Vision
Spiritual growth is growth in faith through worship, learning, and action in mission and faith-based citizenship that occurs in a community of believers. Spiritual growth is also growth on our individual faith-based journeys through prayer, reading, meditation, discernment, spiritual direction, and small-group encounters.

Following Marcus Borg (in The Heart of Christianity), we can say that growth in faith is a complex process involving four interrelated elements:
Intellectual growth: a deeper understanding of the elements of Christian belief
Emotional growth: a deepening of trust, not in the truth of a creed, but in God (we trust with our hearts, and believe with our heads)
Priority-setting: deepening loyalty to God; learning to put God ahead of worldly concerns
Moral growth: affirming one’s vision of the world as God-created and meaningful, rather than harsh and indifferent; a place in which actions can make a moral difference

FCC has always emphasized worship and mission but wants to increase opportunities for members to engage in personal spiritual growth on their faith journeys.

Five Year Planning Possibilities
◦ Prayer – resources to develop prayer life including written materials, teaching about prayer, prayer partners, prayer groups.
◦ Reading – a syllabus including an overview of stages of spiritual growth, seasons (e.g. Lent, Advent) of spiritual growth, situations (grief, illness, life change) that provide opportunity for spiritual growth and specific resources – Bible study, books, journals, etc.
◦ Meditation – learning resources for different forms of meditation and opportunities for instruction and practice.
◦ Discernment – when facing difficult choices, Christians have a tradition of spiritually guided/informed understanding called discernment. First Congregational UCC will provide resources and teachings.
◦ Witnessing – opportunities in small groups, larger groups or in the community that will foster spiritual growth by openly connecting faith and action.
◦ Generations – materials for all ages and interaction between all ages – children and elders and everyone in between.
◦ Small groups – increased availability and variety of groups like “Unwrapping Our Gifts.”
◦ Whole community – what can we provide as opportunities for spiritual growth as we interact with those of our membership who cannot come to the church building. Members who are not with us weekly need opportunities, and we who go to see them (e.g. Lay Ministers) can grow spiritually during our encounters.
◦ Broadening our spiritual world – encounters about spiritual growth with outside speakers, workshops, retreats and with members of other faith traditions.
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Staff – one or more staff must have skills and goals which can both lead and support lay leaders in these areas.
Participants – as these opportunities are made available, we need to make all members aware of them, recruit lay leadership and pair new and old members.
Budget
1) Portion of staff salary
2) Possible office staff time
3) Materials/resources – books, journals, teaching materials, videos/films
Measurement