~ City on a Hill ~
We’re excited to share about City on a Hill Year 2: Stewardship!
What is City on a Hill?
City on a Hill launched in 2023 as a three-year initiative for Christus Victor to actively listen and respond to what God is calling us to do and to be through this community. While City on a Hill provides back-up for the regular budget to support new ministries and projects, our City on a Hill priorities are woven into the fabric of all that we do. We are excited to see what the Holy Spirit has in store for Christus Victor in the years to come. Come join us on the adventure of growing in abundance to serve others!
To see the full details of our City on a Hill priorities, keep scrolling!
Hear from Pastor Melanie about City on a Hill (2023!)
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2023 City on a Hill Priorities
Christus Victor Strategic Priorities
2/12/2024 (original draft submitted on 5/22/23)
Mission: Christus Victor exists to make the living Christ known.
Vision: We Gather, Grow and Go in the context of Missional Communities to participate in Jesus’ redemptive mission in the world.
Core Values:
Welcome—We welcome all people, made in the image of God.
Identity—In our baptisms, we are saved by grace to join Jesus every day.
Community—We participate in community as disciples, doing God’s work in the world.
Purpose—Our purpose is to join the living God in actively using our gifts to make the world a better place.
The following goals, objectives, and tactics represent a distillation and prioritization of the feedback received from the Dream Team, Council, listening sessions, surveys and the City on a Hill team. They are offered as steps to achieve our vision of Christus Victor as a beacon of light, a city on a hill, always open and welcoming, safe for all to enter and pray, worship, seek help, and seek God. These goals are in addition to the current work, priorities and funding of Christus Victor, the council, our ministry teams, our members, and all of you. Over time, these commitments and activities will lead to increased worship attendance, growth in faith, increased giving, increased outreach and service to our communities.
The updates from February 2024 since the release of these priorities in May of 2023 are printed in bold. The updates from May 2024 are printed in italic.
The following are major growth areas:
· the Equipping Ministry Coordinator position was revamped to become the Minister of Community Engagement; Deacon Annette was hired into this role
· the roof was replaced by the aforementioned date
· the decision was made to repair and paint the fellowship hall room dividers by 3/1
· we hired Christina Schiel as our Communications Specialist to help with marketing, social media presence and overall communication
· we started up PADS on Sunday nights with new leadership
· the Children’s Ministry was revamped in summer of 2023, and we hired Kasandra Pruyn as coordinator, fully supported by the Children’s Ministry Lead Team and by Pastor Melanie in her expanded role as Faith Leader for Young Families
· we opened the nursery and hired Terri Flaim as coordinator
· a cross-section of Christus Victor people revamped adult education to promote Passport for Learning opportunities that offer both online and in-person options, as well as options for those new to the faith and those seasoned in the faith…see “Passport for Learning” at cvlutheran.org/passport
The updates from 2/12/24- 5/1/24 are in italic.
1. (GATHER) Christus Victor is a vibrant, safe, welcoming worship home in which people’s faith grows and transforms our community
a. Objective 1: ensure all people are greeted and acknowledged individually at worship
i. Tactic: recruit and train 24 people to be effective greeters (2 per service, 24 people per month) by June 2024 (updated from 1/2024)
1. Worship team coordinator (and equipping ministry coordinator)
ii. Tactic: follow up on all new visitors with 2 phone calls
1. One from a pastor and one from a council member or Minister of Community Engagement in the week following the visit
2. Christina created the “Buddy System,” where first-time worshippers may sign up online to sit with a buddy, who will help them navigate their first visit to Christus Victor (she recruited a few people who have signed on to be buddies at each service)
3. Christina updated the pew visitor card and created an online version to attain visitor information. Pastor Stefan is in the habit of doing a follow-up call upon receipt of the card/online submission.
