• Creating a sense of direction -- visioning and planning; establishing a direction that fits the congregation's context and the changes it faces

• Increasing trust and managing conflict

• Team building and improving meetings

• Search process

• Membership growth, size transitions (increases and decreases)

• Clarifying the congregation's primary task and aligning resources and energy with that task

• Facilitation of an annual leadership retreat or open membership gathering

• The development of the congregation as an organization that can be understood, assessed and developed using the knowledge and methods of organization behavior and development.

• rooted in the tradition 

• adapted to the local context

• appropriate for the particular group(s) of people drawn to the congregation

and that:

• Renews people in their religious identity and purpose and sends them, in God, into family, work, and civic life.

• Nurtures the religious life of people at all phases of maturity; gives special attention to guiding and equipping those of mature faith; encourages all toward a more prayerful, disciplined and compassionate life.

• Fosters a strong life of worship, doctrine, action and pastoral oversight.

• Enables people to seek the presence of God in the people, things and circumstances of life.

• Has established structures, processes and a climate that allow it to effectively manage its important and pressing business (i.e. projects, problems, crises, etc.) While giving adequate attention to strategic issues (i.e., long term development and renewal, planning and envisioning, engaging new opportunities, crisis prevention, etc.)
• Has an increased ability to engage formation issues such as: --vision including the defining of identity, purpose, values, organizational culture and related programs and activities --attracting new people (as staff and/or members) who support the vision --increased competence and commitment 
• Creates an alignment, an adequate "fit" among the various aspects of the organization's life, e.g. income and expenses, space - program needs, vision - resources
• Has increased its ability to adapt to new conditions, solve problems and learn from experience

• Inter-group work -- establishing common expectations among various groups, managing tensions

• Developing regional strategy and resources for congregational development -- increasing the critical mass of trained leaders

• Overall system development -- direction, information flow, focus on the primary task, quality of life, strategic management