Envisioning the next 3 years

By Jaime Case, Rector

February 20-21, 2015, Vestry Retreat

I prepared this for the Vestry Retreat so that I could communicate what I believe are important challenges and opportunities for the Parish in the next 3 years. This document is meant to spark discussion and discernment as a Parish and Vestry on behalf of the whole Parish. Please consider this a complex draft of ideas, not a concrete set of marching orders. It is subject to revision, deletion, and all other forms of amendment!

Most of our challenges surround the ministry to and of Hispanics in our midst. This is the 16^th year that SL2 has had a Eucharist in Spanish, and the service represents our core values of hospitality very well. The service also represents the younger generations very well, since about 40% of every Sunday’s attendance is under 12 years of age. Through ESL it can direct the expansion of Outreach to a segment of those in need. What follows is based on the Goals printed in my article this month.

Improve the relationship between the Anglo and Hispanic congregations: Here are the challenges that I believe we face in governance, education, administration, music, and liturgy for Hispanic members. The time frames express my thought as to when the issues might be initiated or resolved.

Governance [1-2 yrs.]:

• Challenges: Vestry is heavily and predominantly from the Anglo community. Reserving the one membership for a Hispanic is inadequate.
• Possible Solutions:
  • Move from current one reserved space to 3 Hispanic, 3 Anglo and 3 at-large members by nominating on that basis. For example, in 2016 at the general meeting nominate at least one Latino, and do so every year subsequently.
  • Alter the Bylaws to accomplish such the goal.
  • Recruit fully bilingual members of 1 pm service to stand for election every year.

Education [1-2 yrs.]:

• Challenges: Currently I have to rely on myself for teaching “First” Communion class (new class starts March 1 at noon with 20 students!), for social integration and for leadership in the Latino community. Sunday school is also growing to 20+ children at 1 pm, which is too much for our space and teachers to handle.
• Possible Solutions:
  • Re-examine our current class methods and teachers at 1 pm to identify solutions for the class
  • Possibly subdivide the class by age, 10-12 year olds in separate class.
  • Provide Godly Play training in-house, for all teachers, as a requisite for teaching (not currently done)
  • Recruit additional teachers who are capable in Spanish
  • Think about a DRE for each language area.

Administration [1-2 yrs.]:

• Challenge: Currently our Spanish services, especially private services like weddings, 15s and funerals, fall in total to me for scheduling, service preparation, pre-service instruction, musical coordination, opening the building, closing the building, and liturgical leadership. There is no one but me to answer and field phone calls. Small groups whose first language is Spanish are currently out of my reach. This is not to mention the website maintenance, sermon and other recordings (currently defunct!), and more social media presence.
• Possible Solutions:
  • Prepare to fund a full-time Parish Administrator position.
  • Prepare for a search for a fully bilingual Parish Administrator, or two part time assistants.

Music [2-3 yrs.]:

• Challenge: Currently we have a musician who can only dedicate about 2.5 hours to selecting, playing and leading music at 1 pm service. Musician is a talented amateur, but not a professional.
• Possible Solutions:
  • Prepare for two separate musical leaders, one for each language.
  • Boost the music offerings in Spanish so that a musical group can be formed.

Liturgy [3+ yrs.]:

• Challenges: Currently our Spanish services depend solely on my preparation, preaching, teaching, and liturgical leadership. For example, I preach every Sunday in Spanish!
• Possible Solutions:
  • Become a regular placement for graduating bilingual or multicultural priestly formation as curates, or
  • Look for staff priest who is bilingual, perhaps retired or other bi-vocational priest.

Outreach [1 yr.]:

• Challenge: Continue to grow in types of outreach activity, financing, and volunteers.

Outreach offerings to others, [ESL, new food resources like Panera, the Clark County Food Bank]

• More volunteers involved in Outreach
• Grow our Outreach budget to $10,000 from the current $9,000, on our long-term goal of tithing (10% or around $40k) on our budget.
• Track In-Kind!!!

Growth [constant]:

• No reason to focus: The Parish is growing organically, in a smooth and orderly fashion, based on our geographic location, the demographics around us, and the quality of our welcoming and hospitality. We simply need to keep up the good work. I think the Spanish service is growing the fastest, despite the lack of certain ministries. See restated goal!

Growth in Faith [constant]:

• Challenge: I think this one is tough! Where is the growth in learning and application?

Pastoral Care [constant]:

• Challenge: We have almost no pastoral care in Spanish.
  • Attend all birthday, 15 and wedding parties after the service: Convivencia is the way to create trust and opportunity for Pastoral Care.
  • “Confession” is an important part of pastoral care. Think of it as Pastoral Counseling, not formulaic expressions of contrition and sorrow, offered and not required.
• Challenge: I often hear expressions of sorrow at the loss of another member of the generation that is passing away. We do invest heavily in individual Pastoral Care for this aged Anglo generation, but the Parish’ mourning cannot be cared for by the individualized care that we provide. What can we do as a community?

Definitions:

• Outreach: when I use it, means directed acts of service to people in need. It includes financial assistance through the Discretionary fund, our Food/Clothing/Bus Passes ministry, and other sharing of resources and material.
• Ministry: is any activity that supports the spiritual life not only of the members, but of the community we live in: Think of providing space for AA/NA, concerts open to the community, drop in pastoral care, etc.
• Evangelism: The attraction and integration of people into the life of the Parish. Some attraction may take place through our music ministry, our hosting of groups, or other public event, even the Rummage Sale, or the Holiday Craft & Gift Sale. Mostly this is the function of word-of-mouth, with the first level of follow up by the greeters and ushers in the service, followed up by fine music and liturgy and the building of friendships.