Congregational Meeting This Sunday: Exploring Core Values and Spiritual Identity from Rev. David Jones
Following our worship service this Sunday, the congregation will hold its regular September congregational meeting, with a focus on the church's transformation process. For months, your Transformation Team has been in conversation with individuals and small groups of the church, as well as with community partners and neighbors; now it is time to speak together as a congregation, about our community's core values and spiritual identity. The Team will be on hand to facilitate and guide our conversation, and we hope every member and friend of the church will join this meeting both to listen and be heard. With your help, we will move from the "I" stories and experiences that the Team has been collecting, into the understanding that we hold in common as a congregation.
The Transformation Team is planning to host an all-church retreat in November, where it will share its findings and recommendations to the congregation. Having a conversation this Sunday about our church's core values and spiritual identity will give the team a stronger sense of the foundation that can continue to hold up the church community, now and into the future.
Following our worship service this Sunday, the congregation will hold its regular September congregational meeting, with a focus on the church's transformation process. For months, your Transformation Team has been in conversation with individuals and small groups of the church, as well as with community partners and neighbors; now it is time to speak together as a congregation, about our community's core values and spiritual identity. The Team will be on hand to facilitate and guide our conversation, and we hope every member and friend of the church will join this meeting both to listen and be heard. With your help, we will move from the "I" stories and experiences that the Team has been collecting, into the understanding that we hold in common as a congregation.
The Transformation Team is planning to host an all-church retreat in November, where it will share its findings and recommendations to the congregation. Having a conversation this Sunday about our church's core values and spiritual identity will give the team a stronger sense of the foundation that can continue to hold up the church community, now and into the future.
An interview with Rev. David Jones by Stein Feick
(We thank Stein Feick for this interview with Rev. David Jones regarding the Transformation Team, and look forward to reading about each of our Team Members in future Updates.)
I recently met with David and learned about how the “Transformation Team” came about and what it is doing. Having missed the Annual Meeting in January and being a bit of a visual learner, here’s what I’ve pieced together.
For a couple of years, the Church Council, Trustees and Deacons had been discussing where we are as a church and where we want to go. (Notice the “we” - the First Congregational Church of Ashfield, like all UCC churches, is “congregation driven.”)
At the same time, the Southern New England Conference (of which we are a part) was developing resources for processes of “revitalization” churches. Part of the SNEUCC’s vocabulary was “transformation.” This was a priority coming out of the pandemic, when so many churches experienced new challenges, or when existing challenges became more pronounced.
About a year ago many of us attended an All- Church meeting where we looked at a bell curve showing the life of a church and as a group discerned that we are in the “in a Maintaining Time” in the life of our church. (See below.)
(We thank Stein Feick for this interview with Rev. David Jones regarding the Transformation Team, and look forward to reading about each of our Team Members in future Updates.)
I recently met with David and learned about how the “Transformation Team” came about and what it is doing. Having missed the Annual Meeting in January and being a bit of a visual learner, here’s what I’ve pieced together.
For a couple of years, the Church Council, Trustees and Deacons had been discussing where we are as a church and where we want to go. (Notice the “we” - the First Congregational Church of Ashfield, like all UCC churches, is “congregation driven.”)
At the same time, the Southern New England Conference (of which we are a part) was developing resources for processes of “revitalization” churches. Part of the SNEUCC’s vocabulary was “transformation.” This was a priority coming out of the pandemic, when so many churches experienced new challenges, or when existing challenges became more pronounced.
About a year ago many of us attended an All- Church meeting where we looked at a bell curve showing the life of a church and as a group discerned that we are in the “in a Maintaining Time” in the life of our church. (See below.)
The consensus was that instead of sliding down the slippery slope to demise (my words), we would try to work to make our future on the bell curve look more like this. (See above.)
David says, “And this is key: our goal right now is not to go back to a past peak (and definitely not to go back to the ways things were at a previous time) but to move forward into a new time of Sustained Health.”
