Sunday Morning
Services
10:30 am
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Click here to view the Futuring
Team's Phase 2 Presentation which was given at our Lunch
and Learn
on Sunday, May 11. 
On Sunday, May 25, 2008 the members of
St John's United Church voted unanimously to accept the Phase 2 Report
as follows:~That the Mission and Vision of the Church remain on its present course ~That St John's proceed to redevelop the total church site, which would mean demolition of the existing church buildings ~That the new Implementation Team hire a consultant to advise on the best case scenario for redevelopment of the entire site. Futuring Team ~ March 2008.  I delight in recalling (and using) Yogi Berra’s expressions. Yogi was a great New York Yankees baseball player in the 50s & 60s and notorious for his off-the-cuff expressions. One I think about from time to time is… “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll wind up somewhere else.” The Futuring Team is well on the road to sorting out our church’s future plans. We have taken the direction provided by you in the spring of 2007 at the congregational meeting and gone forward with that. We have also taken the data you provided us at the Lunch and Learn in mid November of 2007 and we are now zeroing in on where our emphases should be. We have confirmed that our Mission/Vision of Outreach & Social Justice; Faith Formation; and Music & Worship are on line for the future. We know that St. John’s wants to be church that maintains a “flexible” approach to these theological values. We will assist the church to remain open and not be strictly aligned to 2 or 3 “values.” On the “Bricks and Mortar” side, we have examined the 3 R’s of Relocate; Retrofit and Redevelop. -Relocating is difficult, given our mandate to remain in our current geographical area. We have also explored other buildings and other churches that might have been available, but are not available at this time or are in a state of repair and upkeep similar to our own. There is the option of sharing space, and the team will pursue that avenue. 
-Retrofitting is an option but one that may not prove
to be good stewardship in the long run. We have developed a prioritized
list of retrofitting options that would take years and $$$ to complete.
-Redeveloping in some form makes the best sense. The Futuring subcommittee that is looking at this option is exploring a number of alternatives. It is too early to tell which way this will go, however, we know that parts of our current facility do not lend themselves to adding-in multi use, shared or rental accommodation. The solution is yet to be determined. It is our plan to have a proposal before the congregation in May 2008. By that time, it is planned to have a Phase 2 Report ready for distribution, discussion and to vote as a congregation on the recommendations for our future direction. As we have said several times in the past, this year will be the BIG year for decision making. As a congregation we will be asked to consider what we need to do now to ensure we have a St. John’s Church in 25 years. We need to have a church for the 21st century. As Yogi once said… “when you come to a fork in the road... take it.” Brian Jay, Team Leader |
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St. John's United Church 6225 Willow Street Halifax Nova Scotia Canada B3L 1P1
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