Preparing for Session 4: Our Living Faith Story
Moving Fairlawn Forward:
Congregational Conversations about Fairlawn’s Future
We invite you to engage in conversations that matter at this pivotal step of our faith journey. We need your voice to help shape our future together.
Preparing for Session 4: Our Living Faith Story
Sunday, June, 2022
1:30 pm – 3:30 am on Zoom
Moving Fairlawn Forward
In this session, we will weave together the feedback from our first three consultations and review a draft of our living faith story.
Our living faith story articulates our beliefs, ministry needs, and financial realities and is a key element of the Community of Faith Profile needed to initiate a ministerial search. It tells others – including prospective ministers – who we are, why we exist, and what future options might best serve our vision and purpose as a faith community.
Community of Faith Profile
Each community of faith in The United Church of Canada is responsible for maintaining an online community of faith profile page at ChurchHub that includes:
- living faith story
- financial statement
- demographics
- manse report, if applicable (n/a for Fairlawn)
- real property
- learning site requirements, if applicable (n/a for Fairlawn)
A community of faith profile that is ready to post for search and selection must also include:
- financial viability review
- position description(s)
In each section of the community of faith profile, honesty is important. Together, the various pieces of the profile express: This is who we are, and these are the resources we have.
What Goes into a Living Faith Story
Congregations can tell their living faith story any way they wish. The living faith story can be written, or it can be an audio or video recording of the community telling their story. It can incorporate existing visioning and planning work, or be developed from scratch. Consultation with the faith community and key personnel is essential.
A living faith story is the heart of the broader community of faith profile, and may point to any number of outcomes, such as a lay-led congregation, amalgamation or disbanding of the pastoral charge, or some new innovative ministry.
Our Fairlawn Forward congregational conversations over the past few months have been designed to help us articulate our living faith story, and you will see much of this work reflected in the document.
This includes an updated version of the Call and Vision document discussed in Session 2 on April 2, 2022, incorporating feedback received from that session.
As we have just begun to explore our future options, we need to be transparent about that. Our goal is to include enough of a story for ministers to assess if they have the gifts and energy to join us on our journey.
Questions for Discussion
We will be reviewing a draft of our living faith story in our session on June 5. An online feedback form will be available for those who cannot attend.
Recognizing that a community document cannot contain the exact wording that every individual would choose, and that a living faith story cannot describe in detail everything we are and do, please take the time to review and reflect on it in advance, considering these three questions:
- Which section, words, or phrases do you appreciate being in the document?
- Which section, words, or phrases do you find challenging to read but are glad to have included?
- Is anything missing that is critical to who we are as a faith community that you think the Fairlawn Forward team should consider including?
Next Steps
Over the summer, and into the fall, the Fairlawn Forward team will continue refining the living faith story and continue to develop and validate the three draft proposals presented on May 14, incorporating your input and perhaps investigating other alternatives proposed by you. If you are interested in participating in this exploratory work, please contact .
The ministerial search committee, led by Doug Crozier, will populate the rest of the Community of Faith Profile in collaboration with our regional council representative (to be assigned in June).
The Community of Faith Profile, including an updated living faith story, will be presented to the congregation for approval on Sunday, September 25 at a formal congregational meeting. Once approved by Shining Waters Regional Council, the search process can officially begin, with the goal of having a new minister in place by summer 2023.