PARTNERSHIP FOR MISSIONAL CHURCH “PMC” UPDATE
“How is God at work here at LCR?” The PMC Steering Committee Members are preparing to share an informative report that is the result of months of investigative work. The Church Future Finder Report will reveal interesting and insightful data about traffic patterns near the church, community demographic profiles, church history and culture, and much more. To convey this information in a comfortable and engaging way, we will coordinate a series of 10 cottage meetings that will be held in various locations during the first & second weeks of April. These will be held over light refreshments in various members’ homes, as well as at church. The purpose of the cottage meetings is to provide an opportunity for Steering Committee Members to inform the congregation about the report data in small group settings that are more conducive for dialogue. More informa-tion about cottage meeting hosts, dates, and locations will be coming soon.

WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?
First impressions are lasting impressions, so the old adage goes. So, how do we as a congregation measure up in the eyes of others in our community? The PMC Steering Committee aims to find out, and we need your help in the process. In order to complete our profile for the Church Future Finder Report, we must interview 5 civic leaders in our community. Interviewing our neighbors will help us to delve into the context of our character and values. This exercise will also be a wonderful opportunity to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in making connections with other people and for opening up our hearts to new perspectives. PMC members will provide a script of questions for volunteers. Interviewees will include a Boy Scout troop leader, a neighborhood association president, the Mayor and Police Chief of Prairie Village, and the coordinator of the Sunflower Squares dancing group. PMC members will actively recruit volunteers Sunday, March 2.

September 2007 Lutheran Church of the Resurrection is beginning its 3 year journey with the Partnership for a Missional Church program.

This program is a partnership with Church Innovations consultants who shepherd congregations and their leaders through a process of discovery about their individual church and God's specific call for them.

Partnership for Missional Church helps congregation develop a God-centered, biblical vision for mission.

During this journey we will seek answers to many questions:

• Where are we?
• Who are we?
• What is God doing here?
• How is God sending us?
• How is our church living now into God's preferred and promised future?

To learn more about Church Innovations and Partnership for Missional Church visit their website at www.churchinnovations.org

PMC HELPS DISCOVER OUR FUTURE
The council voted this spring to enroll LCR in a new Central States Synod program called “Partnership for a Missional Church” or PMC for short. This program provides a structure for helping us:

• Discover who we are and where God is calling us
• Create a clear mission, vision, and long-range plan, broadly supported by the congregation
• Learn a process that will help us fulfill our mission and vision as we evolve
  
  
  Although we've had a burst of energy as we've gained a settled and well-liked pastor, we are not growing. What’s more, we may be passing up the opportunity to realize God’s preferred and promised future for this body.
  
  Many members of our congregation have identified a need to better define our church's mission, priorities, and long-range plans. In spite of our best efforts, we've been unable to bring focus and consensus to this effort. Rather, we've spent nearly all our available energy on maintenance. And many of those maintenance decisions are difficult, without a long-range plan to guide them.
  
  The Mutual Ministry Committee (which has formed the PMC Steering Commit-tee), feels that the cost and time commitment are reasonable and the potential outcomes meet needs already identified by the congregation. The steering committee members are listed below.
  
  This effort will involve the whole congregation in many ways, including:
  
  Dialogue. We will talk with each other through one-on-one interviews, and the committee will report regularly on our progress.
  
  Integrated Leadership. The process includes a steering committee, which has committed to stick with the project through three years. It also has many manage able, short-term roles that you and other members can take on for just a few months at a time.
  
  “The PMC Steering Committee has talked with other churches who've partici-pated,” says PMC Steering Committee Leader Sharon Johnson Dona. “They told us that this process has helped them grow and make a dramatically different contribution to the world around them. Most importantly, they said it’s helped them truly do what Christ has called them to. We hope our congregation will have similar results.”