Some Reflections on our Vestry/Staff Retreat

June 2010 – Rector’s Ruminations

On Friday evening, May 14th, the Vestry and Staff gathered at 6 o’clock in the Parish Hall and began our Retreat with Evening Prayer.  After praying we shared pizza and salad and two delicious pies baked by Jan Cleveland.

Following the dispatch of our regular monthly business, i.e. Treasurer’s Report, Junior and Senior Wardens’ reports, Rector’s Report, Staff reports and committee updates, we turned our attention to a reflection on the question “What and how are we doing?”  We affirmed the positive aspects of our life together as a parish family to include an increase in the variety of ministries that are manifestations of our Mission Statement: “As the village church, to love God, God’s Creation and our neighbors as ourselves.”  Specifically we noted an increase in our outreach to the community through support of a variety of not-for-profit organizations that promote the common good, the Food Bank as a renewed ecumenical form of outreach, our dinner and lunch meals and the various service of individual members of our parish family.  We also felt positive regarding our outreach beyond Orcas Island through our Diocesan pledge and the Noramise ministry in Haiti.

Given the growth in participation, giving, attendance and expanded activities we also affirmed the various programs that we host here at Emmanuel and opportunities that we offer in the area of Christian Education and spiritual formation, e.g. The Labyrinth, Education for Ministry, Rector’s Forum, seasonal liturgies to name but a few.

In short, there was much to affirm and celebrate.  However, we also noted the need to share God’s love through evangelism and inviting others to become a part of our Church.  This led to a vigorous discussion that continued on Saturday morning.

We concluded the evening with Compline recognizing the need to frame all of our “business” and reflection time with prayer.

Saturday morning began with a tasty breakfast and Morning Prayer at 9 a.m.  We continued our discussion on current ministry and then turned our attention to the future with the question, “Where are we going?”  This question helped us to recognize the need for short and longer term planning.  In considering the future, we acknowledged the need to distinguish between “maintenance ministry” and “missional ministry” and recognize the need for both.  We were aided in our reflections by background reading that was assigned in advance of our retreat – the book, Ancient Faith, Future Mission, Fresh Expressions in the Sacramental Tradition, edited by Steven Croft, Ian Mobsby and Stephanie Spellers; a recent article in The Seattle Times about Bishop Rickel and the Diocese entitled, “Rich Traditions, New Experiments” (Sunday, April 4, 2010); and article in the diocesan newspaper of the Diocese of Cleveland (Summer 2009), the subject of which was growing and declining churches; and an interesting article in Context (May 2010) entitled, “Connecting with the Adultolescents.”  This background material helped us to understand our opportunities and limitations given the demographics of Orcas Island.

Our discussion led us to identify eighteen items that need to be incorporated into immediate and future planning:

Keep the church open for visitors

Have a docent in the church

Practice radical hospitality

Hands-on outreach

Make the service accessible

How do we respect our heritage, yet make it current (how to stay true to the ancient, but open to the future?

Make the service user-friendly – Worship Committee will look at the bulletin

First Sunday of the month moved to 10 a.m. and will use innovative approach

Cohesive goal for ministries

More use of technology

Response to “I’m not the church-going type”

Contact groups outside the church and bring them in

Ask people to come to church with you

What is Benson Hall’s ministry?

Adult afternoon groups in Benson Hall

Job fair at Benson Hall

We need a plan to achieve our vision over the next 2 to 3 years

Need more young families

These items will be explored in the upcoming months at our Vestry meetings.  We also agreed to spend the bulk our meeting time on these issues and opportunities and less on certain items that could be better handled by committees or smaller groups.

We concluded our retreat on Saturday at Noon with Eucharist in thanksgiving for the ministry we share and are privileged to share with you.

In Christ,

+Craig

By Bishop Craig B. Anderson

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