Long Range Planning

7/26/2004
By: Holy Trinity Lutheran

LONG RANGE PLAN FOR HOLY TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH

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Holy Trinity’s mission statement reads as follows, “Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church is committed to touching in love the lives of more people in our growing community that they might also come to an experience of the Gospel of Christ, join our parish fellowship, and reach out in their own ministries in the world.” We feel we are to “Love, Learn, Live the Word of God”!

That is the statement of mission. It also can be said that the nature of the Church is mission. The church is here for mission. The mission of Holy Trinity, biblically can be seen first in Matt. 28, “Go ye therefore and make Disciples…” We are about helping to make disciples. We could also see it in Matt. 25: “I was hungry and you gave me food…” We have certainly helped with this through the years. Or we could be seen as a great commandment church, Matt. 22, “You should love the Lord your God with all your mind, all your heart, all your soul and your neighbor as yourself.”

We have engaged in a study that will take the better part of 9 months to finish. We have been listening to many in the congregation and seeking a sense of where we need to go to fulfill our mission. Out of this study we pray that a vision” will arise, that will be the guiding vision for our ministry or ministries together.

Central to any vision that we develop will be our ministry of Word and Sacrament. This is central, along with prayer, study and service. However, how we do some of these things, and at what hour of the day, or even what day we do these things will be part of the vision given the nature of our community. We know that there is a large population of people in our community, who do not know or have a loving community of faith there to help them grow in faith, love and obedience to the Lord our God.

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OVERVIEW

The Long Range Planning committee has been charged with gathering input from the members of Holy Trinity Lutheran church (HTLC) on the future direction of our ministries, consolidating these ideas and suggesting a plan to be adopted by the Church Council and by the Congregation for the next 5 to 10 years of ministry.

Meetings were held on three occasions in March 2003
and information was gathered from 90 HTLC members. The criteria for our discussions began with the statement, “What would you dream for the future of Holy Trinity, if money were no object.” As the committee processed the varied ideas that came from these meetings (and this starting point), we came to discover one fundamental truth: We feel it is essential to begin with our mission statement and ministerial objectives when looking toward the future of Holy Trinity. Our programs, staffing, physical plant and buildings are simply tools to help us fulfill our ministerial, outreach and fellowship goals.

Below are the recommendations that come from the combination of the congregational feedback and other meetings within the Long Range Planning committee. The information has been broken down into the larger categories of Programming and Ministry, Staffing and Facilities. Where we thought it was possible and reasonable for us to project, we have broken down the estimated timing and costs for each of our recommendations. Where that was not possible or reasonable, we have recommended analysis of these items.

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I. PROGRAMMING AND MINISTRY

Introduction

During our initial review of the congregation, it was felt that we were conducting worship in a quality manner. However, there were several suggestions on how we might better develop this area of the church. We again would ask the Church Council to consider how each area will help our ministries and mission. We have outlined those areas below and have made further recommendations as to how to achieve
these goals.

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Communication

Timing: Immediate

Cost: $0

Although not a topic in and of itself, the responses
from the congregation in the “visioning” process indicate a need for improvement. We believe that there has been great improvement in the general communication to the congregation (i.e. the bulletin and the newsletter).

We would recommend the following steps in regard to
accomplishing this goal.

  1. We propose that studies should be made with object to further improve communication between the following entities: congregation, pastors, staff, council, the major ministries, committees, and the local community. This should include such areas as frequency, content, format and method.
  2. Continue to develop the web site of the church by adding a Members Only section.

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Worship Service

Timing: Immediate

Cost: $0

Continue to support the committee that is already in
place to identify the need, desirability, time and format of an additional service or services.

Niche Group Ministries

Timing: Immediate

Cost: $0

The need, organization and development of these
kinds of ministries are usually self-driven (i.e., an individual or group defines a need and builds the ministry). Certain examples of this would be Small Groups, Bible Study Groups, Support Groups, etc.

We recommend that the pastoral and lay leaders
should continually be aware of such needs and make the availability of any church resources, facilities, and interest known.