At the Annual Meeting on January 25, 2025, the members present approved the following motion: That a Church Transformation Team be established on an ad-hoc basis and charged as follows: The Team will be made up of the minister and up to 7 lay members and friends of the congregation. […] The purpose of the Church Transformation Team will be to study and to better understand and reflect upon where our church is today, and to discern–to incline its ears–to where God is calling our church to go in the future, and to make recommendations to the congregation particularly with regard to how the church might be meaningfully and suitably transformed to best meet the times.” A team structure working with the SNEUCC was established along with the purpose of the Transformation Team with 6 specific charges.
The Deacons made the initial recommendation to work with the SNEUCC, who in turn (based on the results of our All-Church meeting and other information about our church) paired us with Rev. Chris Mereschuck (aka, our “Navigator”) to help with the process. A call went out to the congregation for volunteers to be part of this group and the following people stepped up to the challenge: Alan Suprenant, Allen Gabriel, David Jones, Holly Wescott, Kare Marshall, Leslie Fraser, Lori Wyman, and Vic Gravel.
David said that at the beginning of the process the group met weekly with the mission, as he understood it, to turn challenges into opportunities and to transform the present from something tied to the past into something set loose by the future.
When I asked what some of the challenges were, David responded that currently the church reflects the population of the hilltowns by having primarily an older population. He feels that for many this creates a feeling of pressure and exhaustion, along with a worry that the work the church does might not be sustainable. The other challenge is that while the church currently has a surplus of funds, the budget has been being balanced with funds that will eventually run out if something different isn’t implemented.
Initially David thought the process might be driven by issues of governance and bylaws, but for him it has become about meeting socio-economic and spiritual needs. This feels much more organic to him and he appreciates that.
Part of the process was for the members of the Transformation Team to meet and interview a wide variety of people both within the church community and the communities surrounding the church. He has loved doing this kind of work because of the intentionality of the questions involved.
David says the entire Transformation Team charge will last one year, dating from its first meeting with Rev. Chris, or from February, 202 5, to its last meeting with Rev. Chris in February, 2026.
The Team’s work is heavily concentrated in its first six months, at the end of which David expects that Team to make some important recommendations to the congregation. This will likely occur after Fall Festival at a Special Congregational Meeting.
The first two months of the process were very intensive. After a bit of a breather recently, he expects that their work will ramp up again soon. The design of the process is to discern what is revealed about doing some things differently and then to advise the congregation. His hope is that the congregation will then implement at least some of these recommendations, and continue to engage seriously with all of them.
The process has been grounding for him in the conversation of where churches are.
I suggested that Jeannine might write a mini-play about the efforts of the Transformation Team as a way for the congregation to understand and become excited by their efforts.
He and I looked at the beautiful and inviting logo (which a retired local minister created intending to reflect the colors of the organ pipes) and one suggestion was to write the words “Creating Community. Welcoming All.” in the green border that encircles the tree.
David says, “And this is key: our goal right now is not to go back to a past peak (and definitely not to go back to the ways things were at a previous time) but to move forward into a new time of Sustained Health.”
At the Annual Meeting on January 25, 2025, the members present approved the following motion: That a Church Transformation Team be established on an ad-hoc basis and charged as follows: The Team will be made up of the minister and up to 7 lay members and friends of the congregation. […] The purpose of the Church Transformation Team will be to study and to better understand and reflect upon where our church is today, and to discern–to incline its ears–to where God is calling our church to go in the future, and to make recommendations to the congregation particularly with regard to how the church might be meaningfully and suitably transformed to best meet the times.” A team structure working with the SNEUCC was established along with the purpose of the Transformation Team with 6 specific charges.
The Deacons made the initial recommendation to work with the SNEUCC, who in turn (based on the results of our All-Church meeting and other information about our church) paired us with Rev. Chris Mereschuck (aka, our “Navigator”) to help with the process. A call went out to the congregation for volunteers to be part of this group and the following people stepped up to the challenge: Alan Suprenant, Allen Gabriel, David Jones, Holly Wescott, Kare Marshall, Leslie Fraser, Lori Wyman, and Vic Gravel.
David said that at the beginning of the process the group met weekly with the mission, as he understood it, to turn challenges into opportunities and to transform the present from something tied to the past into something set loose by the future.
