On the Road to “First Christian Church 2.0″

First Christian Church is a congregation in the midst of change.  We are learning new ways of being church in the 21st century.  Below is an update of our congregation’s transformation from Rev. Chris Morton, a member of First Christian and one of the leaders of the effort to bring about First Christian Church 2.0.

A Review of the Work of the Core Committee
by Rev. Chris Morton

“What does it mean to be First Christian Church?” was the question for which, if not an answer, then a response was being sought for nearly eight years, maybe longer.  For some members it became abundantly clear by 2006, for others it may have taken longer, and for others it was clear even earlier, that First Christian residence needed to be closed.  The Core Planning Group, made up of the Chair and Vice Chair of the Board, Chair of the Elders, Chair of the Trustees, and the two ministers, was created.  By January 2007, the Church contracted with Rev. Chris Morton to convene and facilitate the Core Planning Group.  The Church also contracted with an attorney and a real estate expert who worked closely with Morton, and who, together, would help the Core Planning Group and the Church as a whole work through the process of deciding what to do with the Church’s greatest single, concrete asset:  its property.

In January 2007 the Core Planning Group hosted listening sessions facilitated by Regional Staff where members of the Church were given every opportunity to speak their minds.  The clarion message to the Core Planning Group was “lead the Church.”  By March 2007, The Core Planning Group held an all-day planning retreat, and the decisions was that the Core Planning Group’s purpose was to manage the question of the Church’s property – and that Congregational Transformation was the responsibility of the minister(s) in partnership with Church leaders (e.g. Cabinet, Elders, Board).

The Core Planning Group remained focused on its responsibility with the property, pursuing two major streams of inquiry:  1) What part(s) of FCC’s property could be sold immediately, and 2) Is there another use of FCC’s property that would serve the community. The Core Planning Group and its team let institutions, organizations, and others know that the property was available, and discussed the various ways I which potential “suitor” might be interested in utilizing the property.  As the discussions with possible “suitors’ were going on, the Core Planning Group took a serious look at whether FCC could truly manage the property by leasing it to community groups.

By May 2008. after many discussions within the Church, and lots of discussions with various potential buyers, FCC voted to sell the property to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The Summer and Fall have been spent transitioning ourselves from owners of the property, to tenants with MIA as our landlord.  And we have had to change our thinking about the Church property because we no longer have access to the South Wing of classroom, the basement, or the First Christian Residence.  Therefore, nearly all of the furniture and materials in the South Wing have had to be moved to the classrooms and other storage areas in the West and North Wings.  The Library has been moved, and the old library is now a large meeting room.  And the Hearthstone Class has moved into the old nursery.

We have had the most difficult time getting a contractor to provide us a bid for some work that we would like to have done with the bathrooms between the new Hearthstone Room and the Nursery, but work should (finally!) begin early in 2009.

As we move into 2009, the Core Planning Group has completed its work on the church’s property.  Its two task groups, the ReDesign Group and the Real Estate Group, may find themselves being called upon, but probably in a different expression.  For now, it is the hope of the Core Planning Group that the church will focus its energies on transformation, working closely with the Elders and the intentional interim minister leading us into a new sense of what it means to be First Christian Church – now that there are no limitations.

Chris
Christopher B. Morton Consulting
Developing ReSource for the Future