Ministry Plan 2017-18
FROM THE ELDERS Dear Soma family, As I reflect on the last five years, I am truly in awe of God s goodness and faithfulness to his promise that He will build his church (Matt 16:18). In his kindness, Jesus has multiplied the meager fishes and loaves we offered up to him in obedience to his calling, and now we have the privilege of enjoying an abundant feast of his grace together. Earlier this year, the elders prayerfully and boldly called the church to a renewed season of Living Like Owners. Our goal has been to simplify and clarify our vision for the future in order to amplify a robust participation from more people in our community. In order to facilitate this process, the Elders asked me to take a three-month research leave to create space for prayer, research, reflection, and writing. The contents of this packet represent our best efforts to distill down the fruit of this research leave. We ve sketched out a summary of our five-year vision (page 2), our new Cooperative model of multi-congregational collaboration (3-4), and our new organizational framework (4). This fresh organizational clarity, then, informed our ministry plan and budget for 2017-18, which you ll see in the last few sections (5-11). If you re interested in taking a deeper dive into the research, I ve written a 40-page paper for the elders that you can access by emailing sam@somaindy.com. We pray that this clearer articulation of our future plans compels and empowers you to own our vision to see the gospel change everything. Peace, Pastor Brandon On behalf of the elders of Soma Church Soma Church 2017-18 Ministry Plan 1
STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK After months of research, prayer, and conversations among the elders, we ve taken the current DNA, passions, and qualities of our church and distilled them into what we call a strategic framework: a summary statement of who we are as a church, what shared cultural values we always want to define us, and some specific goals that we ll work toward in light of those things for at least the next five years of our life. MISSION Soma Church exists to see the gospel change everything. OUTCOMES When we re on mission, we expect measurable growth in the following areas: Disciples - transformed people who love, trust, and obey Jesus Leaders - self-aware servants influencing church, community, and world Communities - healthy, life-giving, diverse relationships Churches - maturing and multiplying local churches Flourishing - leaving our neighborhoods and networks better than we found them SHARED CULTURE We expect to see these beliefs made increasingly visible in every area of our community: Humility Family Authenticity Empowerment Renewal VISION Catalyze a movement of 1000 life-giving disciples who scheme together with a specific burden to bring God s renewing presence to their neighborhoods, networks, and the nations. Disciples: 1,000 people in 250 discipleship groups Leaders: 200 self-aware emerging leaders Communities: 50 Missional Communities Churches: plant 3 churches in the Indianapolis area Flourishing: 80% of our members participating in holistic mission; 3-4 strategic partnerships in the city STRATEGIES Sunday gatherings Missional Communities/discipleship groups Family of Neighborhood Churches Equipping ministries Soma Church 2017-18 Ministry Plan 2
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE: COOPERATIVE In our research and our thinking about what was best for Soma, we ve chosen an interdependent model that Brad House and Gregg Allison, authors of the book MultiChurch, call a Cooperative. The chart below shows how this model compares to other multisite/multi-congregational models: Visualization Summary Leadership Structure Congregational Financial Commitment (general) Pillar Church One church with a single service One leader or leadership team Only one budget Gallery Church (multisite) One church expanded to multiple services/ venues One leader or leadership team Only one budget Franchise (multisite) Federation (multisite) One church cloned to multiple sites One church contextualized in multiple locations Central leadership makes all decisions; low to no contextualization Central team drives decisions; local elders may or may not have a vote ~ 66% of giving goes to central 45-50% of giving goes to central Cooperative (multichurch) One church made up of multiple interdependent churches Power is shared between central and local leaders 25-35% of giving goes to central Collective (multichurch) Network (multichurch) Collection of churches collaborating as one church Individual churches joining together for common goal and support Local churches have power; central organization mainly resources Central organization channels resources to common mission; has influence only 15-20% of giving goes to central Our MCs gather for social activities as well as service and mission. ~ 5% of giving goes to network The next page explains why we feel called to this particular form of church organization, and what it will mean for you as our members. Soma Church 2017-18 Ministry Plan 3
