St. Asaph's Episcopal Church ReVision Plan
Adopted August 20, 2015
Introduction
In 2012 the Vestry of St. Asaph's began to discuss the possibility of undertaking the process of revisioning the church's mission and ministries. The purpose would be to "vision again" who we are, why we exist, and what we ought to be doing. The Vestry sought guidance from the Diocese. Lindsay Ryland, Transition Ministry Officer, presented methods that other congregations have used to undertake revisioning. The Vestry did not act in 2012, but in 2014 voted to move forward with revisioning and to engage the professional services of Percept Group. Percept is a strategic information company nationally recognized for offering information-based planning tools to churches, including a customized ministry area profile of the church's home community, an analyzed congregational survey, and a context report that compares the church with its home community. Percept also offers a self-guided process that takes the congregation through a series of visioning and planning exercises to develop a vision statement, a mission statement, and a ministry plan. The ReVision Plan presented here is a result of that process.
Vision is the source of everything we believe and do as a community of faith. Without vision we wander, hoping for the best but uncertain what the best looks like. In this plan we set forth what we believe to be the vision that should guide and direct our church in its mission and ministry.
Vision includes two conditions: what is today and what ought to be when God is done. While we will not see the gap between these two conditions completely close, the hope of closure--and all that closure means--drives us forward in mission.
Both what is and what ought to be are reflected below in the sections "Our Beliefs" and "Our Mission Context." The focus of our vision emerges from these two sections and, with it, a call to close the gap between them. This call is our mission.
Our Beliefs
Over the course of eight Reflection Sessions we studied scriptural passages that describe what vision and mission may be. We examined the vision of the prophet Isaiah.
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion--to give them a garland instead of ashes; the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory. (Isaiah 61:1-3)
Through Isaiah we see the brokenness of this world and the glory that will be when God's work is complete. The Apostle Paul also makes this distinction between now and then.
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Romans 8:18-25)
How does vision translate into mission? Jesus' ministry is the ultimate model. When Jesus spoke in the synagogue in Nazareth, he made a definite statement about his life and ministry.
When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in our hearing." (Luke 4: 16-21)
Jesus Christ came to us with the promise of full life. As Episcopalians, we are followers of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Our worship and our mission are in Christ's name. In Jesus, we find that the nature of God is love, and through baptism we share in his victory over sin and death.
We believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We uphold the Bible and worship with the Book of Common Prayer. We believe in one Baptism, a full initiation by water and the Holy Spirit into Christ's Body, the Church. Our Baptismal Covenant calls us, as Christians, to live out our faith by proclaiming by word and example the Good News of God in Christ, by seeking and serving Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves, by striving for justice and peace among all people, and respecting the dignity of every human being.
We believe that our belief and faith in Jesus Christ must express itself in actions that correspond to Isaiah's great vision. The hope of the Gospel--found through faith in Jesus Christ--is that one day we will be whole and fully alive.
We believe that, as Christ's church, we have been called to live as active members of this community and to be Christ in this community. We believe that, as a faith community, we must be active, working in our community to close the gap between what is now and what ought to be when God's will is done.
Our Mission Context
The Vestry and ReVision Task Force determined that Caroline County would be our identified home community and our designated ministry area. Percept's profiles of Caroline County and St. Asaph's congregation, and a comparison of the two, are the components that make up our Context Report, the source of the information below.
Caroline County is our home community and its population is growing at a rate well above the national average. Our community's racial/ethnic diversity is extremely high, with Anglos composing sixty-four percent of our population and African Americans composing twenty-eight percent. Hispanics/Latinos are the county's fastest growing group.
The lifestyle diversity in our community is very low, with rural working families representing forty percent of county households. The overall family structure of our community is somewhat traditional due to the above average presence of married persons and two-parent families.
The overall education level of our community (high school and college graduates) is very low compared to national averages.
The expressed concerns of our community fall into the categories of children's issues, personal health, relationships, foundations (basic necessities of life), and spiritual matters including finding a good church and finding spiritual teaching.
There are major differences and important similarities between St. Asaph's and the community. We do not reflect our community in that we have low racial/ethnic diversity and a higher lifestyle diversity. We are older and have a higher level of income. We are a highly educated congregation in a community with a low level of education. We have an overall lower stress level than our community as a whole.
