Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

Do you remember the movie “Sideways?” A middle aged man, dissatisfied with his life, takes his ‘washed up actor and about to be married’ friend on a weeklong trip to California’s wine country. The movie became an unexpected hit, garnering numerous awards.

Working on this month’s Vestry Papers, a common theme emerged: congregations discovering potential and new leaders by reaching out sideways. As with so many things, broadening our field of vision often brings unexpected and welcome rewards. To help you with this, we’ve assembled a collection of approaches to leadership, with more method than story in three of the four articles.

“Pushing Past Fear” by Karen Hunter shares what can happen when a congregation commits itself to being church in the world. The growth – and success - of Grace Episcopal’s mission church, La Gracia Farmland, is largely due to being comfortable reaching sideways, especially when very few people in the congregation speak Spanish.

Margaret Babcock’s “Time to Bloom” invites congregations to consider a model of ministry and leadership that has taken root across our Church. Called baptismal, total, shared, or mutual ministry, this model recognizes the shared responsibility of all of the faithful for leadership.

“Getting to the Why 2” continues Miguel Angel Escobar’s exploration transformational leadership, offering some of the key practices used by transformational leaders to both build a shared sense of purpose and strengthen leadership capacity.

Bill Kondrath’s “Facing Differences,” demonstrates what can happen when, instead of dismissing our differences, vestries and other groups pay attention to their racial and cultural assumptions and behaviors. By changing their frame of reference, groups can begin to develop new ways of interaction that are more inclusive and egalitarian, opening up new avenues for leadership.

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