Jay's New E

In regard to their concern of three members of the same staff being on the
cohort:

For the three of us who are not members of the staff at Ephrata Church of
the Brethren, we would like you to know that we are not bothered by the fact
that Galen, Tim and Rob serve together at ECoB. We value these men as
fellow pastors and as others on the journey to missional ministry and are
not concerned with their ability to engage effecitively with the cohort. We
are seeking to become missional leaders, and this will flesh itself out not
in the collective workings of the ECoB per se, but as Galen, Tim and Rob
change as individual leaders becoming more missional. We value the cohort
as the unit that it is and do not see the dynamic of our group being
effected negatively by the fact that three of us serve at ECoB.



E. Group Evaluation (first section from Tim, HFO's and Indicators from me)

By meeting together regularly and engaging in meaningful discussion in
regard to our reading list and Bible study, we hope to discover the truth of
what it means to be missional leaders. We want to understand this concept of
"missional", we want to learn what missional churches and leaders are doing
in order to accomplish missional ministry, and we want to understand what
missional philosophy will look like in the context of our communal and
individual ministries. Our primary means of group accountability and
assesment will be through gauging one another by the ?indicators? listed
below, as well as the use of ?measuring sticks? listed by individuals in
their personal evaluation sections. In order to do this affectively we will
visit one another in our particular church settings.

These hoped-for-outcomes and indicators-along-the-way are as follows:
HFO 1. To identify a working definition of missional and determine to what
extent our leadership
syles and the ministries under our leadership fit that
definition.

Indicator: Consensus among cohort member as to definition and an
understanding by the other
members of each individual's critique of his own
leadership/ministry in light of said
definition.

HFO 2. Formation of a paradigm of missional philosophy implementation
through our Immersion
Retreat.

Indicator: Completion of purposeful Immerson Retreat.
Indicator: Completion of missional leadership assessment tool at each
ministry site of Immerson
Retreat and organization/analysis of collected data.
Indicator: Deeper understanding and conversation around missional
philosophy and how to be a
more missional leader based on our findings during the
Immersion Retreat.

HFO 3. Develop a list of characteristics of missional leaders from our
Immersion Retreat and
understand how to implement those characteristics.

Indicator: Completion of missional leadership assessment tool at each
ministry site of Immerson
Retreat and organization/analysis of collected data.
Indicator: Usage of assessment tool on each individual cohort member on
a quarterly basis to
examine how the implementation of these missional
characteristics.

HFO 4. Formation of a true community of our cohort members, challenging one
another to live out
God's mission in our personal lives and corporate and personal
ministries.

Indicator: Moving our relationships from that of acquaintance to
friendship.
Indicator: Providing a safe, nurturing atmosphere as a community to
speak to one another's
weaknesses as a missional leader.

HFO 5. To see the missional philosophy that we possess as leaders begin to
change the hearts and
minds of the people we lead, particularly lay leadership.

Indicator: Seeing purposefully missional programs begin to increase in
number.
Indicator: Seeing non-missional programs begin to decrease in number
and phase out.
Indicator: Hearing missional philosophy language and discussion
increase among the members of
our congregations, particularly the lay leadership.



E. Evaluations - Individual - Jay
If in am becoming more missional, which I assume to be a good thing
mirroring the mission of God
in this world in my personal life and ministry, then I should be able to
see my mind and actions
changing in the regard. To pursue missional ministry, I take two
viewpoints: personal and
corporate.

Personally, I desire to:
1. Develop a tool (or use the cohort tool) to critique myself
personally on an on-going basis. The
assumption is that as I endeavor to become more missional, I will
actually see that happening.
2. See missional characteristics become a part of who I am in my
essence, not just what I tell
the people that I lead to do. For instance, if missional ministry
means purposeful, authentic
relationships with neighbors, then I should be growing in the
relationships of the people who
live around me from acquaintance to friendship.
3. Be in constant evaluation of my personal schedule. Am I engaging in
activities that show that
I am being missional?
4. I will look to the members of the cohort to inform me personally as
well as from a
ministry-leadership vantage point.
5. Seek to engage my wife and kids in pursuit of missional ministry.

Corporately, as a pastor of a church, I desire to:
1. Use the cohort tool to critique my ministry on an on-going basis.
2. Philosophically and methodologically begin to challenge the lay
leadership around me as to their
engagement in true missional ministry.
3. Rely on the cohort to speak into my ministry and church as to its
relationship to missional
ministry and how to be more effective in it.
4. See missional programs develop and non-missional programs fall away.