The expressed concerns of members of St. Asaph's include personal health and safety, finding a good church, finding spiritual teaching, finding life direction, problems in schools, achieving educational objectives, and social injustice. We share some of the same concerns as those in our community, including personal spiritual development and problems in our children's environment.
Both St. Asaph's and our community have a high faith involvement and a preference for historic Christian religious affiliations. Our community's overall church style preferences (worship, music, architecture) are somewhat traditional, whereas St. Asaph's preferences are extremely traditional.
Our community has preferences for church programs and services in the areas of spiritual development, including Bible Study and prayer groups, personal or family counseling, spiritual retreats and youth social programs. St. Asaph's has preferences for church programs and services in the areas of Twelve-Step programs, food pantry/clothing resources, care for the terminally ill, and cultural programs. As an overall program preference, those related to recreation are the most significant in our congregation.
Our congregation overwhelmingly rates our current programs highly, with very low divergence in opinion among us. Among the programs we do not currently offer but that the congregation ranks high in importance are spiritual retreats, cultural programs (music, art, drama, etc.), and sports or camping programs.
Those of us at St. Asaph's have a high level of "faith receptivity." That means we are interested in religion, the spiritual life and a journey of faith. We share that attribute with those in our community. The church programs our congregation prefers, however, differ from the preferences of our community, with our community showing a strong preference for programs in the area of spiritual development and our congregation preferring programs in the area of recreation. Both our community and our congregation, though, rank spiritual retreats as a highly desired type of program. This is a type of program in which our church has not thus far engaged.
Both St. Asaph's and our community have an average resistance to change, and both have a high potential for religious giving.
Our Vision
St. Asaph's has much to offer in Christ's name. The congregational survey affirms that we like who we are and feel good about our church. In many ways we do not reflect the community around us, but we have much to give. We share with those in our community a strong faith and many of the same concerns.
There are challenges. We are a small congregation of ninety-nine members and have a low projected growth rate. We are an older congregation with a small number of children, middle and high school youth among us. We have space and architectural limitations on our worship, educational and fellowship activities. As in any group of individuals, our priorities vary and we have time constraints.
There are many things to celebrate. We are dedicated and faithful to our church and to each other. We step in to help others when needed. We are a congregation with high giving potential and a history of giving generously in times of need. We are a congregation with a history of strong lay leadership, with lay persons exercising a vital role in the ministry of our church.
We "do worship well". Led and inspired by Rev. Bambi Willis, we experience rich and meaningful services that bring us closer to God each time we gather in his name. We have outstanding musicians who have gained recognition in the community. They enhance our worship and bring us together through shared song. Members of the altar guild who prepare the sanctuary, and those who serve during worship; i.e., LEM's, lectors, acolytes, ushers and oblation bearers, are well prepared and faithful to their duties. We now celebrate Chidren's Sunday about four times a year. On those Sundays our children have the opportunity to hear Bambi preach especially to them, and they take their first steps into roles such as greeters and lectors.
We can also celebrate our willingness to undertake a revisioning process. The vision set forth in this plan is the result of our members' thoughtful and dedicated participation in the congregational survey and in eight Reflection Sessions, during which we reflected on our collective vision for our church. We must keep in mind that "growth" as a parish is not only about increasing membership but also about forming us in discipleship and deepening our faith.
We will strive to protect and nourish our children in all ways. Our formation as disciples includes, perhaps most importantly, the Christian formation of our children. We need to include them in the full life of our church, in worship, music, education, and recreation. We need more adult involvement in our children's Sunday School program. We recognize that as a small parish, we may need to reach out to other churches to partner in activities for our children's spiritual growth.
We will strive to nourish the desire for the spiritual growth of our adults. We have expressed an interest in more worship opportunities, in adult education and Bible study, and in activities in which we have not thus far engaged such as retreats, Lenten programs, and speakers. Because spiritual growth and development is also a concern of our community, these activities offer opportunities to partner with other churches for the benefit of all.
We will strive to meet the needs of all in the way we worship, so there are no barriers to worship. We are an aging congregation with physical differences that must be appreciated. We have made great strides toward this goal with hand railings to assist us to the Communion rail and, most importantly, an elevator! Visual and hearing accommodations could still be addressed. Our current worship space and architecture, though, limit the accommodations that can be made.
