02.11.24 Congregational Conversation Data - revised.xlsx

	A	B	C	D	E	F
1	Category/Topic	Strength	Weakness	Opportunity	Threat	Questions
2	Membership	More members	Too great percentage of elderly	Larger congregation	Loss of members (die-hards might quit)
3		More members for functions and services and community service		Larger congregation	A merger could result in a loss of membership because of a possible or change in the mission of the congregation over identity?
4		Fuller church		More children ? (families)
5		Support from more people – $ financial and otherwise		Increase choir attendance
6		Hopefully more young people		Easier to invite new members because we are modeling cooperation
7		Numbers (5 people indicated)
8		More kids (3 people indicated)
9		Enjoyment of a larger congregation
10		More people in choir and Sunday school
11		What’s the potential for church growth?
12		Combined resources (could be financial and/or human)
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14	Financial	More money	The financials – Methodists can’t transfer their assets to the merged congregation (this needs to be clarified… as long as it’s considered a UM presence, the resources remain)	Increased membership and growth in giving	We don’t know how finances would work. Do member contributions go to the partnered congregation?
15		Building the endowment	Financial concerns	Possibly greater financial security	Finances
16		Economy – good and bad	Financial weakness	Resources (2 people)	Misconception of Methodists that we have tons of money
17		More access to funds and finances	Financial (5 people) – UCC already assumes most of the finances		Financial threat if we need to buy them out
18			Financial concerns		How could you keep going with building and finances?
19			Expenses remain the same		Discrepancy of wealth
20			If you do not join forces how does it keep going with building and finances?
21
22	Facility			Maintenance
23				Depending on circumstances in time, UCC purchase the CUMC property
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25	Pastoral Leadership	2 ministers joining forces and assisting each other when needed	Uncertainty over Methodist pastoral leadership – we don’t have control over who the Methodist DS selects.	If there were 2 ministers? Senior and associate	Where would future ministers come from – Methodist or UCC?
26		Having 2 pastors would allow more visitation	Selection of pastors – Methodist hierarchy won’t care about us.	Having 2 pastors allows for collegial opportunities
27		More fun for ministers having more people	Concern for new pastors – possible deterring new candidates
28		Different ministry styles (3 people)	Changing preaching and leadership styles with each newly appointed UM pastor
29			Have own minister
30			Difference in ministry style
31			Would be weakness if there were alternating ministers
32			Keeping 2 pastors
33			Methodist structure of dictating pastors (who and when)
34			Changes in pastoral leadership (but could draw new pastors)
35
36	Mission/Ministry	Youth Program	Potential diluted mission	More opportunities for ministries
37		CUMC has the neighborhood youth program		Work well together – joint operations already
38		Additional programing (mittens/bags & rummage sale)		More resources for contributing to community
39		Broader outlook – mission, etc.		Outreach possibilities (time, focus, recruiting)
40		Community visibility and outreach (4 people)		Broaden ministries
41		Increase volunteer opportunities in community
42		Continue programs already in place
43
44	Open and Affirming		Neither CUMC nor UMC is ONA	UMC becoming open and affirming	Open and Affirming
45			Methodist have not taken steps to become open and affirming (Needs clarification - CUMC is taking steps to become reconciling)		Until UMC goes through the decision-making process we didn’t know we can merge (ONA?)
46			Open & Affirming (?) – lose our standing if they don’t want to continue the process
47
48	Human Resources (volunteer)	Additional active leadership
49		Methodist’s ability to organize groups/volunteers (decorations, planning events to coordinate)
50		Small but working congregation – good resource for our own board
51		Combined resources (could be financial and/or human)
52
53	Human Resources (staff)				Staffing issues – if UM pastor is “youth pastor” do we lose Janet?
54
55	Relationship	We like each other	We need each other		Is there a potential for a strong or opinionated leader to just take over to combine us to one of the other?
56		New friendships	Perception of Methodist feeling that they were controlled by UCC		Potential Tension between UCC & CUMC: UCC is 75% w/ Sr. Pastor; CUMC is 25% w/ Assoc or Assistant Pastor
57		Wonderful relationship for a long time	Some die-hard members might quit
58		History of “united”	Potential for more conflict
59
60	Identity		Holding on to each church’s traditions		What would be the name of the church?	Would we have a new name?
61			Loss of identity (on both sides)		Over time loose our congregational approach to Methodism, rotating pastors through having a hierarchy instead of congregational approach	Who are we?/What is our name? What is our mission?
62					How would future decisions be made? Who holds ultimate responsibility on a larger scale? (governance structure) What would Bishop’s role be?
63
64	Worship	One service (same time all year)		One service		How to compromise the style of the joint service
65		One service at one time				Changes in liturgy?
66
67	Process			Good project to focus on to make it happen	Need to work slowly – moving too fast	What is our overall approach with each other. We need more information!
68					Need to have all ducks in a row – long time to get both churches to agree on things moving forward.
69					Need more information: Would there be one service or two separate ones?
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71	And if we don't?				Without merging both churches are in jeopardy
72					What would prevent them from closing (UMC) anyway, even after a merger?
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