November 7, 2008

1.	Leaders Conference tomorrow - come even if you haven't registered!
2.	Church survey
3.	Ready to Redistribute?
4.	Winter's coming...
5.	Quick Updates

Who We Are

House Churches

Please join us for our Leaders Conference on Saturday, November 8 from 9 am to 1 pm at our Midtown location at 4550 N. Illinois Street. This event is open to anyone in a leadership role at CG (HC Leader, Children’s Teacher, Worship Team, etc.) but will have an intentional focus towards the HC Leader. We strongly encourage all of our HC Leaders to participate in this event.

Even if you haven't registered, you are still welcome to attend (please note that if you have not registered, childcare is closed and we are only able to accept children who were pre-registered). Lunch will not be served, but snacks will be provided. Questions? Please contact Nate.

Throughout September we administered surveys during Sunday services in an attempt to better understand our congregation and their views on various topics. Specifically, we wanted to confirm that people broadly understand Common Ground in the context in which the elders and staff intended. We also realized there are times that we communicate as a church but aren’t always as effective as we could be, so we wanted to understand where communication gaps exist. We’ve worked throughout October to collate this data and are beginning to further assess its relevance and implications for our various ministries. Though we are still early in this process, here are a few things we have learned:

Priorities of our church - According to survey results, our congregation feels that our top priorities should include training/equipping and family ministry. As you know, we hired Jim Matthies to serve as our pastor of spiritual formation a couple of months ago. Jim's areas of focus will include both family ministry and training/equipping for 2009.
Communication
- The e-news, with a readership of more than 650, has quickly become the preferred communication vehicle in our church. Our staff will continue to focus time and energy on the newsletter, and if you have friends who haven't subscribed, please encourage them to get "in the know" by signing up and and reading past issues on our website. Additionally, we sometimes run a survey in the e-news to get feedback on content, length, etc. We invite you to participate in these surveys to help make the e-news even more effective.
- Given a high preference for bulletin communication, we are evaluating the scope of the information included each week. We hope to improve our overall effectiveness with this communication tool as well.
- Though we thought we’ve been communicating clearly about volunteer needs, the survey results indicate we haven’t. We’re going to reevaluate how to better communicate volunteer needs to the congregation.
Vision Trips - The survey confirmed our suspicion that cost is a significant barrier for participation in vistion trips. Next year, we will have at least 3 trips that are less than $1500. We hope lessening the financial burden will make trips more accessible for individuals and families.

As we uncover more from the survey data, we will prayerfully consider how to respond so we are best fulfilling the mission God has for our church. Thanks again for your valuable input into this process!

We live in a world today where there is enough. Enough clothes, medicine, food, clean water and hope. Hope is a word that implies things will be better tomorrow than they were today, and the reality is that for the majority of the world, tomorrow will not be any better than today.

We want to invite you to join us on this journey of redistribution. Redistribution is the opportunity to not add to your budget or expenses, but rather to reassign your resources. God is freeing the world from consumerism and poverty at the same time. Let us participate in that freedom that Christ desires to bring.

The kingdom of God always looks like Jesus and those who follow Jesus believe in the hope of freedom for the captives and justice for the oppressed. We can make a difference no matter how small or insignificant it may appear. We are inviting you to be a part of this good news this Christmas season.

The Redistribute catalog is designed as a launching place for redistribution. What you’ll find inside are six Common Ground partners who are making a local and global impact. We invite you to join them in this journey of redistribution. As you begin your gift buying and giving, consider committing some of your resources to engage the injustices of our day and to distribute some Gospel hope in a very tangible way.

To view the Redistribute catalog, please click here. For a donation envelope, please visit the Information Center at Midtown or the Information Table at CGCC-West.

Given the warm weather at the beginning of the week, it’s hard to believe that winter is coming. However, it is November and we need to be prepared for the inclement weather that comes this time of year. If we experience snow on a weekend, you can check the following for service cancellations:

Our website – www.cground.org. A closing announcement will be at the bottom of our homepage.
On television – closing announcements will run on RTV6, Fox 59 and CW4.
On the office phone – we’ll record a message stating services are cancelled at 317.251.1494.
In the yard – for those who make it all the way to the building at Midtown or the school at CGCC-West, we’ll place signs in the yard announcing that services are cancelled.

If Common Ground decides to have services despite the snow, please be prepared for a longer or more challenging walk when parking. For those attending our Midtown services, please take extra care to not block driveways and remember that the parking lot should be reserved for visitors, those who are unable to walk long distances, and families with small children.

Service Opportunity - Volunteers Needed at Midtown

MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) is looking for childcare providers for their spring session. We welcome men, women, young and old to join us in the celebration of guiding our children. Meetings are the first & third Friday mornings, January through May. Please contact Carey Siegler to discuss details, schedule and needs.

Reid House

Volunteers with a variety of skill levels are needed to help make the home of R.D. and Jill Reid accessible for R.D. If you have construction skills, please contact Jeremy at 507.0986 to volunteer. If you have general skills or would like to provide a meal for the workers, email reidhousevolunteers@gmail.com.

Children's Choir - Save the Date!

The children's choir will lead worship at the morning services on Sunday, December 14. Rehearsals will be held each week during our children's ministry classes and parents will receive song sheets so that you can practice at home. Please mark your calendars!