We will strive to meet the needs of our members with concerns for their personal health and safety. We have a strength in this area with many professionals among us. Needs may be met through programs such as health screenings, classes and seminars. These are ways our church can reach out to our community, which has also expressed concerns over health issues. We already offer our building for use by A.A., and could offer space to other community support groups or for counseling sessions. Again, our current building space limits what we can offer at this time.
We will strive to meet our needs for recreation and fellowship which are vital to the life of St. Asaph's. We celebrate our faith and appreciation of our church community through many social activities, especially at our pavilion, which grows and improves thanks to the efforts of the ECM. We will continue to support these activities which nourish relationships between church members and with members of our community who enjoy fellowship with us.
St. Asaph's exists in a larger community in need. We share the concerns of our community that all persons, especially our children, have the basic necessities of life. Our Reflection Sessions revealed a mixed response to community outreach, but we are already supporting efforts to fulfill community needs through programs such as the Polar Bear Plunge for heating assistance and Glory Outreach's food and clothing ministries. We have a history of supporting families in need at holidays.
We have expressed a desire to continue to support community programs to address our neighbors' needs, and to partner with others to broaden our support to the community, especially to help children. We are a small church that, alone, can not do all that needs to be done. We will strive to find ways to partner with other churches and community groups to improve the health and welfare of our community.
The successful development of all ministries requires effective communication within our parish as well as to our broader community. We will explore the effectiveness of our current methods of communication and consider the best ways to reach out to our community.
Adequate space for worship, education, fellowship and outreach activities will continue to be a challenge. As we define our mission initiatives and strategies for the coming years, we will assess our capital needs for space and our capabilities to meet those needs.
We at St. Asaph's are already living into our current mission, to be a nurturing community sharing the love of Christ through worship, prayer, education and outreach. Through this ReVision Plan, we are not changing our mission but clarifying our vision in order to renew and strengthen our call to action. There is still much we can do. We must claim our call from God to strengthen ourselves as a worshipping community that loves and cares for one another and our neighbors. We envision a church that is constantly rebuilding and helping to rebuild our community through a vital, constant renewal of our faith in God. This is our vision.
Our Mission Statement
In order to see our vision become a reality to any degree, we must engage in intentional mission. With this in mind, we believe:
God calls St. Asaph's to be Christ
To one another by:
Nurturing our desire for spiritual growth for ourselves and our children
Recognizing and accommodating our differences and any barriers to participation in our common life
Addressing our concerns about our health and safety
Maintaining and fostering opportunities for fellowship and recreation
Improving communication
To our community by:
Creating church partnerships that nurture children and adults
Creating partnerships for the common good of the community
Embracing opportunities to meet the desire of our community for spiritual growth and development
Seeking opportunities to help members of our community with health concerns
To the end that:
God's will be done.
Our Mission Statement in Action
We translate our mission statement into intentional mission by:
Using it to evaluate our current ministries and programs. Do they help us fulfill our mission?
Using it to evaluate new initiatives. Do they grow out of our vision and are they shaped by our mission statement?
Our Three-Year Plan:
Three-year Initiatives, First-year Strategies, Justifications
We contextualize our mission by setting before ourselves specific mission initiatives. While our three-year initiatives do not encompass our entire church's ministry, they do focus our attention on key developmental arenas for the next three years. We have set out first-year strategies, addressing the ways we should act on our initiatives in the first year. We have set out justifications to explain why our initiatives and strategies are important and how they are based on themes developed from our Reflection Sessions.
We believe that our church must focus as follows:
Three-Year Initiatives to begin in the first year
1. Initiative: Assess capital needs
Justification: One of the common themes of our Reflection Sessions was the need to examine in a formal way our capital needs for the future. We have an operating budget, but two big capital items, the elevator and the organ fund, were ad hoc items. The pavilion improves through the efforts of the ECM, but our undercroft is out of the 1950's. We have recognized a need for space for additional Sunday School classrooms and other children's activities; group meetings; fellowship; programs; food preparation; counseling; office/administration; and storage.
First-year strategy:
Appoint a task force, representative of the members of the congregation, to develop a capital improvement vision
Justification: The process of planning a capital improvement program needs to include different voices among us: young people; dreamers; those with wisdom, financial expertise . . .
