The
Executive Board of the Diocese has been working with the results of the
New Wineskins project begun in 2011. This project invited Southern
Virginia to take a look at our mission, to listen and talk about
who we are and what we are called to do and to be. An important step in
this process was listening to the members of our parishes. Many of you
took part in one of six regional meetings with Bishop Hollerith. The
data gathered from those meetings has led our Executive Board to form
three Focus Teams: Stewardship, Leadership Development and New
Communities.
Stewardship:
The
Stewardship Focus Team of the Executive Board is committed to helping
broaden our understanding of stewardship for ourselves, our parishes as
well as the entire diocese. We hope to meet parishes where they are and
help them to move toward a greater understanding of the theology of
stewardship and how our resources are being used to change the community
and the world. A number of ideas emerged from our first conversation
but a common theme was the need for better formation and education about
stewardship as well as more direction for clergy and other leadership.
Leadership needs to walk the walk and they need to be equipped for the
walk. We have amazing stewardship stories in our diocese that are rarely
shared and we recognize that the power of story needs to be harnessed
and shared. A narrative diocesan budget would be an excellent beginning.
We hope that we will move toward running diocesan stewardship in much
the same way we run parish campaigns and we as a team are committed to
reflecting that behavior as a model. Two specific initiatives that were
suggested will continue to be discussed in the fall.
Leadership Development:
The
Leadership Development Focus Team will center its efforts on three key
areas: on the ground listening, evaluative work, and allocation of
resources. At our first meeting, we identified a number ways Leadership
Development is already being accomplished in our diocese, such as Fresh
Start, Bishop's Days, Vestry Training days, CE-Net, EYC Board, and Youth
Leader Trainings, to name a few. Then we brainstormed possible
approaches and areas of focus for Leadership Development going forward,
evaluating current initiatives with respect to both mission and budget
priorities of the diocese. We discussed evaluating young vocations
initiatives, allocating appropriate resources and exploring models for
new clergy mentoring, and strategies to develop new recruitment and
training for leaders at the parish level, including expanded vestry
training and best practices for committee management. We intend to
identify two to three primary areas of work for the next year.
New Communities:
The
New Communities Focus Team of the Executive Board will be working with
the Mission Network and the Church Plant Committee to strategize,
support, and communicate the work of New Community efforts in our
diocese. What do we mean by New Communities? Primarily it means new
gatherings, ministries, or congregations that reach new people with the
Gospel. It includes new church plants, multi-cultural ministries,
emergent ministries, mission communities supported by one or more
congregation that reach a particular group are area(new ministries like
Mission of the Holy Spirit), rebirthing/redeveloping existing
congregations, and churches collaborating or partnering in new ways. The
New Communities Focus Team desires first to learn what "New Community"
initiatives are currently taking place within our congregations. This
fall, the Focus Team will hone in on specific goals for the upcoming
year.
