• We are really out of touch with our neighbors. The church is almost like a clique.
  
• We are like the Moose Lodge, or the Elks. We draw a certain type of people from certain neighborhoods.
  
• We don’t intend to be an “exclusive” church, but we are also definitely not a neighborhood church.
  
• We are welcoming to our neighbors/community, but not necessarily inviting.
  
• Our building makes it difficult to get in and find the life.
  
• We talk the talk (open, reconciling, etc.), but physically we don’t communicate this as well as we could (barriers, lack of entry, signage, etc.)
  
• Members use the back door, visitors use the front/formal door. Our entrances say a lot about how welcoming we are.
  
• We perhaps don’t take young adults as seriously as we could and tap into their resources and gifts. We are used to itinerant young people and sometimes fail to recognize their needs and contributions.
  
• Lack of judgment for single-moms, people who may otherwise feel judged by churches, makes people feel welcome and safe.
  
• People in our church deeply care for people, and not where they came from or what their situation is.
  
• We are wonderfully connected to each other’s families and lives. It may make it a little bit intimidating for someone to “break in.”
  
• Small groups help people connect and feel connected to other church people they may not have connected to otherwise.
  
• We are so fortunate to have many worldly experiences, education, etc. and perhaps may forget sometimes that not everyone in our community shares that background with us.
  
• There is sensitivity around money, and a feeling that the impression of our church as a generally wealthy population is perhaps too generalized. People with fewer financial resources may feel pressured or “out of their league” when we are talking about financial needs, stewardship campaigns, capital campaigns, etc.
  
• There is a lot of self-sufficiency in our community, and perhaps culturally we unconsciously assume that others are experiencing something similar, and we may forget to make the extra effort to reach out to those who are not self-sufficient.
  
• We miss having a “newcomers” kind of club where all the newer people get together. We are good at responding individually to new folks, but need to work on getting them connected to a small church community immediately.
  
• We have a black hole for non-college students, not-quite-married, no-children 18+somethings. (post UMY, not quite young-adult group [late 20s & 30s] or young families.)
  
• We have families in need and we could be doing a better job of ministering to those people in “dysfunctional” or difficult situations.
  
• We value finding balance… the place between being stressed or pressured about money, but also being financially responsible and a shareholder in the financial health of the church.

• We are not a neighborhood church and are not acquainted with or seldom acknowledge our neighbors.
  
• We are indistinguishable to outsiders from the other downtown churches
  
• We need to recognize the new description of what it means to be a student, and how we as a congregation can reach out that diverse population. Their definition of “Faith Community” is different from ours.
  
• We need, as a church, to have a voice in the public square. However, we are more likely to speak about something that doesn’t effect us directly. It makes it difficult to have a unified voice.

• We’re not a neighborhood church, but we are a community church.
  
• We need to find a way to continually express our niche so that people identify us for who we are. (Some traits are: reconciling, openness, involved in the community, encouraging questioning….)
  
• As individuals who serve in the community, we need to identify ourselves as United Methodists.
  
• We have an opportunity to provide nonthreatening hospitality to the mobile population.

• We are a church of the community, not the neighborhood.
  
• We would value strengthening relationships with the neighborhood and our location is ideal for this.
  
• We need to cultivate and enable leadership, especially younger adults within the church.
  
• The physical appearance of the church matters to us; aesthetically, we’d like it to look nice, and we’d like it to appear welcoming.
  
• We value reaching beyond Corvallis, e.g., through mission trips.

  Congregational Inventory:
Proclamation: Is this a “Good news” place?
Possible 30
Real 23

Community Development:
Is this an inviting and supportive place?
Possible 30
Real 24

Service:
Does this place have energy for those outside the fellowship?
Possible: 30
Real 22

Communicating the Tradition:
Does this place have high quality ways of passing on its teachings?
Possible 30
Real 15

Assimilation of New Members…Who knows????

Pastor Parish Dynamics
Possible 42
Real 27

Congregational Vision
Possible 18
Real 13

Leadership:
Possible 30
Real 24

Total Possible: Who knows???
Real: Who really knows?????