2. Initiative: Enhance worship and spiritual formation of our children and adults, within our church and in partnership with others in our community
Justification: Our Percept Context Report cites that both members of our church and the community are interested in spiritual growth. Each of the Reflection Session groups spoke of a desire to increase worship and adult spiritual opportunities. The report also cites that our overall program preference is recreation. Fellowship activities are part of Christian formation and continue to be popular and successful. They bring members of the community into fellowship with us.
Our children need to flourish in an environment that stimulates their spiritual growth, keeps them safe, and welcomes them into our worship experience. They need to learn about our worship and be a part that experience. As they are able they can begin to fill roles such as acolytes, greeters and lectors. At this time our parish may be too small to produce a Vacation Bible School experience but may need to partner with another church/churches to offer this activity.
First-year strategies:
Identify an Education Coordinator
Justification: We have identified a need for an Education Coordinator whose role will be to act as a liaison between the Sunday School and Vestry; coordinate Sunday School teachers and ensure that a teacher is available each week; work with the Rector to plan curriculum; discern possibilities for Vacation Bible School, within our church or in partnership with other churches; coordinate opportunities for children to take roles during worship such as oblation bearers, lectors and greeters; and serve as contact person between families and the Sunday School.
Explore possibilities for engaging with another church to expand worship and spiritual opportunities
Justification: Our Reflection Session groups expressed an interest in partnering with other churches for activities such as the Seder Supper, speakers and study groups, retreats, and a Lenten series.
Explore the possibility of a spiritual retreat
Justification: Our Percept Context Report cites that both our congregation and the community rank spiritual retreats as a highly desired type of program.
3. Initiative: Improve communication
Justification: The successful development of all ministries requires effective communication. Two of the three Reflection Session groups spoke of this. We can improve in this area. We need to reach all members of our congregation, newcomers who are interested in our parish, and the wider community. There are means of communication through social media we have not explored. We need to increase our media presence in the community.
First-year strategies:
Establish a welcome process for newcomers
Justification: There are many ways we can tell newcomers about ourselves and show our interest in having them among us. Pew cards, greeters, follow-up phone calls, letters and visits are among the things that have been discussed.
Identify a multi-media coordinator to enhance communication within our church and to the community at large
Justification: We have a website, weekly bulletin announcements, an email distribution list, and an application for our cellphones for our church directory. We need an individual to coordinate our efforts and help us explore other means of communication; i.e., newsletters, phone trees, social media, and newspapers, to reach as many as possible.
Other three-year initiatives
Over the next three years the Vestry will also focus on developing strategies to implement the following initiatives:
1. Initiative: Nurture the health and safety of our members
Justification: Fifty-two percent of our members are age 52 and older. This fact represents significant vulnerability to half of us. We have chronic and acute health concerns; we have common disabilities of aging, with impairments in ambulation, vision, hearing. Newcomers will have similar but often diverse health problems that our environment does not safely address. We can all benefit from attention to what makes a worship experience meaningful in view of limitations of any kind. We have children among us who need to be supervised and kept safe. In order to ensure that our activities are safe and enjoyable for children, we need to dedicate space and activities especially for them during these times.
2. Initiative: Eliminate barriers to participation in our common life
Justification: We can involve more of our members in the full life of the parish by inviting individuals to try new roles in worship and service, expanding our pool of lectors, ushers, coffee hour hosts, etc. When members step into new roles they will bring new ideas and revitalize existing ministries.
We should also be mindful of creating a safe environment for conversations about personal and physical barriers to participation. Until our members feel comfortable discussing personal limitations they will continue to be separated from the full life of our parish.
3. Initiative: Support services for at-risk residents of our community
Justification: Our Percept Context Report cites concern for basic necessities of life as a primary concern of our community. Households ranked below the U. S. average have hopes and dreams for the future. Parishioners partnering with community groups and agencies can have a positive impact on the lives of those who have less than we have. We can invite representatives from community agencies/church-sponsored groups to help identify existing programs we can assist. As a small parish we are limited as to what projects we can undertake on our own, but we can lend our many gifts to community efforts and enhance their effectiveness and success.
Conclusion
Our ReVision Plan gives us an understanding of vision from a Biblical perspective, and explains the role of vision in the mission of the church. It gives us an understanding of the specific mission environment of St. Asaph's. It relates mission to ministries and programs. It is a statement of our beliefs, mission context, vision and mission. It provides broad three-year initiatives and specific strategies for the first year.
