End-of-the-Year Update: Just Getting Started!

 I’m wrapping up my work on BJ’s Community Building Initiative, so I wanted to leave a final update here.  It has been an honor and a pleasure to work with so many dedicated, passionate BJ members and staff.  Feel free to contact me in the future at guyaustrian@gmail.com

The four projects which were chosen to be implemented, and the current status of their work, is as follows.  Please watch for announcements and get involved – nothing will happen without the enthusiasm, creativity, and participation of the community!

Program Initiatives

1.  Immersive Community Experiences

A working group met on 4/29 and 6/2. Among the ideas it will pursue::

• Shabbaton-in-the-City, a new model for a low-cost, 25-hour program, will be piloted three times next year:  one community-wide, two by demographic or theme.

Lead staff:  Sarah Verity, sverity@bj.org.

 

2.  Pre- and Post-Services Events

A working group met on 5/1 and agreed that BJ should focus on:

• More regular kiddushim after services
• Pre-services events, such as learning about prayers, singing niggunim, etc.

Rabbis and staff are currently working on how to incorporate these into the Shabbat schedule.

Lead staff:  Guy Felixbrodt, gfelixbrodt@bj.org

Infrastructure Initiatives

1.  Member Development System

A new Task Force met on 6/3 and will meet again soon, focusing on these goals:

• Help members to initiate and grow their participation and leadership at BJ.
• Engage new members following New Member Orientation Programs and beyond.
• Build groups/cohorts of members in relationship with each other.
• Strengthen staff-member partnership in renewing a member-oriented, relational culture.

The system will have three components:

• Cohorts:  groups of members (families and individuals) may join a multi-stage program of increasing levels of engagement. Each level will include Jewish learning; learning about BJ; skills workshops; personal exploration, etc.
• Staff-Lay Workshops: strengthen partnership of staff and lay leadership in developing members’ participation and building community.  Train in leadership skills and community-building methods.
• Community Fair:  twice a year

Lead staff:  Belinda Lasky, blasky@bj.org

 

2.  Online Tools

A working group met on 4/22 and 5/20 and decided to focus on:

• Social networking tools:  as a first experiment, the group created a BJ Facebook group.
• Discussion groups:  web-based, topics created by users

Lead staff:  Denise Waxman, dwaxman@bj.org

Immersed in BJ!

Throughout the Community Building Initiative, we heard BJ members say that retreats, trips, and “Shabbatons” (25-hour Shabbat programming) have been among their most transformative experiences at BJ.  Participants bond powerfully with each other and with the rabbis, and they make leaps forward in their spiritual growth.  Here’s what one anonymous member wrote in response to our survey:

I realized that BJ and my religious and community experience was up to me – the more I put into it, the more I would get out of it. I vowed to increase my involvement and slowly but surely have done so. I participated in the contemplative retreats and practice, made some good friends and started to feel more a part of the community.   My BJ experience changed completely after traveling with BJ on the 180th anniversary Israel trip – one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life. I feel blessed to have shared that experience with so many people, I’ve made some great friends through this and definitely feel part of the community.

Experiences like these led BJ’s leadership to choose to build on this strength as we move forward.  We’re calling them “Immersive Community Experiences” — opportunities to get away, go deep, and get serious about our Jewish spiritual community.  We hope to expand the kinds and the number of immersive experiences available to our members.  Cost is obviously a challenge in these times, so we hope to experiment with in-the-city Shabbatons, half-day experiences, and other variations.

A new working group is forming to take a fresh look at our current and future Immersive Community Experiences.  It is meeting on Wednesday, April 29, at 6:30 pm.  If you’re a BJ member and interested in joining us, please get in touch with me, gaustrian@bj.org.

Online Tools: Follow BJ on Twitter!

Tech-happy?  Click-crazy?  One of the projects chosen as part of BJ’s Community Building Initiative is an expansion of our use of online tools for staying connected, fostering relationships, and helping members to self-organize.

Just one that we’re experimenting with:  follow BJ updates on Twitter!  Go to http://www.twitter.com to set up an account (if you don’t have one already).  Search for “bjnyc” then click “follow.”  Easy as that.  If you have suggestions for how BJ can best use Twitter, please leave a comment on this post.

