Changes designed to enhance mission

Middleton Times Tribune Opinion - January 17, 2008
by Dietrich Gruen, Middleton Outreach Ministry

Growth in programs, clients, staff, resources and expectations from various segments of the community has led Middleton Outreach Ministry (MOM) to evaluate how best to accomplish their mission. Following consultation with and recommendations by the leaders of its member churches, MOM is pleased to announce two significant enhancements to its structure.

First, the establishment of an "Ecumenical Service Council" (ESC), comprised of key representatives from each of MOM's twelve member churches, aimed at strengthening the ties with its faith-based constituency. The role of the ESC will be to:

- Promote open, two-way dialogue between the MOM staff and board and its member churches to help identify community needs and seek consensus on the services that MOM is best able to deliver;

- Initiate and sustain programs with sufficient financial, in-kind, and volunteer resources from represented churches to satisfy those identified community needs;

- Strengthen and hold accountable this faith-based partnership for coordinating and providing needed services vital to the neighbors in its service area.

Second, MOM's Board of Directors (BOD) is being reconstituted with community leaders to strengthen the local business and institutional ties with MOM. The role of the new governing BOD will be to:

- Strengthen the vision, mission and underlying values of MOM;

- Encourage collaborative efforts between MOM and its churches with other key community institutions, such as area schools and businesses and other social service agencies, to address unmet needs;

- Grow the resources of MOM and help decide how to best allocate them to satisfy the unmet social service needs and to ensure the long-term viability and accessibility of this community asset, leaving no eligible person behind;

- Develop and implement policies that fulfill their role as long-term trustee for this nonprofit organization in the most prudent, ethical, and effective way possible.

I am very excited, as the new organizational structure extends our long-held faith-based tradition, while also incorporating new community resources to better fulfill our mission of connecting our neighbors for good. The success of this new adventure builds on the truism: "The Right Thought plus the Right People in the Right Environment at the Right Time for the Right Reason = the Right Results" (John Maxwell, in Thinking for a Change).

Who are the right people and the right environment to stretch and shape a vision? Both are good questions which we hope to answer very soon. In the right environment or culture, positive synergy for change happens. When we question the status quo, new ideas thrive in that culture. With perspectives from fresh eyes, new windows and vistas are opened. When change is expected, everyone does their part, and no one cares who gets the credit, there is no limit to what a team can accomplish!

But the timing must be right to bring in new people, new ideas and new energy. A good idea, even the right idea, presented before its time, will fail to get traction. New ideas must be incubated and paired with other ideas, before they are championed or brought to public light. Motives or right reasons matter, too, as well as the end in view.

The end in view for Middleton Outreach Ministry is always the neighbor in need and doing the most good for the most people. MOM provides emergency care, social services, and Christian witness to more than 1100 families per year in the Middleton and west Madison area.

By analyzing MOM's key program initiatives with fresh eyes and new ideas, we hope to improve our delivery of services in 2008 to those who rely on us. We hope as well to establish new partnerships to reach out to still others who do not now find Middleton Outreach Ministry able to fully meet their needs.

Middleton Outreach Ministry exists as an anchor in the community, as a still point in the turning world of our clients. We will do whatever we can to bridge the gap, to marshal the resources, to buy time, to advocate for the poor and, most importantly, to extend God's grace. Your contributions of time and talent, treasure and trust, when given through MOM, can and do make this happen.

From all the MOM staff, volunteers, and clients -- thank you!