Adopted August 20, 2015
Introduction
In 2012 the Vestry of St. Asaph's began to discuss the possibility of undertaking the process of revisioning the church's mission and ministries. The purpose would be to "vision again" who we are, why we exist, and what we ought to be doing. The Vestry sought guidance from the Diocese. Lindsay Ryland, Transition Ministry Officer, presented methods that other congregations have used to undertake revisioning. The Vestry did not act in 2012, but in 2014 voted to move forward with revisioning and to engage the professional services of Percept Group. Percept is a strategic information company nationally recognized for offering information-based planning tools to churches, including a customized ministry area profile of the church's home community, an analyzed congregational survey, and a context report that compares the church with its home community. Percept also offers a self-guided process that takes the congregation through a series of visioning and planning exercises to develop a vision statement, a mission statement, and a ministry plan. The ReVision Plan presented here is a result of that process.
Vision is the source of everything we believe and do as a community of faith. Without vision we wander, hoping for the best but uncertain what the best looks like. In this plan we set forth what we believe to be the vision that should guide and direct our church in its mission and ministry.
Vision includes two conditions: what is today and what ought to be when God is done. While we will not see the gap between these two conditions completely close, the hope of closure--and all that closure means--drives us forward in mission.
Both what is and what ought to be are reflected below in the sections "Our Beliefs" and "Our Mission Context." The focus of our vision emerges from these two sections and, with it, a call to close the gap between them. This call is our mission.
Our Beliefs
Over the course of eight Reflection Sessions we studied scriptural passages that describe what vision and mission may be. We examined the vision of the prophet Isaiah.
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion--to give them a garland instead of ashes; the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory. (Isaiah 61:1-3)
Through Isaiah we see the brokenness of this world and the glory that will be when God's work is complete. The Apostle Paul also makes this distinction between now and then.
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Romans 8:18-25)
How does vision translate into mission? Jesus' ministry is the ultimate model. When Jesus spoke in the synagogue in Nazareth, he made a definite statement about his life and ministry.
When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in our hearing." (Luke 4: 16-21)
Jesus Christ came to us with the promise of full life. As Episcopalians, we are followers of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Our worship and our mission are in Christ's name. In Jesus, we find that the nature of God is love, and through baptism we share in his victory over sin and death.
We believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We uphold the Bible and worship with the Book of Common Prayer. We believe in one Baptism, a full initiation by water and the Holy Spirit into Christ's Body, the Church. Our Baptismal Covenant calls us, as Christians, to live out our faith by proclaiming by word and example the Good News of God in Christ, by seeking and serving Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves, by striving for justice and peace among all people, and respecting the dignity of every human being.
We believe that our belief and faith in Jesus Christ must express itself in actions that correspond to Isaiah's great vision. The hope of the Gospel--found through faith in Jesus Christ--is that one day we will be whole and fully alive.
We believe that, as Christ's church, we have been called to live as active members of this community and to be Christ in this community. We believe that, as a faith community, we must be active, working in our community to close the gap between what is now and what ought to be when God's will is done.
Our Mission Context
The Vestry and ReVision Task Force determined that Caroline County would be our identified home community and our designated ministry area. Percept's profiles of Caroline County and St. Asaph's congregation, and a comparison of the two, are the components that make up our Context Report, the source of the information below.
Caroline County is our home community and its population is growing at a rate well above the national average. Our community's racial/ethnic diversity is extremely high, with Anglos composing sixty-four percent of our population and African Americans composing twenty-eight percent. Hispanics/Latinos are the county's fastest growing group.
The lifestyle diversity in our community is very low, with rural working families representing forty percent of county households. The overall family structure of our community is somewhat traditional due to the above average presence of married persons and two-parent families.
The overall education level of our community (high school and college graduates) is very low compared to national averages.
The expressed concerns of our community fall into the categories of children's issues, personal health, relationships, foundations (basic necessities of life), and spiritual matters including finding a good church and finding spiritual teaching.
There are major differences and important similarities between St. Asaph's and the community. We do not reflect our community in that we have low racial/ethnic diversity and a higher lifestyle diversity. We are older and have a higher level of income. We are a highly educated congregation in a community with a low level of education. We have an overall lower stress level than our community as a whole.
