Developing Missional Eyes–Congregational Learning Course Series

Developing MISSIONAL EYES
A two-part Workshop via Zoom

Thursday, October 20, 2022 @ 7 p.m.
Thursday, November 10, 2022 @ 7 p.m.

with Rev. Rod Frohman, HR
Formerly: Associate Pastor for Church in Society at Third Presbyterian Church, Rochester, NY

The Frequent Problem

Many congregations get “stuck” in patterns of mission in our local communities and literally do not “see” what kind of opportunities are available. As Covid wanes where can we begin again?

The Goal of this Workshop:

1.) Develop awareness of our community using our “missional eyes.”
2.) Discover the setting of our congregation’s local social mission projects.
3.) Discover connections between our congregation’s geographical location and our projects.

Workshop #1 Thursday October 20, 2022 @ 7 p.m. via Zoom – 90 minutes

Each congregation is invited to have two representatives to attend this 2-workshop course.
Each participant is invited to bring to Workshop # 1 a personal roadmap of their community (as they define it) on which they have used a magic marker to trace their weekly/monthly patterns of travel. See Developing a Missional Eye Personal Map.

Each person is invited share their map and the sites, distances, linkages, and connections for them personally and for their church. We will look for patterns revealed in our travel habits.

Participants learn some introductory knowledge of their community through this mutual sharing process and will consider probing questions regarding what is seen and not seen in the community by way of travel habits. Such questions include: Are there certain geographical areas which we avoid and why?

Between Workshop #1 and #2

A team of 2 from each congregation is invited to make a survey of the congregation’s community. (Instructions and survey instrument will be distributed during Workshop #1)

Workshop #2 Thursday November 10, 2022 @ 7 p.m. 90 minutes

Report back to all your discoveries of the survey regarding what was seen:

 Infrastructure
 Housing
 Business Climate
 Not-For-Profit Organizations and Agencies
 Entertainment
 Ethnic/Racial/Social makeup of the people seen

Discussion

 Assess where the congregation’s current mission addresses any of the situations discovered while taking the survey.
 Assess where the congregation’s does not address observations generated by the survey.
 Where is the “low hanging fruit” which a congregation might address within the next three months?
 What are some long-term projects in which a congregation may be involved?
 How can each participant team share their learnings with their Session?

REGISTER by emailing Rod Frohman at: CityRevRochester@gmail.com or calling at 585-727-2676 (cell)

Zoom link for workshop will be emailed to each registered participant