Moving Forward...

Last weekend a team of Weston Park leaders participated in a morning workshop with our consultants, Dorothy Pang and Tim Tang. This was another step of learning and discussing how we can prepare for our future as a church family. It was a fruitful time together as we focused on questions of church size, structure and staffing.

Our session began with a time spent on learning about the importance and impact that the size and structure of a church has on how it operates. A sports game analogy was used to help the group understand how size and structure impact how organizations work. The leadership in different games require different mindsets and structures. We were challenged to consider what “game” Weston Park is playing and what “game” God might be leading us to.

• Track & Field has one leader and everyone is running their own race – this could be like a small, single pastor church.
• Golf is a social sport where many are playing the same game and value the comradery of sharing the game together. The analogy is to a small church with several lay leaders or one with more than one Pastor/staff.
• Basketball is a team game that requires intentional coordinated effort between all parts of the team, coaching staff, and ownership. This is similar to a mid-size church where everyone’s effort is coordinated and everyone is working toward a shared “win”.
• Football teams are large. They have offensive lines, defensive lines, coaches for each, and extensive management. It was suggested that this is the way larger churches operate with a more complex structure.

The question put to the WPBC group was “What game are we playing?” Do we see the church functioning like a Track team/ Golf team/ Basketball team/ Football team? None is better or worse but it is important to understand what the church is and where God is leading forward. It was the consensus of the group that Weston Park functions as a Small church (Golf team) and that we desire to move towards becoming a more Midsize church (Basketball team).

In the second part of our workshop we discussed the structure necessary for the church to grow. Discussion moved toward structure and staffing. It was identified that the church needs two leadership positions to enable the church to fulfill its ministry moving into the future.

1. One who helps maintain the church vision, ensure quality preaching, and spiritual leadership
2. One who strategically leads the church’s ministries, coordinating and facilitating leaders and programs

The roles and responsibilities for these two positions still need to be defined.

Finally we spent some time identifying areas that at this time particularly require attention at Weston Park. A few of these were: coordination of worship (as of April 2023) discipleship, welcoming/newcomers.

The time was a positive and productive beginning to the journey ahead of us as we prepare for God’s work in our church community. Please be in prayer for this process as we continue to discuss and work and seek God’s guidance. If you have any questions about this process, please do not hesitate to dialogue with Marjorie Richards, Darlene Lucas or John Frogley-Rawson, our leaders in this Moving Forward initiative.