2022 strategic plan next steps

2022 strategic plan next steps Congregation conversation document Summary: Our 2020-2025 Strategic Plan captures the vision and mission of Redeemer, developed with the engagement of over 400 members. The goals and actions are at the heart of each ministry team’s work and future planning. Our ministry teams have taken many steps to action this strategic plan.

Now, we are called to take the next faithful step.

The Council is considering three important goals for 2022:

Through God’s grace and the past actions of faithful members, Redeemer is blessed with many valuable assets – our membership, financial resources, physical campus, beautiful sanctuary, and the north 4th street property. Our combined property assets, facilities, and financial resources are fundamental to our ministry goals, our vibrancy as a church, our service to the community, and our stewardship of God’s gifts.

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2022 strategic plan next steps Congregation conversation document Launching a campus master planning process for our property alongside a long-term financial plan for our resources will allow us to steward our assets towards fulfilling and expanding our ministries and designing our financial future. This planning process will require significant congregational engagement, thoughtful consideration of our future ministries, the use of outside expertise, and many discussions and decisions over several months or years.

The Campus Master Planning process will involve:  Engaging the congregation over many months to determine our future ministry needs and how our campus and facilities can support those needs  Assessing our property and campus to understand what is practical to meet our desired needs and open our eyes to options we may or may not have considered  Development of conceptual plans and options so that we can understand what any new additions or changes to our campus might “look like”  Estimating costs to inform discussion on which options we might choose and what it might take to move forward A Long-Range Financial plan, in concert with the Campus Master Plan, will establish the future cash flow needs to maintain our existing property, support our future ministries, address emergency needs in the future, and consider potential future cash inflows or revenue generating options that could result from changes to our property.

We believe 2022 is the right time to begin these next steps because: 1. Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, our congregation, and our financials are strong.

2. Our Strategic Plan will guide us as we determine our future ministry, facility, and financial needs.

3. We are blessed with significant property and financial assets that we must steward for God’s work.

4. We have $1.5M in funding the congregation explicitly designated for this purpose in 2010. A master planning process may cost approximately $500,000.

5. Our campus and property are integral to our mission and our long-range financial strategy.

6. These steps will bring our congregation closer through fellowship and conversations about our future.

We want to hear from you! The Congregation Council seeks input, questions, and ideas from Redeemer’s members before determining how to move forward with these next steps. Council members will be available in person and virtually following each worship service between Feb. 20 and Mar. 20. and are available for small group or 1-on-1 discussion.

The remainder of this document has more details on each of these next steps if you would like to learn more.

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2022 strategic plan next steps Congregation conversation document Strategic Plan summary and Guiding Objectives Our vision: Through Redeemer, the world will see Jesus Our mission: The mission of Lutheran Church of the Redeemer is to create a community that in word and deed reflects the love of Christ.

Through worship, community and service, Redeemer equips people to be living testaments of the Lutheran faith in Atlanta and beyond.

Our Strategic Plan goals and commitments: Our strategic plan creates a number of goals and commitments, highlighted below; many are highly relevant to the 2022 next steps we are considering: Goal 1: Align, communicate, and live the vision & mission of the Church

Goal 2: Service & outreach

We are committed to: • Welcoming others as Christ as welcomed us • Treating everyone with respect, even people with whom we disagree or who live differently than ourselves • Acting with compassion, humility & forgiveness • Serving courageously and generously

We are committed to building on our long history of community engagement, by focusing our service and outreach on three areas of urgent need in our community and the world: • Hunger and homelessness • Justice and inclusion • Mental health and wellness

Goal 3: Deepen relationships & participation We are committed to: • Reaching out to our community and world with the life-saving gospel of Jesus Christ • Making sure every single person is greeted when they walk through our doors • Building a culture of hospitality in which every member understands themselves as an evangelist • Ensuring every member of Redeemer knows what is happening so they can engage with the congregation in living our shared mission • Caring for every member of Redeemer • Nurturing the faith of every member of Redeemer so each person lives a life of discipleship 24/7

Goal 4: Center of community life & faith

Goal 5: Design our financial future

We are committed to: • Becoming the “front porch” for Midtown Atlanta • Developing the perception and identity in the community that all are welcome here • Utilizing our building and property resources to their fullest capacity

We are committed to: • Ensuring our resources are managed and used to honor God • Maintaining and developing our physical facilities • Developing the Fourth Street property to support the sustainability of our mission and communicate our identity to the community 3

2022 strategic plan next steps Congregation conversation document

A Campus Master Planning process and a Long-Range Financial Plan may lead to meaningful opportunities, conversations, options, and decisions about our ministries and property over the next several years. As we move forward, we will be guided by the following objectives:

Guiding Objectives Foundation: Reflect in all our plans and decisions that Christ is our Cornerstone and our vision that through Redeemer, the world will see Jesus.

Welcome the Midtown Community: Enhance the church’s presence as Midtown’s front porch, increasing our ability to serve the Midtown community, our core spiritual and outreach partners, and attract new members and the wider community.

Honor our Heritage: Honor Redeemer’s Lutheran legacy of caring for our members and impacting our community. Our heritage is the foundation upon which we build for the future.

Preservation of our historical sanctuary is the utmost priority.

Plan our Ministries: Emphasize the future missions of our ministry teams when determining the appropriate options, priorities, and decisions. Provide opportunities for the largest possible number of members to give input on Redeemer’s future.

Ensure our ability to have inclusive fellowship in order to continue our journey with Christ together.

Enhance our Facilities: Improve our campus to meet the future missions of Redeemer’s ministry teams and create spaces that promote transformative gatherings. Make our campus readily accessible to all, including solving our long-term parking needs and improving ADA accessibility. Influence the development of our campus (including the North 4th Street property) in ways that benefit Redeemer, our ministries, and grow our relationship with the broader midtown community, consistent with our mission statement.

