It is now nearly four months since our rector moved to a new parish. This has been an intensely busy period of time as we finished the program year and its many activities, as well as one of prayerful discernment—discussing and reflecting on who we are as a parish, where we want to go, and where God is leading us to be.
The Vestry has had multiple discussions and listening sessions and used the results of our parish survey and our Town Hall discussions to complete the second step in our work for the diocese: St. Patrick’s 7 Vital Signs. (As a reminder, the first step was to undergo a financial review with the Chief Operating Officer of the diocese, the Rev. Andrew Walter. We passed with flying colors, as expected!)
In the Vital Signs report you will see that each sign is ranked on a scale of 1-10 with an explanation for the ranking. We received positive feedback from the Rev. Anne-Marie Jeffery, the Canon for Congregational Vitality: “Well done! I could get a sense of the discussions you had. Great awareness of what you do well and where the challenges are.”
Now that we have completed the second step, we are working with the Office of Transition Ministry (OTM) to create our OTM parish profile. We will work with the OTM team to ensure that the messages in our profile and website are aligned, have a meeting with our diocesan facilitators and regional Dean, and finally, post the position! While this work is not always linear, because it takes time to reflect, pray and listen, we anticipate that we will be ready to post the position in September.
In relation to our next rector, we would like that person to be:
An inspirational preacher (one who can get their message across in a meaningful way)
Compassionate (someone who is warm, empathetic, and a relationship builder)
An entrepreneurial leader (has an ability to take proactive, well-considered risks for the sake of church growth)
An effective communicator (someone who is approachable and open to parishioners and others)
Over the last four months, we have been blessed to have input from Dr. Laura Natta, who was in London and is in Minnesota studying and implementing strategies that help churches grow. I spoke to her today and her main message for us is that in order to grow, churches must be out in the wider community.
While there are many things that we do well, I want to highlight a few areas that need attention for us to call our next rector and grow as a church:
Most of us think that we are on track with our mission, but that it needs refinement to better describe our mission/focus outside our community. The most common areas of focus mentioned in our discussions and survey include children, families, and providing food to those in need. Over the next month, we will adapt our mission statement to focus on these areas and share a draft for your input.
We want to be a welcoming community. In many ways we are! But, over the last several years we have had challenges with a lack of participation in the ministries that create that environment. Our usher, altar, flower, and tech guilds frequently lack participants and most of our events and outreach rely on a small group of volunteers. In addition, we heard several stories about newcomers who were not greeted at all during their first visit(s). Thankfully they returned and were welcomed, otherwise we would not have learned of this challenge.
We prioritize education and spiritual growth. Yet many, if not most, of the adult classes offered have had limited attendance, even after surveying parishioners and providing classes on identified topics of interest.
We are immensely blessed to have a vibrant church and community, and none of these things are insurmountable. It will take focus, testing strategies to see what will produce positive and sustainable change, and most of all, your engagement. If you have ideas for bringing positive change to these three areas, or any others, please reach out to me, another Vestry person, or Mary Beth.
This is an exciting time at St. Patrick’s. Thank you for your participation in our discernment process, our missions and outreach, and in building a strong and vibrant community. Most of all, thank you for your prayers and support. Your Vestry is very grateful.