Also, a new Online Tools Working Group of lay leaders and staff is convening on Wednesday, April 22, in the evening.  We’ll be setting priorities and piloting various tools.  If you’re a BJ member and interested in participating, please e-mail me, gaustrian@bj.org

Full Report and Recommendations Now Available!

I’m pleased to make available the full version of the report and recommendations of the Community Building Initiative.  This incorporates the summary version posted to this web page back in March, and it adds much fuller descriptions of the research done — including interviews with other congregations, a review of relevant popular and academic literature.

Click here to download the full report and recommendations.

One feature of the report that I’m enjoying is a series of quotes by BJ members (anonymous, gleaned from the community-wide survey and other conversations).  Here’s one to get you started:

BJ creates the feeling of community from the very first moment a person joins.  I think the key is membership. Joining puts us “inside.” The biggest challenge once inside is figuring out what one wants from the community and what one wants to do as a member of the community. Once those decisions are made, and once we each figure out what community means to us, everything we need is there for us to participate in at any time. BJ truly makes it all available. In the end it’s up to each of us to join in.

We’re “the Deciders…”

On Wednesday, March 11, about 25 BJ leaders came together in the Sanctuary to choose priorities from among the proposals of the Community Building Initiative.  It was an exciting two hours — big sheets of paper were flapping, markers squeaked, and sticker-dots stuck! The group evaluated, debated, revised, and finally agreed upon a few projects to pursue in the coming months.

 

From among four Infrastructure proposals, the group chose to focus on:

1) Online Tools, with the following notes: it should include a way to self-organize Shabbat meals; it should focus not only on individuals but on groups; and it should not become the only way to build community, so as not to exclude elderly members or others who are not active online.

2) Member Development System, also with the caveat that it should focus on developing not only individuals but also groups of members; the system should also include some activities fairs and/or current member “re-orientation” programs.

 

Click “Read More” to see the other proposals chosen…

 

A Note about the Survey

The NYU Wagner School team that developed our community-wide survey has let me know that some respondents included notes — expressing interest in some activity, or asking a question, or asking to be contacted about something.

If you did so, please get in touch with the office directly. We committed that the surveys would be anonymous and that the Wagner School team would share any responses with the BJ staff. This was to ensure the integrity of the survey.

We are eager to hear from you, but please realize that notes left on the surveys will not reach the office!

First Fruits: Findings and Proposals

It’s a pleasure to share with you the preliminary report on findings and proposals for BJ’s Community Building Initiative!

Click here to download the Summary of Findings and Proposals as a PDF. 

This document lists a number of proposals.  Next week, a few of them will be selected as priorities for implementation.  That decision will be made by a team of BJ leaders from the Board of Trustees, the Membership Steering Committee, the staff, and the rabbis.

Life Beyond BJ: Part II

News flash: We at BJ have a lot to learn from other congregations! BJ may be a “phenomenon,” a unique and special place, but at the same time, it’s just a shul with the same challenges, mishegas, and joys of any other. So we took a look at what others are doing to build community. In a previous post, I shared our literature review about synagogues and megachurches. Today, I want to share a bit of what we heard in actual conversations with staff and clergy in some sister synagogues.

Among the four synagogues we’ve spoken to so far, a couple really stand out for innovation and creative thinking.

Kids, Cookies, and Coffee

It’s easy to forget, for those of us who don’t have kids at BJ, that there is a whole section of our community with its own needs and challenges, its own exciting bonding experiences, and its own spiritual life – what we call the “Youth and Families” community at BJ.

On a recent Thursday, I sat in an open conversation with parents during pickup at the Hebrew School over cookies and coffee. (This was a follow-up from part of my effort to listen to and learn from the BJ community. I met with five lay leadership committees: the Membership Steering Committee, Interfaith Committee, Bekef (35+), the Board of Trustees, and the Hebrew School Advisory Committee.)

It was striking for me, as I listened to the parents that Thursday, how deeply motivated they are to having a Jewish community that can provide an ethical and spiritual context for their children – and for themselves.

Survey Draws Overwhelming Response

The Community-Building Survey has been closed, and we are thrilled to report that 451 people completed the survey (online and on paper)!  This is a phenomenal response rate (about 25% of households).  It shows how dedicated BJ members are to participating in the process of creating and improving our community.

 

The sample closely reflects the population in most demographic characteristics (such as age, marital status, location, and length of membership).  This means that the survey responses will be, to a good extent, representative of the community.