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE: COOPERATIVE WHY WE BELIEVE THIS IS THE BEST STRUCTURE FOR THE NEXT SEASON OF OUR LIFE Specifically, we believe the Cooperative model best fits our missional desires and the aspirations of our leaders because It honors the local congregation and gives local leadership a voice and vote in Soma Church decisions It gives us a great deal of contextual flexibility, while keeping the catalyzing unity of one church It allows our pastors to give a majority of their time to their congregations, but still have a thick community of collaboration ( citywide ecclesiology ) It encourages the development of leaders who will own the mission of their local congregations with freedom It allows congregations to experiment with missional programs and borrow the best work of other congregations It lets us maintain a lean-but-significant level of central ministries and services for our congregations: local churches are freed from having to staff many central needs, and also don t have to pay a large portion of their giving back centrally It brokers resources & gifted leaders for the common good of the whole city COOPERATIVE DESIGN PRINCIPLES We are an interdependent Family of Neighborhood Churches united by shared vision, culture, relationships, and organizational structure. The goal of collaboration is unified, maturing, multiplying leaders and local churches who exist to promote the kingdom of God in the Indianapolis metro area and beyond. Local congregations should express the characteristics of the Soma family in that context, under that leadership, in that stage of life. Local churches have representation ( voice AND vote ) at the highest level of leadership. Mission, prayer, humility, and relationships must trump efficient systems and structures. Categories for managing the freedom/unity tension: Centralized: Things done the same way, overseen by a centralized department. Unified: Things done the same way, overseen by local leadership. Decentralized: Things done in different ways, overseen by local leadership. Centralization should only and always benefit the creativity, empowerment, stability, diversity, and amplification of local ministry. WHAT THIS MEANS FOR SOMA MEMBERS This new organization won t create immediate changes in how our church functions; indeed, we expect the vast majority of our experiences to stay essentially the same. But as our we put down more roots in our regions of the city, we want you to feel more freedom to live out Soma s vision in your particular context and your particular stage of life. We want you to: Listen for the Spirit s invitation: create space to slow down, pray, listen, and discern God s voice. What desires are being stirred? What personal limitations need to be embraced? What is your burden? Speak into the process: participate in surveys, town hall meetings, vision preaching series, and MC discussions. How are we doing? What is missing or unclear? What opportunities are being overlooked? We want to hear from you! Lead us forward: we need a citywide movement of servant leaders dreaming, innovating, connecting, and implementing this vision. Do you have a personal mission plan? Where do you need training? Who can you pull in with you to help? Soma Church 2017-18 Ministry Plan 4
SOMA MIDTOWN WHERE WE STAND CONGREGATION COMMUNITY 193 347 Average Attendance 10.8% increase over last year 150 Members last year: 124 8 Missional Communities 2017 average regulars 25 2017 average visitors GENEROSITY Internal giving, 2015-16 $367,973 16.8% Internal giving, 2016-17 $428,274 30.30 Avg weekly giving per adult, 2015-16 9.2% 33.10 Avg weekly giving per adult, 2016-17 WHAT WE RE CELEBRATING Increasing racial and generational diversity Growth & empowerment of younger leaders in every context (Sunday gatherings, MCs, Discipleship) People putting down roots and making long-term commitments to Midtown neighborhoods Presence of families with children and students Soma Church 2017-18 Ministry Plan 5
SOMA MIDTOWN 2017-18 MINISTRY PLAN HIGHLIGHTS Discerning our next season We have some major decisions in front of us concerning our physical space, equipping families, reaching college students, and the possibility of planting more churches in Midtown. We want to call Midtown to a season of praying, fasting, and listening together for the Spirit s voice. Supporting singles, families, minorities thriving in the city In order to promote sustainability, we plan to start a small-scale student ministry for grades 5-8, host intentional singles & family equipping events, build in rhythms of rest for key volunteer leaders, and better implement minority leader concerns. Multiplying MCs We desperately need more MCs to care for our most recent wave and growth, as well as expanding into new opportunities for mission. We re going to simplify the onboarding process and take more risks this year. Clear pathways for discipleship As we continue to scale up to a larger church, we can t rely as much on organic means to invite people into life with Jesus and our church. This year we are going to focus on creating clear, accessible, measurable, and predictable systems & structures for helping people take the next steps from skeptic to authentic disciple of Jesus. Personalized mission We want each member to be able to articulate their burden and plan for owning Soma s vision in their personal sphere of life. We re going to create tools, curate discussions, and build accountability into MC life. Soma Church 2017-18 Ministry Plan 6
