Loading...Your vestry and I met for a workshop on March 29. We spent about 6 ½ hours together talking, eating, teaching, planning, training, and learning. We voted to accept the 2025 deficit budget. We signed the updated Bylaws. We discussed church business, made some decisions, committed our time to different teams, and got to know one another.
We talked about being a smaller church that functions as a middle-sized church. “Smaller” church can be identified by our number of members on record (about 103) with an average Sunday attendance (ASA) of about 39. We function as something bigger because of the ways we work together in our active ministries, in the ways we know one another, and in our staffing (which impacts how our ministries, mission, and management function).
We have much to be thankful for, and that’s the direction our conversation then went. Using a teaching model called “Appreciative Inquiry,” I asked for responses to four questions:
In the past two years:
1. When have you felt most spiritually aware and nourished? (Peak Experience)
a. Responses included feeling a sense of community, acceptance, belonging and being loved.
2. What do you value most about your congregation? (Things Valued)
a. Responses included service to others, the ability to be authentic (to be able to question and feel “safe” to do so), and the overwhelming feelings of being supported and loved.
3. How do you stay affirmed, renewed, energized, enthusiastic & inspired here? (Core Factors)
a. Responses included learning, belonging, feeling welcome, being uplifted, and participating in worship and other activities.
4. What are your three wishes for the future of this congregation?
a. Financial security. Growth (participation, spiritual, in numbers). Increase community engagement—outreach, activities that incorporate the neighborhood and surrounding areas.
We read from the book Big Lessons from Little Places, by Kay Collier-McLaughlin about how a small church provides a different kind of connection. For example, we notice when someone is missing from church and often do something about it.
Your vestry is enthusiastic about St. James’. They have ideas, desires, and skills that will lead us through this year with the kind of hope, with your help, that will result in making these wishes come true.
Please pray for these people who have agreed to lead the way.
Looking forward with appreciation,
Rev. Debbie+
