Future Directions (Facilitated)

As if the Future Directions Signpost wasn't exciting enough on its own! 

The 7th course in EDGE's Signpost series, designed to be taken as a stand-alone course or out of sequence with the other Signposts, explores the Future Directions process for communities of faith. Participants learn about daring to reimagine, setting a vision, and developing and implementing a plan to achieve that vision - a roadmap to change, a revitalized community of faith, and a stronger neighbourhood!

And now this - EDGE facilitation is available to assist participants go through the Future Directions process! We can provide a coach to work with a Future Directions team of 3-5 representatives from your congregation to offer leadership in a new direction. 

The facilitated Future Directions process consists of 8-sessions process, usually held over 8 months, designed to:

• Help communities of faith to rediscover purpose, mission, vision, goals, strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities
• Explore partnerships and discover new opportunities within the immediate community
• Gather regular input and feedback from the whole community of faith throughout the process
• Generate community support and create excitement about the community of faith’s new direction
• Create a community of faith culture that values spiritual grounding in its work

We recommend for many reasons that communities of faith use EDGE facilitation to go through Traveller’s Map. Our coaches are skilled at bringing a congregation through the Future Directions process, inviting the leadership team to really dig into their community of faith’s story. The sessions are designed to help team members learn to articulate their individual ‘why’ and talk about their community of faith’s purpose.

After some work, one community of faith articulated a vision of transforming their property into a ministry campus. The group only had the courage to share this vision once we’d dug into their purpose in the context of their immediate community.

Another organization realized that the people they were trying to serve didn’t have a seat at the decision-making table. They realized they needed to restructure to better reflect how highly they valued being authentic. Articulating the story that they wanted people to tell about them led another organization to create an inspiring vision that embraced the whole community. Rather than looking inward, they redirected outward., gaining new energy and new leadership in the process.

Cost: $2000 for 8 sessions, per community of faith.

Timeline:

• 90-minute meeting, usually monthly
• A few hours of work between meetings to test the process within the larger community
• Email/phone support between meetings
• Adjustable depending on the community of faith’s needs

Expectations of those participating:

The Future Directions team of 3-5 participants should be:

• Representative of your community
• Interested in seeing your community of faith grow and thrive
• Willing to commit to participating in every gathering

Email Sarah at slevis@united-church.ca for more information.

Class Structure
Individual Study: 12 hours
Zoom Sessions: 32 hours