First Presbyterian Church
860.246.2224
136 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT 06106 E-mail Us 
Connectivity: A New Program Meeting a Long Time Need
Last summer,
one of FPC's long time members did not come to church for the season. No one
thought much about it as her tendency had been to not attend during the warmer
months and most assumed that she was out of town. Another member hadn't been in
church for five weeks but his attendance was sporadic due to weekend work obligations so no one thought anything amiss-just a bad run of
scheduling. Another member was presumed to have been traveling abroad when he
didn't come for a month and a half.
In
actuality, all three members had suffered from debilitating illnesses and no
one in our church
family had any awareness of their situation or the gravity of the problems. Even worse, the members were forced to
endure their time of trouble without any support from our congregation, no
prayers, no visits, none of the concern that would have flowed had anyone known
or had a grasp of their situation.
While these three examples are extreme, there came to
be a growing idea in the congregation that many of our members simply didn't
know each
other. As Pastor Terry pointed out in his farewell sermon, eighty of our
members either passed or left during his tenure to be replaced by eighty new members. Many of the new members have assimilated well into
the life of the church but there was a nagging feeling that more could be done
to incorporate more deeply the new members into the fabric of the church.
As an outgrowth of the Revitalization Team's continuing exploration of
life here at First Presbyterian Church, the Session and Deacons met in February
to flesh out, tweak, and improve a new connectivity plan. The basic framework
of the initiative consists of all Session and Deacon members accepting an
assignment to call five member families and have a brief discussion with them
focusing on whether their spiritual needs are being met by FPC, if the members
have any particular concerns or blessings they would like to have prayed about,
as well as more open ended topics for the leadership and laity to touch base
about.
Following the
phone calls, the information gleaned will be taken back to the leadership, looked at, and acted upon. The connectivity program is also a follow
up on a congregational attendance plan that has been ongoing since last year. Calls will be paid to those who have not
attended church in a certain amount of time to make sure that all is well with
those members and their families and to find out if there are any specific
needs FPC can address in their lives.
The further vision for the connectivity
program will include dinner groups so members can meet face to face in a longer
play time frame and elaborate on their
concerns, their hopes and aspirations for the church and its future, and other
topics they would like to share.
The Session and Deacons look
forward to hearing from everyone in the very near future and hope that our
members will do their part by welcoming these
calls and communicating fully with your leadership liaison.