OUR VISION

To accomplish this ALL IN vision over the next two years, God will take us individually and as a church family on a journey of generosity—praying, learning, growing and committing to gifts that will allow this vision to be realized.

We will explore God’s vision for us as a church and our own individual faith journey through a six week sermon series on the life of Abraham beginning February 12th and make commitments through our Advance Commitment Night (March 3) and Commitment Weekend (March 19).

We will invite people to consider their expanded sacrificial commitment both from God’s on-going provision in their life (ie. income) and from their stored resources (ie. stocks, property, artwork, and other possessions). This will result in a two-year commitment that will be given through the two-year giving season (April 1, 2023 – March 31, 2025).

In late winter of 2022, the session reviewed the status of congregational engagement, the potential internal and external needs of the First Presbyterian community in this moment of our shared life together, as well as the way in which the First Pres facility does and does not facilitate the ministry and mission of the congregation. As the session took stock of our current situation and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, several options for our congregation’s future were considered. Options included (1) a capital campaign to renovate the sanctuary, (2) making no substantive changes or pivots to our church's vision, and (3) developing a multi-year vision for the future of our church. The session considered several processes for developing a congregational vision and tasked a staff team with beginning the process and reporting back on options to consider.

During the spring of 2022, the session and staff began to explore what a 2-year vision for the congregation might look like. A staff team began with the question, “How could First Pres uniquely bless our community?” as a formative question to explore what possibilities God might be calling us to investigate. Through prayer and discernment, the session and staff collaborated on the kinds of new ministry initiatives, capital projects, missions work, and reorganization might best position the congregation to pursue a vibrant and useful future as a community of Christ. The New Ministry Initiatives, Sanctuary Renovation, and Debt Elimination contained in the All In Vision are the fruit of that process.

Session 2022

Gary Alcock
Paul Biscoff
Mike Burke
Bob Duncan
Jen Eldersveld
Shana Frederick
Rev Chris Griggs
Karen Halkyard
Jonathan Hancock
Eric Jones
Mary Kostolansky
Marsha Mead
Liz Merrell
Keith Mote
Maureen Petersen (Clerk)
Aaron Schoenherr
Jane Soderberg
Allison Stromberg

Session 2023

Gary Alcock
Mike Burke
Bob Duncan
Jen Eldersveld
Shana Frederick
Rev Chris Griggs
Jonathan Hancock
Phyllis Kidd
Dave Fahey
Mary Kostolansky
Marsha Mead
Carol Fiene
Keith Mote
Maureen Petersen (Clerk)
Aaron Schoenherr
Jane Soderberg
Allison Stromberg

While the All In Vision sets an exciting future agenda for our church and our shared ministry together, there is much work to be done to live into that vision. Fueling the Vision of the congregation through our financial commitments is only the first step. In the coming months we will build teams of volunteers and staff to work to pursue the various ministry initiatives in the Vision. Under the guidance of the session, teams will be built to finalize and adjust the design of the sanctuary and support the work of renovation of the physical space, to discover the particulars of how we collaborate with our longtime ministry partners to serve refugees in a new way, to develop a residential mentorship program to equip the leaders of the church of tomorrow, and to expand the reach and depth of personal, relational Christian communities at First Pres. As a congregation we will want to follow our financial giving with offering our time, talents, creativity and prayer in order to accomplish together the bold vision of the All In initiative. Please be thinking and praying about where your gifts and passions lie and where you might want to work with others in the congregation in ministry.

There are many questions about our future that are not answerable at this moment in our journey. While we have relatively detailed plans in some areas of the vision, there are other places where we simply have a problem to solve and a sense of call to lean into that problem with creativity and resolve. The church will need many hands, minds, and prayers to design and implement the things that exist today as a vision.

Questions from the congregation about the All In initiative have been wonderfully helpful to hear. The Frequently Asked Questions page on the All In website will continue to be updated as common threads of questions are identified. With a group as large and diverse as our congregation, it is no surprise that different people are interested in different information. If you have more questions about the All In vision and process, please ask them! One place to start is the All In Hub in the Gathering Place on Sunday morning. An additional resource is the members of the All In leadership team:

Paul Bischoff - co-chair
Chris Griggs
Jen Eldersveld - co-chair
Katherine Vasille
Jean Roser
Kathryn Alcock
Dave Fahey
Cinda Siligmueller
Marsha Mead

If the person you talk to at the All In Hub or on the leadership team doesn’t know the answer to your particular question, they will find someone who does and get back with you. Your thoughts and questions are important to the church and to our process, so please don’t hesitate to lean in and learn more about the All In vision. The more you know, the more equipped you will be to talk with others about All In.

The answer to that question varies by initiative. As in the case in any given year of our church’s ministry, project projections are projections, and not exact, but here are some of the details relating to the figures for each initiative:

All In for Today: 2 years of Ongoing Mission and Ministry - $3.6 million

This figure is roughly the 2022 church budget, including staffing, facility costs, program costs, support of mission partners, etc. for 2 years, with typical annual cost increases baked in.

All In for the Future: Sanctuary Remodel and Retiring the Debt - $2 million

Through a consultation process including a church architecture firm, worship elders, property elders, and worship and properties staff, a design plan was generated that reflected the values of sacred space, functionality for in-person and online worship, providing for both classic and modern worship styles, and addressing the various limitations and challenges that exist in the current building. The $1.5 million figure for sanctuary renovation resulted from those conversations. The church debt stands at roughly $500,000 and changes each month as P&I payments are made.

All In for Others: New Ministry Initiatives - $700,000

Internship Training Program - $175,000

Costs to create a residential training program will be highly scalable based upon the number of interns, the manner in which housing is provided, and the amount of church staff resources committed to the program. Start-up costs for creating the residential training program for a cohort of Full-Time interns will exceed what running this kind of a program will cost on an annual basis once constructed.

Identifiable Communitites - $175,000

First Presbyterian church has a rich history of small groups, circles, women’s groups, men’s groups and creating transformational Christian community. What FIrst Presbyterian does not have is a strategy for creating these groups nor training their leadership. Significant new staff resources need to be allocated in order to grow the number of First Pres members participating in authentic Christian community, to equip the leadership of these communities, and to build a ministry that not only envelops our current membership in experiences of Christ-centered community, but also reaches those outside First Pres who are hungering for authentic community. Churches that have the kind of commitment to creating Biblically-rooted Christian community that First Pres has, need to commit financial and staff resources to realize that commitment in their ministry life.

Serving Refugees through Mission - $350,000

First Pres has a long history of incorporating mission into our ministry life together and doing so at a minimum of 10% of our annual church revenue. In the past when we have created capital campaigns for ambitious new ministry projects, we have always set aside a percentage of the giving to serve others, and this continues to be a priority for our congregational giving. $350,000 is roughly 13% of the total new giving included in the All In Initiative. This is another area where the expense required to fund the vision will depend on the scale of the work in any given year. We know that housing, mentoring, welcoming, and caring for refugees during their transition into a flourishing life in DuPage county will take financial resources, and we know that creating a new pilot program that is a blessing to refugee families will take time, prayer, research and collaboration with our ministry partners. One of the primary goals of this mission project is to engage our congregation in personal participation in mission work in addition to meeting a critical need in our community.