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Youth Ministries

Timing: Immediate

Cost: $0

In an effort to continue the churches desire to
include its youth in the decision making of its own destiny, we were set to recommend that the Council form an ad hoc committee composed of youth director and representatives of youth, lay leadership, concerned parents to “vision” the future of youth ministries.

During the process of finalizing this Long Term
Plan, Erik Gravrock and the Youth Group acted in this area and created their own Mission Statement and Goals. These goals were presented to the Church Council and Long Range Planning Committee in October. We feel this effort showed great leadership by Erik, as well as maturity and ownership by the Youth. We have inserted their Mission Statement
below:

HTLC YOUTH MISSION STATEMENT 2003-2004

Goals for the Year

  • Grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ
  • Increase group participation and attendance
  • Focus
  • Promote fellowship and integrity
  • Develop and maintain group unity
  • Participate in service projects
  • Create a student praise band
  • Take pride in the Hut’s appearance and make it a welcoming place by committing to keeping it clean and organized
  • Take responsibility for the functions and property of the youth
  • HAVE FUN!

Execution of Goals

  • Concentrate on our relationship with Jesus Christ and discern between worship and playtime
  • Make an individual commitment to the group (long-term)
  • Establish accountability for self and others
  • Demonstrate respect for all group members and their opinions
  • Seek opportunities in both the church and community
  • Encourage musical participation
  • Clean-up after self and sign-up for monthly clean-up crew
  • Volunteer for monthly group responsibilities

Hut Rules

  • Respect for each other
  • Respect for each other’s personal property
  • Respect for the Hut and it’s property
  • Be positive
  • No fighting
  • No swearing
  • No cell phones during worship time (unless an emergency arises)

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Social Ministry/Outreach To The Community

Timing: Immediate

Cost: $0

These ministries would fall under the general comments made in the section of Niche Groups above. One exception would be to recommend that the Finance Committee review a more aggressive expansion and/or development of our trust funds and our endowment funds to include things like scholarships, Holy Trinity Cares, etc.

Corporate Giving

Timing: Immediate

Cost: TBD

As a congregation, our percentage of giving to the
synod has decreased over the past years (from historical highs in the 25% range to the current total of 12%). We recommend adopting a goal of increasing our percentage of corporate giving to the synod by 1% per year for the next 10 years. The congregation needs model “giving from our first fruits.”

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Endowment Fund

Timing: Immediate

Cost: $0

Explore the creation of an endowment fund as part of
our Long Range goals.

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Honey Tree

The development of Honey Tree was the one area that
permeated all three major groups. This area was the 2nd largest response in the feedback we received from the congregation, so we believe the congregation felt it was an important issue for us to address in our vision of the future. As a Committee we believe that the continued development and/or expansion of Honey Tree might have the largest potential impact on our outreach to the surrounding community. There is a strong need in our community for extended child care/day care. In addition, there is an extremely high demand for local private, Christian education in our community and expanding this area of our ministry expands the opportunity to expand the church’s membership base.

Timing: Immediate with completion by 2006

Cost: TBD

From a ministry point of view, we have already
identified potential needs [additional studies are needed to further define these areas]. Unlike other ministries, these ministries would need to be at least self-sustaining. We would recommend the following steps in regard to accomplishing this goal.

  1. The Church Council should begin a dialog with the Honey Tree Board to discern what Honey Tree expansion would mean to the
    congregation. Karen Lindgren and the Honey Tree staff leadership should also be involved in the process.
  2. The objective of this meeting would be to identify potential program and ministry objectives.
  3. Once the program objectives are finalized, this information should be forwarded to the committee looking at the master use plan (see below).
  4. Develop a budget for implementing a possible plan for the school expansion.
  5. Review areas of financing for the school expansion projects including, but not limited to, increase in school fees, fundraising, overall capital campaign.
  6. Consider upgrading the existing HTLC facilities (classrooms or fellowship hall for example) to provide a “bridge” step in the expansion of services offered by Honey Tree.
  7. Aside from the cost of facility construction, we would
    recommend that a business plan be developed to identify the following issues:
    1. What it would cost to start up a Day Care program?
    2. What it would cost to run?
    3. What income stream would you need to pay for operating costs and debt retirement (or tithe)? Develop a business plan including projected income, costs and cash flow.
    4. What would the new organizational structure need to be with an expanded facility?
    5. In items 7a. through 7d. above, all would apply to either amending the current facilities or building new a new facility. They should include costs for staffing (payroll costs), equipment, and meeting all state and federal requirements and/or guidelines that would have to be met. This plan would be necessary in order to make any decision to expand these facilities.