b. Objective 2: ensure facility safety and adequacy to support worship and educational opportunities
i. Tactic: replace roof by 5/1/23 (action completed)
ii. Tactic: repair and paint room dividers in fellowship hall by 3/1/24 (action completed by March 2024)
iii. Tactic: other safety and aesthetic upgrades, as needed As of 4/28, there is a plan to update the nursery’s shelving units
c. Objective 3: enhance worship teams by June 2024 (updated from 1/2024)
i. Tactic: recruit new volunteers for each worship service and train one team for each service, each team will cover one service per month Hansel Ramathal created a chart, where more people can sign on to more opportunities, and more confirmation students are actively serving
1. Include promotion of different ministry opportunities through newly-revamped Friday Five and social media posts Christina posts weekly requests about volunteer opportunities in the “Opportunities to Serve” section of Friday Five
2. Pastors, worship team coordinator and Minister of Community Engagement
ii. Tactic: refresh teams annually thereafter, with training and new volunteers
d. Objective 4: Enhance music ministry
i. Tactic 1: Hire consistent traditional music leadership, including organ support (updated from hire permanent organist ASAP) Maintained organ in March 2024 through City on a Hill funds, and a concert to support those efforts is planned for 5/19/24
ii. Tactic 2: Recruit youth with musical talents to continue to play and sing at all services (Students enjoy playing and singing at all services, and Megan and Pr. Melanie are in discussion about regular youth musical involvement in all worship services) A visiting choir from California “chose” Christus Victor from multiple options in the Chicagoland area to come and sing at both services on 4/14/24
iii. Tactic 3: Suggestion box for hymns and songs by 3/1/24 (Megan already has a blue box on the usher’s table, ready to welcome suggestions and comments!)
iv. Tactic 4: Consider role for music leader for traditional service
e. Objective 5: Expand social media presence as the front door to Christus Victor’s worship and ministries
i. Tactic 1: Support newly-hired Communications Specialist (team has been working to onboard her in her role) in developing engaging content for new and existing visitors to Christus Victor’s website and socials
ii. Tactic 2: Revamp website (Christina has initiated a plan to do so) and evaluate effectiveness of social media presence in bringing people in to services and programs Website revamp completed in April 2024
iii. Christina has updated the Friday 5 and continually seeks input from various staff to put out a fresh version weekly
iv. Communicator has been updated and is sent out via email, in addition to the printed copies made available (Rosa and Christina)
v. Christina created a Christus Victor logo!
vi. New visitors’ page has been added to the website, per Christina
vii. Regular schedule of social media posts (5-7 per week) has been created (Christina)
f. Objective 6: Fairly and competitively compensate all staff
i. Tactic 1: with guidance from synod, establish and fund appropriate salaries
1. Council and City on a Hill team
2. (GROW) Christus Victor is a faith home for young families and all who are searching for a relationship with Jesus
a. Objective 1: grow youth ministry to include post-confirmation through college
i. Tactic: text chains, bible studies, youth Alpha (Renee Weiland is eager and willing to help lead), Zoom meet-ups, reunions Youth Alpha will begin on Sunday, May 5th at 10 a.m., with Renee Weiland teaching and solid mentor back-up support
ii. Tactic: expand and financially support youth ministry position to achieve goal and implement tactics targeting youth
iii. Tactic: continue to develop back-up support team of parent volunteers (Pr. Stefan has been working with a team of parents/volunteers to hire a youth leader who will be well-supported) Focus is on starting to build the senior high youth ministry, starting with the newly-confirmed 8th graders
b. Objective 2: Support and expand Sunday School/Grapple and VBS
i. Tactic: increase marketing
ii. Tactic: rely on Lead Team to support the broad spectrum of Children’s Ministries (including Sunday School, Grapple, VBS, MOPS and nursery) Team of people who are sensitive to students with neurodiverse needs will include hands-on, tactical learning additions in the form of “centers” or “creative bins” for the 2024-25 year
iii. Tactic: continue to work on strategies put forward by the revamp team to strengthen efforts in recruiting volunteers to serve and grow in their own faith, while serving children Kasandra has already completed the schedule for Sunday School and Grapple for 2024-25, utilizing a new, lectionary digital curriculum. This will enable volunteers to sign on to service opportunities early, so that we will be set for the fall.
iv. Tactic: continue to monitor safety and effect change where necessary
c. Objective 3: Support and expand nursery usage during services and for other ministries and special events
i. Tactic: continue to recruit and train adult and youth volunteers, who serve regularly (2-deep leadership for safety purposes) Terri has a solid team of nursery volunteers, who have also expanded their service into the 10-11 timeslot (during adult education hour)
ii. Tactic: support new nursery coordinator in creating a ministry that reaches the whole family Terri is regularly sending out creative, welcoming, community-building emails to families with children, ages 0 – 4, to help build community among these families and to regularly invite them into the experience of faith growth with early learners.
iii. MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) has become MomCo, short for “Mom Community.” Although this ministry reaches beyond Christus Victor and into the community, Pr. Melanie is working with MomCo leadership to connect with the same group of Christus Victor families as those Terri is reaching out to for welcome into MomCo.
