Myers Park Baptist Church Strategic Planning Framework: 2017-2022

Myers Park Baptist Church • • • Introduction The words of our Covenant are the audaciously loving threads that knit together the Myers Park Baptist Church identity. Passionately and unanimously affirmed by the congregation throughout this planning process, the Covenant is the foundation of our new strategic framework, which translates the church’s inclusive, courageous, scholarly history into a call to action for the years 2017 through 2022. This plan lifts up Myers Park Baptist Church’s legacy as a champion of relationships, rigor and reconciliation and launches it headlong into the next five years, offering a road map for a church rededicated to its role as a national leader in progressive theology, education, congregational care and compassionate justice. Through the Covenant, we know who we are. Through this shared plan, we transform our identity into action and manifest the love that we have for God, for each other and for our community.

Myers Park Baptist Church • • • The Covenant •   We, the members of the Myers Park Baptist Church, are a people on a journey of faith. By God's grace we are experiencing God's love through Jesus Christ and the community of the faithful. We are discovering in this experience our freedom to become new creatures and our responsibility to be faithful stewards of our lives and of this world. •   We will be open to all new light, strengthened by God and each other in our faith. We will sustain a critical examination of Scripture, belief and ritual as interpreters of God's active presence in the world. We will accept controversy as a reality of life together and an opportunity for growth toward maturity. We covenant to be a community of God's new creation and affirm that we are open to all and closed to none. •   We covenant together to nurture this church as a community of faith and as an instrument for reconciliation in the world: by worship, by Christian education, by the dedication of our personal and material resources, and by all the other ways we express the significance of our lives with God and one another. •   We covenant together to be priests celebrating God's presence in community and in the world, believing we are participants in God's kingdom on earth.

The Four Goals Goal 1: Faith Continuously explore and deepen our faith in God, who frees and transforms us in heart, mind and body. Goal 2: Internal Church Family Build a dynamic, diverse church culture where we embrace and empower one another through wholehearted relationships. Goal 3: External Community Boldly practice the compassion and justice of Jesus by working with the poor, marginalized and oppressed. Goal 4: Sustainability Cultivate our human, financial and physical resources to grow and sustain a vibrant church. =

Goal 1: FAITH Continuously explore and deepen our faith in God, who frees and transforms us in heart, mind and body. As we equip members with scriptural, theological and spiritual tools to support and sustain them, we will: •   Diversify, energize and expand worship as an essential experience that transforms us individually and collectively •   Redesign Adult Faith Formation to focus on the liberation and transformation of the whole person through spirituality, bible study, cultural awareness and theological education •   Strengthen future generations’ spiritual nourishment by expanding ministries and opportunities for youth, children and their parents

Myers Park Baptist Church • • • Goal 2: INTERNAL CHURCH FAMILY Build a dynamic, diverse church culture where we embrace and empower one another through wholehearted relationships. As we increase our connectivity and model radical hospitality as a spiritual practice, we will: •   Engage the entire church family to intentionally invite and welcome visitors and new members into the congregation •   Create more opportunities for members to gather and share their stories and life-­‐ long journeys, offering hope and faithful support through small groups •   Invest in the creation of a strategic member engagement practice to cultivate more immediate connections and ensure the lasting integration of members and newcomers into the church community •   Rigorously assess and eliminate unintentional barriers to participation, leadership or spiritual growth •   Provide congregational training and support to prepare willing members to stand with and care for those in the congregation who suffer •   Build the online community and virtual home needed to effortlessly connect and support all those who choose to journey with us

Myers Park Baptist Church • • • Goal 3: EXTERNAL COMMUNITY Boldly practice the compassion and justice of Jesus by working with the poor, marginalized and oppressed. As we intensify our commitment to justice through engagement with our external community, we will: •   Create and implement an inclusive process for discerning how and when the church will take timely, courageous and public institutional stands on justice issues •   Redesign all outreach experiences to be more relational and engagement-­‐driven, prioritizing participation, partnerships and affiliations, and the skills needed to practice compassion with humility •   Focus outreach efforts on one or two major initiatives at a time for greater impact and alignment among ministries •   Significantly increase the percentage of total church revenues devoted to outreach efforts Goal 3:

Myers Park Baptist Church • • • Goal 4: SUSTAINIBILITY Cultivate our human, financial and physical resources to grow and sustain a vibrant church. As we commit to being intergenerational stewards of the cherished people and places entrusted to us, we will: •   Re-­‐establish our church identity and brand through powerful and timely storytelling, marketing, graphic design, architecture, interior design and technology •   Expand church membership and enlarge the circle of households faithfully supporting the work of the church •   Increase the endowment toward full maintenance of our campus and the administrative costs of the church •   Invest in the staff’s vitality and strength and ensure that staff has the structure, training and support needed to implement this plan’s strategies and tactics •   Invest in technology and infrastructure that firmly establish the church’s modernity •   Build capacity by identifying and training the next generation of lay leaders and clergy

Myers Park Baptist Church • • •