Recognizing that...

• There is a lack of cohesion and collective identity amongst those who are members of the North Street Community;
• God’s call to any specific and localized church community must be discerned within her context, culture, and neighborhood;
• We have a core group of people who care about the North Street Community, yet only a handful who are actively engaged more than once a week in the life of our church community;

...this journey is proposed so that:

• We can re-member the elements of our community, both in person and in specifics of mission;
• We can collectively focus and bring forth a unified church community dedicated to carrying out the mission of God in our context and corner of the world.

The Journey of Discernment

This journey will take 3-4 months, led and overseen by Pastor Jeremy (as advised by some peers and mentors).  It must be bathed in corporate and individual prayer.  It will include an invitation to participate by everyone who expects to be a part of the community in the future.  It will include:

• Corporate Prayer - Regular (1-2 times a week?) gatherings for corporate prayer will be scheduled for all to participate. (the duration and beyond)
• Daily Prayer - A specific daily prayer plan will be drawn up and executed by individuals who agree to do so on different days of the week. (the duration)
• Discernment Part #1 - Individual & Family Surveying - Pastor Jeremy is developing a survey to be prayerfully completed online or in written form by individuals and families, inviting everyone who will participate to do so.  (3 weeks, available on October 13th)
• Discernment Part #2 - Group Response & Discussion - Once the survey has been completed, individuals and families will prayerfully gather in a group session to review answers and give clarification.  There will be an “outside listener” at each session to aid Pastor Jeremy in the discernment process.  (3-4 weeks)
• Discernment Part #3 - The Heart-Pulse of the Community - Once the groups have been completed, the whole church community will pray with Pastor Jeremy as he reviews and discerns the direction in which God is calling us into the future.  He will summarize and compile the responses into a comprehensive foundation for developing the outcomes that will lead to a Covenant of Community which will be presented at a board meeting in January. (4-6 weeks)

The Intended Outcomes

We hope and pray that a sense of clarity of identity will arise so that we may develop a collective understanding of who we are and who we will be together according to what we think God is calling us to.  We hope that the North Street Community will be catalyzed to live more closely together.  We hope that an agreed upon Covenant of Community will better foster shared life, collective identity, and a courage boldness together in being the Body and presence of Christ in our context and culture.