Design our Financial future: Create a long-term financial and capital plan that will allow Redeemer to steward our financial assets, including any proceeds or future cash flow arising from implementing a Campus Master Plan, that will enhance our ministries, preserve and maintain our sanctuary and campus, and employ strategies to address emergency or special needs that may arise in the future.

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2022 strategic plan next steps Congregation conversation document

The rationale for beginning these next steps in 2022 #1. Lutheran Church of the Redeemer is strong. Our membership, Sunday attendance, financials, ministries, and assets are all stable or growing. These resources allow us to dream and plan to do even more for our church, our community, and Christ. Some important facts:  Our membership stands at 1,700 strong; we added >60 new members in the pandemic.  Our attendance for worship services has grown during the pandemic. In 2019, we averaged ~450 attendees on Sunday. In 2021, we averaged over 600 attendees, consisting of in-person and live stream participants. Many are new, engaging with Redeemer for the first time.  Financially, annual giving has been stable at ~$1.85M for the past five years. Our total contributions in Q4 2021 were higher than in Q4 2019. Separately, our memorial gifts and designated funds, which are invested and used to support our long-term ministry needs have doubled to over $4M in the past six years. We carry no debt as a congregation.  Our property assets have appreciated the last decade substantially. The value of the north 4th Street property is one of the largest financial assets we have. This planning process, in part, will help us determine how we best use both the physical property and its asset value for our future ministries.  Our staff, ministry teams, members, and volunteers continue to work tirelessly and creatively to realize our vision that “through Redeemer, the world will see Jesus.” #2. Our Strategic Plan will guide us. Through the 2019 strategic planning process that involved input from 400+ Redeemer members of our congregation, we determined the mission and goals that will guide our actions into the future. These plans and processes are the next steps in actioning our goals. #3. Stewardship. Through the Grace of God and the gifts of past and current members, Redeemer has significant assets, some of which we have been holding onto for many years. We have a duty to steward these resources for God’s work. #4. We have funding designated for this purpose. We have $1.5M in funds that were explicitly designated by a congregational vote in 2010 for a campus master plan. So, moving forward with a Campus Master plan would not disrupt our church operations or ministries. The master planning process would cost approximately $500,000, which would leave approximately $1M remaining of these designated funds for any potential future expenditures to implement our Master Plan. #5. Designing our financial future. Our campus and property assets are integral to our mission and our long-range financial strategy. We need a plan to fund the preservation of our sanctuary and facilities, aid expansion of ministries, and address future emergency or special needs. This plan must

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2022 strategic plan next steps Congregation conversation document

balance our future capital needs alongside planning for any resources or revenue streams that may be created through any future evolution or activation of our campus. #6. These initiatives will bring us closer together. As we emerge from the pandemic in the coming months and years, this process will create dozens of new ways for us to engage each other in fellowship and discussions about our future together.

Campus Master Planning Process Our property, sanctuary, and facilities are fundamental to our vibrancy as a church and our service to God and the community. As we look to the future, there are opportunities to update, preserve, evolve and activate our campus to become “Midtown’s front porch,” improve ADA accessibility, expand parking, create new resources or revenue streams for our church, or create new spaces (both indoor and outdoor) for transformational gatherings.

A “campus master plan” would require significant congregational engagement, thoughtful consideration of our future ministries, the use of outside expertise, and many discussions in the coming months to identify our future needs. The Campus Master Planning process would not directly result in any specific decisions to buy, sell, lease, build or otherwise significantly change our property. It would simply be a recommended starting point to consider the actions we might choose to implement. The process will open our eyes to the possibilities.

The Campus Master planning effort would include several steps: 6

2022 strategic plan next steps Congregation conversation document 1. Engaging the congregation to determine our future needs.

The first step, called “Visioning and Programming,” will engage the ministry teams and wider congregation to project Redeemer’s facility and property needs to achieve our strategic and ministry goals today and in the future. This would include extensive congregation engagement through interviews, surveys, small group meetings, focus groups, and large gatherings. Space programming (aided by professionals working with each Redeemer ministry team and with input from the congregation) will identify the size, environment, technology, adjacencies, and space required to fill the needs of each functional area in the future.

2. Assessing our property and campus Work will be done to understand our property in the context of what is practical to meet our desired needs (e.g., zoning codes and site/topography). In addition, it will assess potential partnerships and connections with other community organizations that might allow Redeemer to expand its impact.

3. Conceptual plans and options Conceptual diagrams and functional layout of spaces will be developed to depict the parameters of what is possible for future designs of our facilities and campus. These diagrams and sketches will be conceptual only to show all of Redeemer’s members what any campus or facilities changes or additions might “look like” if we chose certain options. This will allow us to discuss and consider what elements to prioritize amongst many choices.

4. Cost estimates For the campus master plan options developed, cost projections will be estimated to inform discussion and decisions on which options, if any, we might choose to move forward.

These steps would support conversations to understand how we can utilize our property to its highest and best use in service of our mission, while balancing our financial needs in the future.

Before moving forward any recommendations would be thoroughly vetted by Council, ministry teams and the congregation. The congregation must vote on any future decision to buy, sell, lease, or otherwise significantly change our property.

Long-Range Financial Future Redeemer has been blessed by significant financial contributions, bequests, and assets from past and current members. Stewarding these assets to support our church for the next generations is paramount. In concert with our campus master planning efforts, developing a long-term financial plan will establish the future cash flow needs to maintain and preserve our existing property, support our future ministries, and address emergency needs in the future. We will also consider potential cash inflows that could result from implementing a campus master plan or new revenue-generating options for the church. Put simply, the plan would assess our long-term financial opportunities and needs, and plan how we will address them.

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