The expressed concerns of members of St. Asaph's include personal health and safety, finding a good church, finding spiritual teaching, finding life direction, problems in schools, achieving educational objectives, and social injustice. We share some of the same concerns as those in our community, including personal spiritual development and problems in our children's environment.
Both St. Asaph's and our community have a high faith involvement and a preference for historic Christian religious affiliations. Our community's overall church style preferences (worship, music, architecture) are somewhat traditional, whereas St. Asaph's preferences are extremely traditional.
Our community has preferences for church programs and services in the areas of spiritual development, including Bible Study and prayer groups, personal or family counseling, spiritual retreats and youth social programs. St. Asaph's has preferences for church programs and services in the areas of Twelve-Step programs, food pantry/clothing resources, care for the terminally ill, and cultural programs. As an overall program preference, those related to recreation are the most significant in our congregation.
Our congregation overwhelmingly rates our current programs highly, with very low divergence in opinion among us. Among the programs we do not currently offer but that the congregation ranks high in importance are spiritual retreats, cultural programs (music, art, drama, etc.), and sports or camping programs.
Those of us at St. Asaph's have a high level of "faith receptivity." That means we are interested in religion, the spiritual life and a journey of faith. We share that attribute with those in our community. The church programs our congregation prefers, however, differ from the preferences of our community, with our community showing a strong preference for programs in the area of spiritual development and our congregation preferring programs in the area of recreation. Both our community and our congregation, though, rank spiritual retreats as a highly desired type of program. This is a type of program in which our church has not thus far engaged.
Both St. Asaph's and our community have an average resistance to change, and both have a high potential for religious giving.
Our Vision
St. Asaph's has much to offer in Christ's name. The congregational survey affirms that we like who we are and feel good about our church. In many ways we do not reflect the community around us, but we have much to give. We share with those in our community a strong faith and many of the same concerns.
There are challenges. We are a small congregation of ninety-nine members and have a low projected growth rate. We are an older congregation with a small number of children, middle and high school youth among us. We have space and architectural limitations on our worship, educational and fellowship activities. As in any group of individuals, our priorities vary and we have time constraints.
There are many things to celebrate. We are dedicated and faithful to our church and to each other. We step in to help others when needed. We are a congregation with high giving potential and a history of giving generously in times of need. We are a congregation with a history of strong lay leadership, with lay persons exercising a vital role in the ministry of our church.
We "do worship well". Led and inspired by Rev. Bambi Willis, we experience rich and meaningful services that bring us closer to God each time we gather in his name. We have outstanding musicians who have gained recognition in the community. They enhance our worship and bring us together through shared song. Members of the altar guild who prepare the sanctuary, and those who serve during worship; i.e., LEM's, lectors, acolytes, ushers and oblation bearers, are well prepared and faithful to their duties. We now celebrate Chidren's Sunday about four times a year. On those Sundays our children have the opportunity to hear Bambi preach especially to them, and they take their first steps into roles such as greeters and lectors.
We can also celebrate our willingness to undertake a revisioning process. The vision set forth in this plan is the result of our members' thoughtful and dedicated participation in the congregational survey and in eight Reflection Sessions, during which we reflected on our collective vision for our church. We must keep in mind that "growth" as a parish is not only about increasing membership but also about forming us in discipleship and deepening our faith.
We will strive to protect and nourish our children in all ways. Our formation as disciples includes, perhaps most importantly, the Christian formation of our children. We need to include them in the full life of our church, in worship, music, education, and recreation. We need more adult involvement in our children's Sunday School program. We recognize that as a small parish, we may need to reach out to other churches to partner in activities for our children's spiritual growth.
We will strive to nourish the desire for the spiritual growth of our adults. We have expressed an interest in more worship opportunities, in adult education and Bible study, and in activities in which we have not thus far engaged such as retreats, Lenten programs, and speakers. Because spiritual growth and development is also a concern of our community, these activities offer opportunities to partner with other churches for the benefit of all.
We will strive to meet the needs of all in the way we worship, so there are no barriers to worship. We are an aging congregation with physical differences that must be appreciated. We have made great strides toward this goal with hand railings to assist us to the Communion rail and, most importantly, an elevator! Visual and hearing accommodations could still be addressed. Our current worship space and architecture, though, limit the accommodations that can be made.
