The Story We Find Ourselves In at SJMC

At our Annual Meeting this past Sunday, we were invited to respond to a short survey as a way of thinking about what it might mean for us at SJMC to actually be involved in the continuation of the biblical story through our life together as a church community. It's a series of statements that begins with our vision, and ends with our money. I think that's a pattern we see a lot of in the Bible. We took a few minutes that morning to share some of the reflections that these questions prompted, but perhaps there is more we'd like to say.

Here's the survey from Sunday. Have a read-through again, and feel free to post a comment. It would be great to pick the conversation up again.


1. Having again read the SJMC vision statement, I believe we are living out our vision.
YES NO UNSURE

2. Our decisions at SJMC are directly informed and influenced by our Vision Statement. YES NO UNSURE

3. As a congregation, we are consistently challenged to live out the congregational vision. YES NO UNSURE

4. I like the decision-making processes we use at SJMC. I feel I am a part of them. YES NO UNSURE

5. The decisions we make always change the story we find ourselves in. I like that. YES NO UNSURE

6. I think we are being too ambitious in terms of what we try to do and support at SJMC. YES NO UNSURE

7. In the Zacchaeus story, the key result of meeting Jesus and finding his salvation was how Zacchaeus dealt with his financial resources.
YES NO UNSURE

8. At SJMC we experience a healthy tension between what we could be doing and what we are doing with our resources.
YES NO UNSURE

9. I believe at SJMC we give primarily in order to meet our Spending Plan rather than joyfully, out of our abundance and vision.
YES NO UNSURE

10. I believe the more external funding projects SJMC assumes, the more people will be motivated to also give generously to the SJMC Spending Plan.
YES NO UNSURE