iv. Terri has welcomed the preschool Sunday School class into the nursery with open arms and with lots of creative learning opportunities. Come fall, the nursery will include volunteer coverage for children, 0-2.5 and for the “Sunday School Starter” class of 2.5 – 4-year-olds.
v. Tactic: support the coordinator in recruiting volunteers for childcare coverage for adult educational opportunities on Sunday mornings/work alongside those who are recruited to provide unique older KidCare during those adult education options For 2 classes of 4 sessions each (from 1/21-2/11 and from 4/21-5/19), nursery and older KidCare was offered.
d. Objective 4: organize one annual mission trip for adults
i. Tactic: recruit 2 volunteers to organize, promote, etc.
ii. Deacon Annette, along with a team of volunteers, led an Alpha Holy Spirit retreat on 4/6/24, where adults could “retreat,” learn about the Holy Spirit in their lives, and share in community discussions with one another
e. Objective 5: engage new members and visitors through meaningful follow-up opportunities to participate in ministry, educational opportunities, etc.
i. Tactic: council members and ministry leaders contact visitors Pastor Stefan is first point of contact from visitor card/online option; if visitors come to worship, the goal is to build a culture of welcome, where anyone and everyone says, “Hi!”
ii. Tactic: new Minister for Community Engagement reaches out to all new members to help them engage in ministry
iii. Established a follow-up system to “recruit” and follow up with people interested in membership:
a. Pastor Stefan follows up with visitors and meets with potential new members
b. The individual/family attends Explore Christus Victor class
c. Christina follows up with each household via email
d. Deacon Annette (Minister of Community Engagement) follows up with them to better learn their stories, guide them into ministry, and have deeper stewardship conversations with them
f. Objective 6: support every opportunity in the newly-revamped adult education Passport for Learning through promotion, childcare, facility usage, etc. Pastor Melanie will work with a team over the summer to create a Passport for Learning 2024-25
g. Objective 7: offer social hour between services to include visitors as well as regular attendees
i. Tactic: Council and volunteers Snacks are offered on the first Saturday of the month, on special occasions and for specific purposes; for example, confirmation, the music concert, etc…goal is to provide fellowship snacks more often, especially in the narthex welcome center area, so that people linger longer and build community with one another
h. Objective 8: simplify access to information about all the happenings at Christus Victor
i. Tactic: support our new Communications Specialist in releasing timely information about upcoming ministries (see above)
ii. Tactic: QR code weekly list of what’s up by end of January 2024 (Christina), and what just happened
iii. Tactic: Digital Sign out front Quotes are being gathered
3. (GO) Christus Victor is a body of people in Christ who work as God’s hands and feet in service to the community through faith-inspired outreach
a. Objective 1: Expand current successful ministries and opportunities to serve, including food pantry, Grief Share, Exodus refugee support, Caring Place
i. Tactic: increase volunteer support and participants by 50% by June 2024 (updated from 1/2024)
1. Food Pantry has expanded to 2 days/week, on both Wednesdays and Saturdays, serving 60 families weekly
2. Fun Run/Walk 5K is scheduled for September 21, 2024 to support pantry and Christus Victor – community-wide effort
3. We are gathering and delivering 3 family packs for Exodus World Services annually, and a group attends the annual Exodus dinner to support their efforts
4. GriefShare is offering regular sessions and has recruited more volunteer support through Deacon Annette and Felicia Nelson’s leadership
ii. Tactic: support volunteers through training and acknowledgment Rosa offers regular training opportunities for volunteers with Caring Place, and she has recruited more volunteers to share their special gifts
iii. Tactic: recruit 5 new volunteers for each long-standing ministry
b. Objective 2: Grow outreach to Spanish language residents of our region, to engage in programs and worship
i. Tactic: financially support Annette’s role as Deacon to reach current Hispanic/Latinx participants by June 2024 (updated from 1/2024…she was hired as Minister of Community Engagement) Applied for grant through synod (Deacon Annette and Pr. Hellstedt)
ii. Tactic: continue to support Deacon’s new role as Minister of Community Engagement. Financially increase support and expand Deacon’s role as need and impact increase
c. Objective 3: Grow newly-revamped PADS ministry on Sunday nights
i. Tactic: support new leadership with whatever they need for the community ministry
ii. Tactic: continue to seek funding and volunteer support for PADS