When I asked what some of the challenges were, David responded that currently the church reflects the population of the hilltowns by having primarily an older population. He feels that for many this creates a feeling of pressure and exhaustion, along with a worry that the work the church does might not be sustainable. The other challenge is that while the church currently has a surplus of funds, the budget has been being balanced with funds that will eventually run out if something different isn’t implemented.
Initially David thought the process might be driven by issues of governance and bylaws, but for him it has become about meeting socio-economic and spiritual needs. This feels much more organic to him and he appreciates that.
Part of the process was for the members of the Transformation Team to meet and interview a wide variety of people both within the church community and the communities surrounding the church. He has loved doing this kind of work because of the intentionality of the questions involved.
David says the entire Transformation Team charge will last one year, dating from its first meeting with Rev. Chris, or from February, 202 5, to its last meeting with Rev. Chris in February, 2026.
The Team’s work is heavily concentrated in its first six months, at the end of which David expects that Team to make some important recommendations to the congregation. This will likely occur after Fall Festival at a Special Congregational Meeting.
The first two months of the process were very intensive. After a bit of a breather recently, he expects that their work will ramp up again soon. The design of the process is to discern what is revealed about doing some things differently and then to advise the congregation. His hope is that the congregation will then implement at least some of these recommendations, and continue to engage seriously with all of them.
The process has been grounding for him in the conversation of where churches are.
I suggested that Jeannine might write a mini-play about the efforts of the Transformation Team as a way for the congregation to understand and become excited by their efforts.
He and I looked at the beautiful and inviting logo (which a retired local minister created intending to reflect the colors of the organ pipes) and one suggestion was to write the words “Creating Community. Welcoming All.” in the green border that encircles the tree.
Lori Wyman, Transformation Team Member
Interviewed by Dianne Lizotte
Q: When David put out the call for volunteers, what did you think, and what caused you to decide to join the team?
A: I just felt called to join the transformation team. I prayed about it as I have a lot going on right now, but it still just kept feeling right.
Q: What is your understanding of the mission of the Transformation process?
A: The mission of the transformation team is information gathering from within the church and also from the community at large. We’re looking at unmet needs that the church could fulfill either on our own or via partnerships with other groups in the community.
Q: How have your original expectations changed over time?
A: No. My expectations have been spot on. There’s such open heartedness and commitment of everyone on the team. It’s really a beautiful alignment.
Q: As you meet with the UCC consultant, with Ashfield residents, and with church people, what learnings stand out so far?
A. My biggest learning was somewhat shocking. I learned that there are 700 senior citizens in Ashfield and many of them live alone in big houses which need lots of repairs. As these people pass or simply move out of the area, the houses are being resold at really high prices. These high costs are prohibiting young families from buying. As a result, community traditions like farming and gardening that have been such a part of Ashfield over the years aren’t being continued. Seems like houses are being bought by wealthy people, perhaps from out of the area, who might be using these homes as second homes. Therefore, they are not engaging as much in the community.
A second learning was somewhat practical in thinking about the senior citizen population. Perhaps we could look at providing rides to church like a bus or van as some southern churches do.
Q: How far along is the Transformation Team in the process?
A: Our pace is very organic according to the needs of the members. It does not feel rushed, nor does it feel too slow.
Q: When you think ahead, what do you hope might result from the process? What seeds are being planted now?
A: One: Strengthening partnerships with existing communities in Ashfield.
Two: Using the church building space for various activities like workshops meals/upgrading kitchen is an idea that has come up. In my hometown, the Grange Hall was used for programs. For example, the youth of the town learned how to butcher chickens, and then the kids used their skills to create meals for the seniors in town. As the Transformation Team, we are collecting ideas for building use and program development, but it will be up to the congregation to set priorities and make decisions.
Q: What messages will help the congregation understand the efforts of the Transformation Team?
A: The message is that any activities and partnerships developed and suggested by the Transformation Team will be ones that most people in our community will appreciate.
Q: What “tag line” or slogan would you use for this project?
A: Growing Together
Thank you, Lori.