There are three ways in which we could expand these
ministries:

  1. Expand the Honey Tree’s use of existing facilities. This could include, but not necessarily limited to the use of the fellowship hall in the daytime during the week when it is not being used.
  2. Build additional facilities on the existing campus.
  3. Build additional facilities on the “North Property”.

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II. STAFFING

Introduction

The members of the HTLC congregation outlined
several staffing areas that they felt needed additions and/or improvements. We recommend taking the following steps with regard to accomplishing these goals.

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Youth Director

Timing: Immediate

Cost: Raise the salary to meet the market value for a Youth Director in Southern California. (This would require a raise of approximately $4,000 - 8,000 per year).

The congregation’s first priority in the area of
staffing was to hire and retain a Youth Director/Pastor. We believe our first priority as a congregation in regards to the youth of HTLC is in hiring (which we’ve done) and retaining a full time Youth Director/Pastor. The turnover in this area had led many in the church to believe there is no current Youth Director/Pastor when, in reality, Erik Gravrock has been with us for 9 months. This also points back to our need for better communication with the congregation.

We recommend taking the following steps in regards
to accomplishing this goal.

  1. Meeting with our current Youth Director to determine
    1. His long term plans concerning his service with HTLC.
    2. Enumerating the long-range obstacles to remaining with HTLC. This discussion should include the specific area of compensation.
  2. Once it is determined that Erik’s intention is to stay and the church believes it can overcome all the major hurdles in retaining Erik, HTLC would then begin a campaign within the church to better promote Erik and our youth activities. We further believe it is in the best interest of HTLC to have Erik completely involved in and directing this campaign.

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Custodian

Timing: Immediate

Cost: $0 to $10,000

There seems to be some concern within the Church as to the status of Anne and Jim Leberknecht acting as Custodians.

  1. We recommend that the Council obtain from Anne and Jim a clear Job Description, detailing the duties of the position.
  2. It was thought a meeting with Anne and Jim should be set to discuss their long-term intentions regarding their custodial
    responsibilities.
  3. That the Council begins exploring other options of sharing these responsibilities with other members of the congregation.
  4. If Anne and Jim are inclined to this, begin looking for members of the congregation to fill some of these roles.
  5. That the Council begin exploring the options of outsourcing these responsibilities in the event that Anne and Jim decide to no longer fulfill this obligation to cover any short term gap in the job.

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Parish Nurse

Timing: 1-2 years

Cost: $10,000

  1. Determine the current needs within the church based on age and health of existing and future congregation.
  2. Determine job responsibilities.
  3. Determine level of commitment and financial resources necessary to hire that commitment.

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Christian Education

Timing: 2-3 years

Cost: Market salary for staff – paid for through
congregational growth (Estimated market salary: Part-Time $ 15K, no benefits, full-time $ 30K + benefits).

The current needs of this position are being filled
by a non-paid lay person, but it is believed that in order to give all ages within our church the best chance to grow and learn is to have a part time or full time, paid staff member managing this for the church. In addition, we also believe it is important for this position to further develop their relationship with Honey Tree management and staff. We believe that this will provide opportunities to encourage the children of Honey Tree (and their parents) to become more involved in the HTLC ministries. Their involvement should give the church an opportunity to expand its membership, in addition to adding some size and momentum to our existing Sunday School and other Youth programs.

  1. Determine job responsibilities (full-time versus part-time).
  2. Determine level of commitment and financial resources necessary to hire that commitment.
  3. Review the possibility of combining this position with other functions traditionally completed by a Parish Administrator that would include managing things like facility and bookkeeping.
  4. Evaluate the possibility of beginning this position as Youth Christian Education and then developing into Youth and Adult Christian Education.

