Visioning: We think you should know….

Beginning in February, a small group of parishioners, primarily composed of board members
began meeting to engage in the simple question “what we as First Parish leaders should and
could do to best prepare for the future.” This visioning process was prompted by a felt need to
lift our eyes off the management of the day to day activities. and spend some energy planning
what’s next for the church.
We started our first meeting with a review of where we stood in regard to as many areas of our
collective life as we could imagine. Thus far, we have spent about three hours distilling down
who we are, and brainstorming up anything we could think relevant to our church’s collective
life and future. From membership numbers to our property, from a look our financial resources
to our human one, as best we could we looked at our collective strengths, challenges, fears, and
opportunities.
Basically, given where we thought we stood, we paused to ask ourselves how we could be the
best leaders possible at this unique moment in our church’s long life. It was kinda fun to take a
step back and brainstorm. So far we have laughed more than wrung our hands.
In our analysis, we assessed that as long as the stock market, our pledges, attendance, staff, and
our renters remain static, and we have every every reason to believe they will, we realized that
we have a stability we have not felt for a while. That felt good.
We took stock that our steeple is now fixed, our buildings are basically in decent shape. We took
pride that the Meetinghouse Arts Center is thriving. and we are experiencing at least a slight
uptick in attendance, political activity, and events. The awareness that there is at least some
wind in our sails led us to want to risk beginning to dream up an even more dynamic version of
what First Parish could become.
However, matching the joy that came with our sense of stability, and even thriving, was a
collective concern about how sustainable it is. We spoke with some worry that our present
generation of lay leaders did not have a natural next generation of volunteer-leaders to hand their
responsibilities and roles off too. Likewise, there was also in our conversations a sense of
frustration that all good ideas for what we could be or could do ended up falling squarely on the
shoulders of too few.
In the space we created to plan, we asked hard questions like what the past and future
generations of church goers would wish we do. We wondered if the small uptick in attendance

we have seen in the last couple years would continue to blossom into fuller and fuller pews and
more vibrant church offerings. But, we also dared wonder if and when the next generation
church leaders would arrive.
In order to ensure that we kept our options open, we began by considering the boldest ideas we
could imagine. This commitment to considering all our options led us to spent some time
thinking about our buildings and property as resources and burdens. When we paused to look at
just how big our property is, we felt blessed by the options our general location, regal large yard,
and two different buildings offered. And, again true to form, we also quickly felt a little daunted
by how many relentless demands, this placed on the collective “us” that is First Parish, and our
tired, but heroic few who manage our space and building.
Prompted by this effort to consider all reasonable options, we asked big questions like, should
we sell pieces of our property in order to have the resources to invest in other pieces of our
property, or fund new programs, or relieve some of our Building and Grounds volunteers of their
chores with paid staff. The question of whether we should look to hire a person to manage the
building even got discussed.
In our conversations we briefly, considered the implications of selling off different portions of
our land, buildings, and/or our historic silver. However, in each case selling off church property
and/or historic parts of our legacy seemed moves too big for our comfort level, and quite frankly
not necessary.
Having asked all we could think to ask or imagine, there emerged a shared understanding that
there was- at least at the present moment-both not nearly enough will, and not
volunteer/leadership to make any radical changes. Said another way, although at these meetings,
exploring big ideas seemed appropriate, making big decisions did not!
However, although nothing radical felt right, we have started to move forward with some smaller
goals that we all felt good about.
At present, we are working towards two different but complementary goals. The first being the
reinvigoration of the lower, or basement floor of Parish Hall. The second being the use of our
property and buildings to better express/advertise who we are, and what we are about.
In regard to the Parish Hall basement, we are exploring the possibility of making the lower men’s
bathroom and back doorway both handicap accessible and more attractive. As this vision is
being shaped, collaborating with Si-Baba to clean up our lower classrooms and create the
opportunity to use those spaces in ways we mostly yet can’t see drew enthusiasm. Although the
vision of exactly what a more attractive, functional, and handicapped accessible lower Parish
Hall could become remains unclear, the idea of dedicating a room to become a creative
“makers/space” did excite many of us. And, creating room dedicated to crafting has come to be
a real goal.

In terms of better utilizing our location and property, the possibility of a new large highly visible
church sign, or “wayside pulpit” as they are called is underway. We all agreed that signs and
images that would be clearly seen by traffic traveling in both directions on Church Street should
be a priority. If that idea come to fruition, there will over the next year be one far larger
permanent church sign installed and accompanying that an evolving series of high-quality
provocative signs that rotate in and out of use to more express to all who pass by who we are and
what we believe.
Just for fun, I invite you to right now imagine with us the following. First what a more
functional, dynamic, lower Parish Hall floor with a more inviting handicapped back door might
look and feel like And, second, what opportunities our beautiful and expansive yard, and
dignified inner spaces might offer us in regard to “branding” who we as a church are. I bet it
isn’t hard.
Those two above directions feel like our most immediate goals. That said, I doubt if those two
ideas come to fruition, they will be the last projects to come out of this process. I think we are
learning that gathering up interested people to target specific areas of potential change, and
giving them some freedom to act will be part of our path forward.
Although pretty quickly, jazzing up the lower floor of Parish Hall, and using our space to better
express our values sprung to life. More generally, in terms of pace, we are taking on the task of
preparing for the future with patient intention. At each meeting, as much as is reasonable, we
intentionally pause to revisit all the prior ideas and options that have been considered, and review
everyone’s interests and opinions. We are diligently documenting the path we are walking, in
part because we find ourselves constantly circling back to other ideas and want to remember
systematically what was said and felt by everyone, and about each option we have.
The fact that there are not enough leaders to not only bring to life all good new ideas, but even to
easily sustain all that needs doing is a constantly sobering truth. One clear takeaway is that for
us to be all that we could be, more parishioners and/or perhaps more community partners will
need to emerge to make the best version of what First Parish could be come to fruition.
Nonetheless, slow steady change does appear to be coming.
It’s a little like the church has started playing chess with its potential future self. As we move
forward we will be seeking others to join us. Consider joining in.
Thanks,
Steve