stop for a moment, and, as is our practice, notice a few things. At the end of July, we said farewell to Pastor Phil and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[66,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1082"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1093,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082\/revisions\/1093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}