18 Jun Consultations Ending and Starting
The consultation process is the primary method we use to transition churches to health. It starts with an intensive weekend at the church, but continues with a year-long process of coaching on my part, with monthly visits. When the year ends, I usually speak on a Sunday morning and encourage them to keep moving ahead.
Among the initial churches were four congregations in Michigan. That enabled me to be more efficient in my traveling, hitting several churches on the same trip.
At this point, we have completed our year-long work with two churches in Michigan:
- Banner of Christ (Byron Center, Mich.). The concluding service for them was January 6.
- Gaines UB (Caledonia, Mich.). The concluding service was February 10.
In the next few weeks, we’ll conclude the consultations with three more churches:
- Mount Pleasant (Chambersburg, Pa.). The concluding service will be this Sunday, June 22. Mount Pleasant made the transition to a governance system, and some neat things have happened in services recently.
- Eden UB (Mason, Mich.). The final service is June 29. Eden is averaging over 200 now, but they face some serious financial struggles.
- Fowlerville UB (Fowlerville, Mich.). The consultation was held June 22-24, 2007. We’ll finish up with them in July.
That leaves only the Mongul UB church in Shippensburg, Pa. Bishop Ramsey and I conducted the assessment March 7-9.
However, a new round of consultations is in the works. I’ll conduct an assessment August 22-24 at Crestview UB in Lafayette, Ind., with Pastor Dan Young. We’re also working toward consultations with four other churches–one in Indiana, one in Ohio, and two in Pennsylvania. I’ll let you know more about those soon.
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