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Timothy Project aims to build on identified strengths

by Marlene Gasdia-Cochrane, Editor

December 2006 / January 2007

You’ve seen the Massachusetts Conference United Church of Christ vision statement on almost every piece of information from the Conference.  “Nurturing local church vitality and the covenant among our churches,” is even at the top of this page.  Well, it’s not just an abstract statement.  One of the programs initiated by a Confer-ence staff team this past year is a pilot initiative called the Timothy Project – a program specifically developed to work with churches that exhibit strong growth and potential to thrive.  As part of the initiative, churches will assess their strengths instead of the more common practice of focusing on challenges or weaknesses, and then share with other clergy and lay leaders the elements that make their congregations thrive.

According to Susan P. Dickerman, Associate Conference Minister for Leadership Development, last June ten churches were invited to participate in this experimental

project developed to assess and strengthen their vision, ministry, mission and relationship to the United Church of Christ. It is hoped that during this three-year project, these selected churches will be able to affirm their areas of strength and growth and then build on these strengths to more fully and actively live out their mission. Following that reflection and study, the churches will network with other local church clergy and laity and share what they learned.

“The ultimate goal of the Timothy Project is to gain a better understanding of what helps congregations to flourish,” Dickerman explained, “so that the Conference’s resources can be directed to Conference churches, pastors and lay leaders that will encourage spiritual renewal and growth.”  Manifestations of such renewal and growth might  include increased worship attendance and discipleship, participation in adult faith formation programs, stewardship commitment, awareness of and participation in mission and justice ministries, and awareness of and commitment to the United Church of Christ.

Anne Bogan, clerk of the Tabernacle Church Congregational, UCC, of Salem said that her church was selected because it was continuing to flourish year after year. “We performed a survey of our strengths during our visioning phase in order to try and figure out why we have had a ten-year period of growth.  Why do churches thrive or struggle?  What works and what doesn’t?  If we figure out these answers for our own church, then we can use what we learned to take on and help other churches work positively and proactively toward change,” she said.

The Conference staff team identified the 10 churches to participate.  For a church to be considered for the pilot project, a number of qualities had to be present among its clergy, members, and lay leadership that would help make the project most successful. Among the criteria, participating churches needed to possess enthusiastic, passionate and stable pastoral leadership as well as a team of lay leaders who were open to change and willing to covenant with the staff in a process of transformation. A desire to immerse more deeply in faith and to engage in intentional adult faith development in the congregation was required as well as a growing commitment to the Conference and denomination through Basic Support and Fellowship Dues.

After the invitations to participate were extended, meetings were held with pastors, members, and lay leadership. Congre-gations held discussions and informational sessions on the project. Along with voting to participate, congregations were asked to establish a church leadership team who would sign a Covenant between the participating church and the Con-ference, then put together an appropriate plan and vision with the help of Conference coaches.  According to Dickerman, at the one-, two- and three-year marks, the participating congregations will be gathered at a retreat to evaluate, resource, plan, reflect, celebrate and worship. On February 24th there will be a specially designed lay training event just for the Timothy Churches that will respond to the areas that they agreed were important to them in their ministry.

 “The vision of each church will guide its individual process,” said Dickerman.  “Beyond the common beginning place of assessment and the development of a vision, each congregation will develop a unique set of next steps that are built on the congregation’s strengths.”

Last year, the Salem church surveyed their members about the strengths of Tabernacle as well as their dreams for the future of the church and the community that they serve.  The results of the survey gave the committee a clear idea of Tabernacle’s strong points. Then the Timothy Project committee categorized the dreams that the congregation gave and determined how best to go about seeing these dreams come to fruition, with the help of the church community and the guidance of the Massachusetts Conference staff. “Many members of the congregation dream of many of our traditions and strengths remaining as they are, while others have new dreams for the church,” said Joshua Cabral, Timothy Project Chair for Salem. “But each ministry category – including Community and Traditions, Discipleship and Spiritual Growth, Sacred Arts, Youth, Mission Post and Outreach, and Healing – is supported by suggestions and ideas from people in the congregation.”

“Our next step is to put together a plan of action and present it to the congregation,” he said.

“We have already held several all-church meetings during which we have discussed our history, core values, and hopes/plans for the future,” said John Carson, a member of the Timothy Project Leadership Team at the Central Congregational Church in Chelmsford.

“Individual committees have developed action items and church members ranked them according to importance to our overall mission and their willingness to commit their personal time and resources. The interest and involvement from church members has been very encouraging.  We as a Timothy Team feel that we are looking at our future in a much different way than we have before when we used solely a committee approach.”

As a result of Timothy exercises, pastor Kelly Gallagher and the leadership of Christ’s Community Church in Chicopee have moved their Sunday morning worship to 4:00 in the afternoon with a neighborhood meal following the service. Gallagher believes that the change of time will encourage people from the community who are not already affiliated with any church.  “Emphasizing and embracing community are strengths of this church,” says Gallagher, “and having the dinner following the service is just right for us to support this vision strength.”

“The Timothy Project has allowed us to evaluate where we are as a church and to begin finding the path that God is leading us to,” said Carson.  “It has also engaged more of our membership in the process instead of the usual few very active people.  This has meant a more well rounded view and has helped us to focus our energies, which we expect will result in our strong church becoming even stronger.”

Dickerman explained, “We believe that God’s Holy Spirit has, and is, filling our congregations with multiple gifts. Our task, as Confer-ence leaders, is to help congregations recognize and develop their gifts for ministry as fully as possible.” 

 “We have so many strengths to build on in our community,” said Laura Biddle, pastor of the Tabernacle Church in Salem, “the best way to get the fire of vitality going is to blow on the embers that are already present, gently if the embers are dim, more strongly if flames are bright. Perhaps we can take a light from a fire in one area to help another area become ablaze. Maybe our congregational vitality is so strong that we need to start a new fire somewhere else or with new people.”

 “One of the things I appreciate most about the Conference vision is that it reaffirms that our churches are already vital,” said Associate Conference Minister the Rev. Dr. Peter Wells, “but this new vision is guiding our deliberations, planning, and activity for the future.”

The Timothy Project is so-named in response to the Apostle Paul’s encouraging words to his young disciple Timothy, to “rekindle the gift of God that is within you” (II Timothy 1:6).