To continue the discussion started during our recent All-Church Retreat, a lunch meeting will be held after the second service on Sunday, April 15th for all those who are interested. Please call the church office at 716-632-1330 to reserve your spot.

On March 16 and 17th the Visioning Committee hosted a weekend retreat featuring Rev. Ken McFayden, author of Strategic Leadership for a Change: Facing our Losses, Finding our Future and Dean of the Center for Ministry and Leadership Development at Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education.

We convened to review what the defining points are for North, what we have cherished and wish to hold on to. We also looked at our concerns such as our declining membership and our budget issues, fatigue factor of some of our active members and inability to attract a lot of young families. We also discussed the losses we have experienced over the past few years.

Ken talked about how we look at change, why we resist it and how to plan for it. “People don’t resist change… they resist loss”. One of Ken’s main points was one must address the loss involved in change before change can be accomplished. Any change involves many losses and it is a mistake not to take this into consideration. We also discussed why we, as a church, might need to make some changes, what our core values are and what we are most eager to hold on to. We had small group discussions and large group presentations. Almost 65 people participated and spent Friday evening and most of Saturday together.

Another important topic was the “why” of what we do at North. We are very good at the What we do and the How we do it but not very good at expressing the Why we do what we do. Ken’s idea is that people are drawn to places that can express their “why” with clarity and continuity.

We wish to continue this discussion and look at areas we may wish to adjust or change. A lunch meeting will be held after the second service on Sunday, April 15th for all those who are interested.