We will strive to meet the needs of our members with concerns for their personal health and safety. We have a strength in this area with many professionals among us. Needs may be met through programs such as health screenings, classes and seminars. These are ways our church can reach out to our community, which has also expressed concerns over health issues. We already offer our building for use by A.A., and could offer space to other community support groups or for counseling sessions. Again, our current building space limits what we can offer at this time.
We will strive to meet our needs for recreation and fellowship which are vital to the life of St. Asaph's. We celebrate our faith and appreciation of our church community through many social activities, especially at our pavilion, which grows and improves thanks to the efforts of the ECM. We will continue to support these activities which nourish relationships between church members and with members of our community who enjoy fellowship with us.
St. Asaph's exists in a larger community in need. We share the concerns of our community that all persons, especially our children, have the basic necessities of life. Our Reflection Sessions revealed a mixed response to community outreach, but we are already supporting efforts to fulfill community needs through programs such as the Polar Bear Plunge for heating assistance and Glory Outreach's food and clothing ministries. We have a history of supporting families in need at holidays.
We have expressed a desire to continue to support community programs to address our neighbors' needs, and to partner with others to broaden our support to the community, especially to help children. We are a small church that, alone, can not do all that needs to be done. We will strive to find ways to partner with other churches and community groups to improve the health and welfare of our community.
The successful development of all ministries requires effective communication within our parish as well as to our broader community. We will explore the effectiveness of our current methods of communication and consider the best ways to reach out to our community.
Adequate space for worship, education, fellowship and outreach activities will continue to be a challenge. As we define our mission initiatives and strategies for the coming years, we will assess our capital needs for space and our capabilities to meet those needs.
We at St. Asaph's are already living into our current mission, to be a nurturing community sharing the love of Christ through worship, prayer, education and outreach. Through this ReVision Plan, we are not changing our mission but clarifying our vision in order to renew and strengthen our call to action. There is still much we can do. We must claim our call from God to strengthen ourselves as a worshipping community that loves and cares for one another and our neighbors. We envision a church that is constantly rebuilding and helping to rebuild our community through a vital, constant renewal of our faith in God. This is our vision.
Our Mission Statement
In order to see our vision become a reality to any degree, we must engage in intentional mission. With this in mind, we believe:
God calls St. Asaph's to be Christ
To one another by:
Nurturing our desire for spiritual growth for ourselves and our children
Recognizing and accommodating our differences and any barriers to participation in our common life
Addressing our concerns about our health and safety
Maintaining and fostering opportunities for fellowship and recreation
Improving communication
To our community by:
Creating church partnerships that nurture children and adults
Creating partnerships for the common good of the community
Embracing opportunities to meet the desire of our community for spiritual growth and development
Seeking opportunities to help members of our community with health concerns
To the end that:
God's will be done.
Our Mission Statement in Action
We translate our mission statement into intentional mission by:
Using it to evaluate our current ministries and programs. Do they help us fulfill our mission?
Using it to evaluate new initiatives. Do they grow out of our vision and are they shaped by our mission statement?
Our Three-Year Plan:
Three-year Initiatives, First-year Strategies, Justifications
We contextualize our mission by setting before ourselves specific mission initiatives. While our three-year initiatives do not encompass our entire church's ministry, they do focus our attention on key developmental arenas for the next three years. We have set out first-year strategies, addressing the ways we should act on our initiatives in the first year. We have set out justifications to explain why our initiatives and strategies are important and how they are based on themes developed from our Reflection Sessions.
We believe that our church must focus as follows:
Three-Year Initiatives to begin in the first year
1. Initiative: Assess capital needs
Justification: One of the common themes of our Reflection Sessions was the need to examine in a formal way our capital needs for the future. We have an operating budget, but two big capital items, the elevator and the organ fund, were ad hoc items. The pavilion improves through the efforts of the ECM, but our undercroft is out of the 1950's. We have recognized a need for space for additional Sunday School classrooms and other children's activities; group meetings; fellowship; programs; food preparation; counseling; office/administration; and storage.
First-year strategy:
Appoint a task force, representative of the members of the congregation, to develop a capital improvement vision
Justification: The process of planning a capital improvement program needs to include different voices among us: young people; dreamers; those with wisdom, financial expertise . . .
