Whose Needs? Simple Questions to Deepen Traditions

Thanks to CYMT’s Meghan Hatcher for sharing this Great Idea (or Eye Opener).

Hatcher shares a story of beginning a new ministry just as the congregation prepared for their traditional Back-to-School Sunday observation, in which congregational members were invited to purchase whatever school supplies they deemed best so that an altar display could be created as the back-drop to the Sunday; the supplies would be doled out to area school teachers after worship.

As the daughter of a public school teacher, Hatcher knew that this lovely tradition would miss the mark for several teachers, explaining how her own parent often discovered unforeseen needs or altered plans to better align with students’ needs as the year progressed – meaning the congregation’s static once-and-done approach to providing supplies would rarely cover actual classroom and student needs.

Hatcher suggested giving gift cards to teachers, instead, ‘so they could purchase exactly what they needed when they needed it throughout the year’.

And despite some initial negativity, the church gave away thousands of dollars in gift cards in that first year, alone.

The simple, but powerful, adjustment enabled the congregation to honor its own traditions as it met teachers’ needs in a new way – by centering teachers rather than the church.

Read about other changes the congregation made here.

Discover more tools for innovation with a conversation with Rev. Emily Meyer, general consultant and facilitator of CYMT’s Innovation Culture Index, Community Discovery Package, and Ministry Transformation Lab.