SOMA DOWNTOWN WHERE WE STAND CONGREGATION COMMUNITY 151 205 Average Attendance 20.8% increase over last year 95 Members last year: 70 7 Missional Communities 2017 average regulars 17 2017 average visitors GENEROSITY Internal giving, 2015-16 $70,241 141.3% Internal giving, 2016-17 $169,497 11.59 Avg weekly giving per adult, 2015-16 109.4% 24.27 Avg weekly giving per adult, 2016-17 WHAT WE RE CELEBRATING Increased giving opens more mission and support opportunities for our congregation! Our people are connecting to community life. Our average MC attendance is 75% of our average Sunday attendance. Our MCs are on mission. Downtown MCs have created exciting serving partnerships with organizations such as Arsenal Tech Young Life, Like A Lion (a program for at-risk youth), and Restored (a ministry serving trafficked women). Increased diversity in age, race, and class. Soma Church 2017-18 Ministry Plan 7
SOMA DOWNTOWN 2017-18 MINISTRY PLAN HIGHLIGHTS Developing Downtown elders Downtown is long overdue for having more capable shepherd leaders identified, assessed, developed further, and set apart to do the work of ministry in our congregation. We have invited a group of men to be a part of a development process that plans to culminate with the installation of gifted, servant-hearted men at Soma Downtown. Cultivating maturity Downtown is a zealous, energetic congregation that will continue to see its effectiveness grow as we equip the saints to do the work of ministry. All of our staff and several key leaders are tasked with leading new leadership cohorts. We also look to host four series of Sunday morning equipping classes. Multiplying MC and discipleship group quantity and quality While we have many healthy MCs and discipleship groups, we still have neighborhoods that would be served by multiplying more communities. In addition to multiplying our number, we hope to build health by training and installing MC care leaders, developing MC evangelism resources, and helping to create accessible, measurable, and predictable systems and structures for helping people take the next steps from skeptic to authentic disciple of Jesus. Discerning opportunities to deepen our neighborhood presence In the coming year, our congregation will actively investigate and weigh opportunities to purchase a longer-term facility option, acquire space to develop a ministry center in the community, and develop official congregational partnerships with community organizations. Soma Church 2017-18 Ministry Plan 8
SOMA NORTHWEST WHERE WE STAND 80-90 WHAT WE RE CELEBRATING Adults and kids on the Northwest launch team Healthy MCs planted in 4 different neighborhoods 4 Missional Communities 75 2017 average attendees A developing next layer of leaders currently volunteering at MT and DT Generous financial donors MINISTRY PLAN HIGHLIGHTS 2017-18 Launching a Sunday Gathering in September Over the last four years, we ve grown into four MCs and have established a healthy presence in northwest Indy. A Sunday gathering gives a public face to our presence and provides a wider opportunity for ministry in our community. Empowering Soma Students We will begin the fall with a solid group of middle-school students. We want to provide a space for these students to engage with each other and be empowered to live on mission in their context. We also want to serve and resource local student ministries. Developing clear onramps for emerging leaders For Soma Northwest to be a healthy, sustained presence in our community, we understand that continuing to develop leaders is key. We want to provide cohorts for both men and women, out of which will provide next steps for becoming MC leaders, deacons, and elders. Soma Church 2017-18 Ministry Plan 9
FINANCIAL UPDATE WHERE WE STAND INTERNAL GIVING VS MINISTRY BUDGET AVERAGE WEEKLY GIVING PER ADULT 24.55 2015-16 26.6% 31.08 2016-17 YTD 11.1% 34.52 Anticipated need, 2017-18 FINANCIAL POINTS OF INTEREST Our growth has slowed from exceptional (40-50%) to very healthy (10-15%) Soma Downtown s giving has increased dramatically since the beginning of this ministry year Soma Midtown has been carrying a heavy Central-budget load; Soma Downtown is now in a position to increase her Central contributions Soma Church 2017-18 Ministry Plan 10
FINANCIAL UPDATE GOING FORWARD BUILDING A BUDGET BY A MISSION Because we filter every financial decision we make through our mission, we ve created a budget that shows how every dollar spent helps fulfill our ministry vision. To see the gospel change everything in ourselves, our churches, and our city, here s how we re allocating our budget for 2017-18: 2017-2018 Budget: $1,167,055 MULTIPLICATION Seeing the gospel empower leaders to impact cities for good Leader development, church planting residency, ministry partnerships COMMUNITY Cultivating healthy individuals and relationships to serve God s kingdom on earth Sunday ministries, community life, congregational leadership, benevolence SUPPORT Providing needed resources to our staff and congregation so they can serve effectively Operations, facilities, administration $435,290 Congregational ministry budget $193,179 Congregational ministry budget $144,608 Congregational ministry budget $393,615 Central ministry budget $244,952 Contribution to Central fund $111,140 Contribution to Central fund $0 Contribution to Central fund Soma Church 2017-18 Ministry Plan 11