2. Initiative: Enhance worship and spiritual formation of our children and adults, within our church and in partnership with others in our community
Justification: Our Percept Context Report cites that both members of our church and the community are interested in spiritual growth. Each of the Reflection Session groups spoke of a desire to increase worship and adult spiritual opportunities. The report also cites that our overall program preference is recreation. Fellowship activities are part of Christian formation and continue to be popular and successful. They bring members of the community into fellowship with us.
Our children need to flourish in an environment that stimulates their spiritual growth, keeps them safe, and welcomes them into our worship experience. They need to learn about our worship and be a part that experience. As they are able they can begin to fill roles such as acolytes, greeters and lectors. At this time our parish may be too small to produce a Vacation Bible School experience but may need to partner with another church/churches to offer this activity.
First-year strategies:
Identify an Education Coordinator
Justification: We have identified a need for an Education Coordinator whose role will be to act as a liaison between the Sunday School and Vestry; coordinate Sunday School teachers and ensure that a teacher is available each week; work with the Rector to plan curriculum; discern possibilities for Vacation Bible School, within our church or in partnership with other churches; coordinate opportunities for children to take roles during worship such as oblation bearers, lectors and greeters; and serve as contact person between families and the Sunday School.
Explore possibilities for engaging with another church to expand worship and spiritual opportunities
Justification: Our Reflection Session groups expressed an interest in partnering with other churches for activities such as the Seder Supper, speakers and study groups, retreats, and a Lenten series.
Explore the possibility of a spiritual retreat
Justification: Our Percept Context Report cites that both our congregation and the community rank spiritual retreats as a highly desired type of program.
3. Initiative: Improve communication
Justification: The successful development of all ministries requires effective communication. Two of the three Reflection Session groups spoke of this. We can improve in this area. We need to reach all members of our congregation, newcomers who are interested in our parish, and the wider community. There are means of communication through social media we have not explored. We need to increase our media presence in the community.
First-year strategies:
Establish a welcome process for newcomers
Justification: There are many ways we can tell newcomers about ourselves and show our interest in having them among us. Pew cards, greeters, follow-up phone calls, letters and visits are among the things that have been discussed.
Identify a multi-media coordinator to enhance communication within our church and to the community at large
Justification: We have a website, weekly bulletin announcements, an email distribution list, and an application for our cellphones for our church directory. We need an individual to coordinate our efforts and help us explore other means of communication; i.e., newsletters, phone trees, social media, and newspapers, to reach as many as possible.
Other three-year initiatives
Over the next three years the Vestry will also focus on developing strategies to implement the following initiatives:
1. Initiative: Nurture the health and safety of our members
Justification: Fifty-two percent of our members are age 52 and older. This fact represents significant vulnerability to half of us. We have chronic and acute health concerns; we have common disabilities of aging, with impairments in ambulation, vision, hearing. Newcomers will have similar but often diverse health problems that our environment does not safely address. We can all benefit from attention to what makes a worship experience meaningful in view of limitations of any kind. We have children among us who need to be supervised and kept safe. In order to ensure that our activities are safe and enjoyable for children, we need to dedicate space and activities especially for them during these times.
2. Initiative: Eliminate barriers to participation in our common life
Justification: We can involve more of our members in the full life of the parish by inviting individuals to try new roles in worship and service, expanding our pool of lectors, ushers, coffee hour hosts, etc. When members step into new roles they will bring new ideas and revitalize existing ministries.
We should also be mindful of creating a safe environment for conversations about personal and physical barriers to participation. Until our members feel comfortable discussing personal limitations they will continue to be separated from the full life of our parish.
3. Initiative: Support services for at-risk residents of our community
Justification: Our Percept Context Report cites concern for basic necessities of life as a primary concern of our community. Households ranked below the U. S. average have hopes and dreams for the future. Parishioners partnering with community groups and agencies can have a positive impact on the lives of those who have less than we have. We can invite representatives from community agencies/church-sponsored groups to help identify existing programs we can assist. As a small parish we are limited as to what projects we can undertake on our own, but we can lend our many gifts to community efforts and enhance their effectiveness and success.
Conclusion
Our ReVision Plan gives us an understanding of vision from a Biblical perspective, and explains the role of vision in the mission of the church. It gives us an understanding of the specific mission environment of St. Asaph's. It relates mission to ministries and programs. It is a statement of our beliefs, mission context, vision and mission. It provides broad three-year initiatives and specific strategies for the first year.
