About Hyde Park Mennonite Fellowship -

HPMF has an average Sunday morning attendance of 52 persons.  The congregation was founded in 1977 as a result of community activity by a Voluntary Service unit.  The building is located in an urban location in a dynamic neighborhood in the capital of Idaho, Boise.  Membership is a self identification process.  The congregation is part of the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference.

Hyde Park Mennonite Fellowship is seeking a full time pastor to begin as soon as available.  During the winter and spring of 2010, the congregation engaged in several discussions with the theme "Back to Our Future".  The main points were summarized in the following statements.  To determine priorities, the congregation voted by raising hands with each person getting two votes. The numbers in parenthesis indicate those who voted that it should be in the top half for importance.

1)     Describe the commitment of your congregation to Anabaptist/Mennonite faith. What issues in that faith heritage are important to you?  Recognizing our differing theological orientations as persons and as congregations, make a brief statement about your congregation and the overarching theological commitments important to you. 

Faith Heritage and Theological Commitments

a)     Aligned with and guided by the Mennonite Confession of Faith (http://www.mennolink.org/doc/cof/) [21]

b)     Recognize responsibility to live the Sermon on the Mount in our daily life [18]

c)     Committed to the care of creation as an expression of our faith. [12]

d)     Recognize responsibility to take a stand in the community, esp. to promote peace and justice [10]

e)     Follow the call by Jesus for justice for all people [5]

2)     What is the mission of your congregation? Describe any particular focus or special emphasis which characterizes the church's ministry such as overseas missions, evangelism, peace and justice issues, special ministry to aging, students, families, etc. Has the congregation worked recently at goal setting and with what results?

 Mission: Areas of Focus

a)     Overall theme of proactive service in alignment with our beliefs, including emphasis on peace and justice, youth development, and environment.  We share a common “hub” of relationship to God, but we are called to support a range of specific initiatives for which we self-select our respective focus. [27]

b)     Build community within the church through service projects.  Communicate for better awareness.   [18]

c)     Current initiatives are aligned with the focus areas above [13 or more initiatives identified]. [4]

d)     In addition, there are potential opportunities to leverage our influence in order to do more outreach both in and beyond the local community [8 or more identified].  [4]

3)     What changes or trends do you envision for the congregation over the next five years? Do you have any other comments significant in the process for looking for new pastoral leadership?

Changes Envisioned:  Next Five Years

a)     Become a prophetic voice in the community, aligned with our values and faith heritage.  We believe building meaningful focus and visibility in area(s) that represent underserved interests and/or needs in the community will attract and retain people across the age band, also helping to strengthen HPMF’s sustainability.  [28]

b)     Develop dynamic youth programs, aligned with our values and faith heritage.  [25]

c)     Build on our excellent musical capability; for example, include music in youth development, and refine our congregational skills with four-part harmony. [11]

d)     Grow by 10-15 families in order to extend our service impact and to reach critical mass for youth programs [0]

4)     What is your view of the pastor's role in the congregation? Are there special gifts in ministry that you hope will be fulfilled? How do you expect the pastor to be a representative of the congregation?

  Pastor’s Role and Gifts (Recognizing that no one can do it all)

a)     Catalyst for our vision (i.e., strong leadership on our collective behalf to help us move in the direction of mission and changes above) [29]

b)     Significant involvement in youth ministry—to help guide and develop dynamic youth programs [20]

c)     Become more visible in the community (aligned with “prophetic voice” inputs) [18]

d)     Important characteristics to include, among others:  Grounded in Anabaptist philosophy, servant leader, compassionate, and able to deliver inspiring sermons with takeaways for daily living.  [17]

e)     Recognize and develop our gifts in multiple ways.  [10]

f)      Provide excellent pastoral care [6]

Twenty Areas Questionnaire

The members of the congregation filled out this form regarding our personal interest in the priorities of the life at HPMF.  The top five in order of importance to folks were, 1) Preaching 2) Peace/Social Concerns 3) Spirituality 4) Community Activities 5) Youth/young adult.  The five areas of lowest interest, 16) Dedications, marriages, funerals  17) Work with small groups 18) District and national conference involvement 19) Stewardship and finances 20) Congregational visitation. The questionnaire is on the website: http://www.mennoniteusa.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=5eudW3b9EMs%3D&tabid=236
The details of all of the areas are included in this form: 20 Areas Summary

Summary Statements

HPMF is a stable urban congregation in Boise, Idaho.  Most members participate in volunteer work and ministry locally or abroad.  HPMF was instrumental in starting the Dunia Marketplace (formerly 10,000 Villages) and Corpus Christi (day sanctuary for homeless).  Currently, the participants do not all focus on one ministry but support each other in their efforts.  The “Back to Our Future” discussions indicate that is acceptable and the best way to continue.

The relationship with our Sister Church in Columbia is quite strong with three visits to their church and two visits from their pastor and his wife, to our community.  One couple calls almost weekly for an update and reports to the congregation.

Gary Nafziger-Meiser initiated a tree planting and stove project in Zambia following a visit in 2003 which was a follow up after an MCC assignment.  HPMF has supported them financially and Gary has visited, with a few church members, several times.

Many folks are active in the outdoors and frequently camp, hike, bike, raft, fish, and do snow sports.  Winter retreat is held in the mountains on a lake with assured snowshoeing and skiing.  Sunday School does not meet in the summer due to low attendance secondary to summer activities. Easter sunrise service is hiking up a nearby foothill and picking up trash along the way. Annual summer events include floating the Boise River followed by a potluck and an ice cream social.

HPMF has many talented musicians and enjoys making music.  The discussions included interest in a music focus, but no specific goals.

The nature of the Back to Our Future discussions indicate concerns for our children, youth and young families.  Making an absolute goal of growth though, is not our focus, but thinking we need to better identify areas of need in our community and respond to them.

The ideal candidate will have “fire in the belly” for the ideas in our Back to Our Future document.  Conversation will be required to convey the sense of the meeting that the congregation has.

Ministerial Leadership Information form used by the Mennonite Church must be completed. 

Chair of Pastoral Search Committee, Beth Landis, bethelandi@aol.com