Last spring, a large cross-section of the members of Chapel Rock Christian Church took part in an Appreciative Inquiry process. The intent was to gather information that would help our leaders more fully implement Chapel Rock’s vision of seeing the Whole Community Whole in Christ. 

 

We asked four questions, and the congregation’s top responses are below. While there were hundreds of individual responses, a surprisingly small number were repeated consistently, giving leadership insight to the congregation’s core strengths and greatest potentials.

1. What is your most memorable (most alive/excited) experience at Chapel Rock?

• Service Opportunities (e.g., Go Love Indy, pageants, mission trips, 5th Quarter)

• Christ-centered Shared Experiences (e.g., life/small groups, ABF, block parties, choirs, Worship time)

2. What do you value most deeply about Chapel Rock?

• Biblical/doctrinally sound teaching

• Relational discipleship (e.g., sharing life, showing up for each other, feeling safe, caring, welcoming)

3. What do you see as Chapel Rock’s core values?

• Service (e.g., Community, each other, use of building, missions)

• Bible-based teaching (sermons, lessons, curriculum)


4.  What do you most wish for Chapel Rock?
• Improved communication from church leadership
• Increased diversity within the Body due to greater outreach
• Increased focus on prayer in all contexts


Learning about Chapel Rock’s best experiences, values, and wishes was a first step in the movement towards the future to which God is calling us here in our Westside Community. Our leadership needed to know how the Congregation sees its own strengths and desires before they could know how to guide the Congregation in collaborating with the whole community to find wholeness in Christ.

 

The next step is to determine the Community’s best experiences, values, and greatest desires.  The newly formed Chapel Rock Community Development Corporation (CRCD) is doing just that. The Community Connection Event held at the church on August 27 was an initial step in this process. 

 

The CRCD will seek the overlap between the Congregation’s values and desires, and the Community’s values and desires, and use that overlap as a basis for imagining a future and designing the processes and structures that will make that imagined future a reality. After doing that, we will form a Steering Committee, made up of members of the Congregation and Community, to determine concrete action steps going forward.

 

We do not want to merely react to the tension and change that is going on in our Community; we want Chapel Rock to be a proactive influencer of positive change as we co-create the future toward which God is guiding us here on the Westside.

 

As we continue to learn more from our community about their hopes and dreams, we will share more of that with the Congregation, so that we can arrive at this corporate expression of wholeness together.