Explorations III: Conditions at Parkview

Dear friends,

We have been preparing for an exploration about our future as a congregation at Parkview.  We hope that this fall we will start having group meetings. Again let me reiterate that exploring our future after our hundredth anniversary does not mean implying that there are problems.  We would like to avoid the word “problem” altogether.  “Condition” is a better term.  It is neutral. It doesn’t suggest a positive or negative interpretation. It just is, kind of like weather conditions.  Now what has happened in the last month with regards to our exploration? First I received twenty or so more questions from our session members to be fine-tuned for a questionnaire.  Second, Titus Toyama has produced an excellent and detailed demographic study of our congregation.  After looking at these two things following there are a few conditions I am distilling from them.

1. Parkview has a distinct worship style, however one might describe it.  Some might describe it as informal, others as traditional etc.  This is condition that is neither right nor wrong. That might be something we want to discuss.
2. Each person comes or has come to Parkview with a specific (spiritual) history and experiences a certain level of satisfaction with the community, individuals, food, worship, outreach and activities of our church. That level of satisfaction, whatever it is, may become a topic of discussion.
3. Parkview has been wise and frugal enough to gain ownership of specific property (the buildings) and has been fortunate enough to use other property free of charge (the parking lot) for about a decade and a half. The business that came with the parking lot has been sold and we have reason to believe that it is a matter of time before the property will be sold.  For better or for worse this is a condition.
4. Parkview has a specific financial situation that has remained steady and has been maintained with very little appeal for support.  How we arrive at that condition annually and to what degree it is sustainable could become a topic of discussion.
5. Parkview has specific demographics that reflect where Parkview family members live, what their ethnicity, age, gender and occupation is or was.  Much of the active group in the congregation is more and more concentrated in three or four zip codes and the congregation reflects the increasing age of membership of other mainline congregations.  It is also increasingly multicultural.
6. More people have been becoming members of the congregation recently, taking the membership to a higher point. It appears we are meeting a need in the lives of a certain demographic. What that demographic is could be a matter of discussion in the process of our exploration.
7. I would like to add from personal experience the condition that more and more visitors seem to be impressed by the welcoming, warm and friendly demeanor of those who consider Parkview to be their church home.  How we want to respond to that condition is up for discussion also.

Dear friends, above I have tried to present some of the conditions visible at Parkview in as neutral way as possible.  Join me in resisting the temptation to view our church life as a problem or as something to be fixed.  Let us instead see these conditions (and there may be more) as ones that God might use to bless the world with. We will keep you posted. Thank you for being part of our life as a congregation! May God bless our ministry. Aart