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Visitation Pastor

Timing: 2-3 years

Cost: $10,000

As the congregation grows, we believe it is
important to add additional pastoral support in the form of a visitation pastor to further extend the churches outreach to the surrounding community and its existing members.

  1. Determine job responsibilities.
  2. Determine level of commitment and financial resources necessary to hire that commitment.

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Director of Music

Timing: 4-5 years

Cost: Market salary for full time staff (Salary and Hours TBD)

  1. Outline current job description for a Director of Music to determine whether there is need for a half or full time Director of Music.
  2. The Worship and Music Committee and Council to think broadly in regards to outlining new ideas for expanding the music ministry within the church. These could include but are not limited to:
    1. Children’s Choir
    2. Youth Choir
    3. Youth Handbells
    4. Youth Band
    5. Adult Band
  3. After these have been outlined, determine if this is a full time or part time job. Included would be a search of appropriate
    compensation for that job.

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III. FACILITIES

Establish A Master Use Plan

Timing: Immediate

Cost: TBD

Once we have determined our ministerial, program and
staffing goals, we should then turn toward our facilities. The Church Council should work hand-in-hand with the Property Committee to develop a Master Use Plan for the entire HTLC property/campus.

  1. Quantify/finalize the goals for the congregation, Hone Tree and mission objectives.
  2. Hire an architect.
  3. Get the architectural plans for the overall property and evaluate the existing facilities.
  4. Gather input from key partners (Honey Tree Board, Church Council, Cal Lutheran Board, City of Thousand Oaks, and Synod).
  5. Set up an action plan for both short and long term upgrades to our facilities.

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Multi-Purpose Facility

Timing: Immediate to 10 years

Cost: TBD

This was the largest area of response from the
congregation. We have it listed as a long-term goal, because it will require the highest level of commitment both in terms of overall planning and financing.

We recommend taking the following steps in regards to accomplishing this goal.

  1. A Multi-purpose facility should be a major component and area for study in the Master Use plan.
  2. Evaluate steps needed for a building program, specifically looking at fellowship hall/multi-purpose room and Honey Tree expansion.
  3. Meet with synod leadership/other sources to plan out a
    major capital fundraising campaign.
  4. If the Church Council and Property Committee decide to move forward with a major building campaign, present the plan at either the annual congregational meeting or a separate meeting on the topic.
  5. Once the decision is made to proceed, kick off the campaign with a major congregational event.

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Landscaping Plan

Timing: Immediate

Cost: TBD

The Property Committee should develop a tree plan
for the entire campus. Several of the large trees that are found on the street sides have a limited lifecycle. The plan should include: replacement trees near the old ones and a tree/landscape design for the entire perimeter, in order to allow them time for adequate growth before the older trees need to be replaced or any development is begun. The plan should include a layout of the existing sprinkler system and any proposed additions.

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CALL TO ACTION

With Christ as our leader, we’ve brought together the thoughts and dreams of over 90 members of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. Our members expressed a continued hope and vision for new and ongoing ministries. We need to thoughtfully consider the future direction of Holy Trinity
and how we can bring the love and message of Jesus Christ to our community, on both a global and a local basis. As leaders of the congregation, we need the Church Council to continue this momentum by approving this plan and taking the actions needed to lead our congregation into the first part of the 21st century.

We also feel that this study is the first in an ongoing process that evaluates the needs and future direction of our
ministries. We would suggest that we conduct a similar Long Range Planning Study in three years (2006) to evaluate our progress on these goals and new areas of need.

THE HTLC LONG RANGE PLANNING COMMITTEE THE DREAM TEAM
  • Lee Harris
  • Chris Syverson
  • Clarence Single
  • Jim Esmay
  • Sheri Groenveld
  • Norm Lueck
  • Ken Warkentien
  • George Hale
  • Mary Hekhuis
  • John Wise
  • Mark Anderson
  • Pastor Frank Nausin
  • Mike Engstrom

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