Final Report of the Committee on Goals, Objectives and Strategies

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Mission Design for the Presbytery of Baltimore

The Body of Jesus Christ in the New Century

Preamble: Setting the Context..................................................................................

The Mission...........................................................................................................

Core Values...........................................................................................................

Summary of Goals.................................................................................................

Resourcing Congregations

Christian Education and Youth

Evangelism

Support of Clergy

Broad Inclusivity

Resourcing Congregations....................................................................................... 9

The Issue

Data

Discussion

Goal

Strategies

Christian Education and Youth...............................................................................

The Issue

Data

Discussion

Goal

Strategies

Evangelism: Beyond Member Recruitment...............................................................

The Issue

Data

Discussion

Goal

Strategies

Support of Clergy................................................................................................

The Issue

Data

Discussion

Goal

Strategies

Broad Inclusivity..................................................................................................

The Issue

Data

Discussion

Goals

Strategies

Finance............................................................................................................... 35

The Issue 35

Data 35

Discussion 35

Goal 36

Strategies 36

Mission............................................................................................................... 38

The Issue 38

Data 39

Background 40

Goal 42

Strategies 42

Steps Accomplished 43

Next Steps 43

Justice................................................................................................................. 45

The Issue 45

Data 46

Evaluation 47

Discussion 48

Goal 49

Strategies 49

Summary of Strategies and Recommendations.......................................................... 51

The Mission Statement, Core Values and Goals presented in the COGOS Final Report were adopted by Presbytery on January 27, 2005. The Goal for Mission was adopted by Presbytery on April 27, 2005 and the Goals for Finance and Justice were adopted by Presbytery on June 22, 2005.

O:\Agencies\Council\COGOS\COGOS Report\MissionDesignPresBaltoOct2005.doc

Preamble: Setting the Context

The work of the Committee on Goals, Objectives and Strategies (COGOS) began with the need to review and restate the Presbytery of Baltimore’s goals and objectives. At the same time, realization dawned upon the Presbytery Council that the Executive Presbyter would most likely retire during the time frame of these new goals. The Council felt that such a signal event would make it necessary to review the overall purposes and needs of our Presbytery. It was time to take stock of our strengths and see where our energies could be redirected toward fresh needs. COGOS was charged with that task.

COGOS was conceived by the foresight of the Moderator at the time, Elder George Farmer, and by the Presbytery Council anticipating these dynamics of change. Some feel anxiety as Dr. Valentine approaches retirement, and as comfortable styles give way to different ones; as traditional objectives are fulfilled and new objectives emerge in their place. But a time of transition is a natural time to take stock and consider fresh perspectives. Times of change and transition enable us to reconsider who we are and what we are about within the larger mission of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Any such period of great internal change creates a predictable range of feelings, from fear and tension to hope and excitement. What adds an unprecedented dimension to our dynamic is that this internal change occurs in a period of great external change —fundamental shifts are underway within our culture and world as well as in our congregations and ministries. Each of us can point to experiences, situations and conditions that reflect such change. One phrase, by-now-familiar, captures its significance: “paradigm shift.” The contextual change we experience is one that replaces, and in some cases, refutes the basic assumptions by which we have been operating and the underlying understandings that give our ministry and roles their identity. This change in fundamental assumptions about the world heightens overall anxiety significantly.

We describe this paradigm shift with words that follow “post,” by which we indicate that something has been left behind while something brand new — something as yet too unfamiliar to name in its own right, but still not quite alien — is emerging. Variously, we say we live in a “post-modern” era meaning that the Enlightenment with its rationalistic orientation informs us less and less and scientific naturalism is no longer the primary determinant of knowledge or experience. We also say we live in a “post-Constantinian” culture whereby government, society and culture no longer favor the church, its practices and traditions. In this view we are at best seeking to be faithful in a neutral, but too often hostile society. And some say this is the “post-Christian” period where the world around us no longer treats us as having the Truth or as being the center of daily life and belief. Here, the Church is seen as having become but one option in a self-help individualistic mall of options.

To argue or lament whether these paradigm shifts are good or bad is to beg the issue. They are before us, and we must redefine and redirect who we are in the face of them.

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