[The following is part of a series summarizing our Open Systems Meetings that took place last month. The goal of these meetings was to let the Vox community provide feedback and shape the direction of our community. You can also read Part I and Part III of the summary.]

SWOT

We spend a good amount of time looking at the mirror everyday. Brushing our teeth, fixing our hair, covering up that pimple, making sure your pants are zipped. But if it involves going past the superficial and taking a look at what’s going on inside, it’s not something we willingly embrace. We might not like what we find.

During our second Open Systems Meeting, we did a SWOT exercise to help us honestly assess our community. That’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. We wanted to be honest about what we do well, but just as important, what we don’t do well. And those are the things that present us with opportunities to improve and be more effective as a church here in Austin.

As far as the strengths, people mentioned our willingness to take risks, the organic nature of our community, how we actively live the church, our youthfulness and many other positive attributes. Ironically, our youthfulness was also a weakness, as well as the transitory nature of our community, the challenge of connecting with Space12’s direct neighborhood, and a plethora of other areas that we’re lacking in.

From those discussions, we realized that we needed to look for better ways of getting the Vox community involved with what’s happening at Space12. And we also need to do a better job of communication in general. We’re still a work in progress so if you have any other ideas you’d like to share with us, definitely hit us up and email us your thoughts!

[Photo by Sukanto Debnath @ Flickr]