Vestry Papers / Leadership

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  • Beware a Theology of Entitlement ✓
    A young woman who has asked for a spot on a vestry agenda comes right to the point: “I speak for those of us who don’t like the changes in the worship service.”
  • Let Your Light Shine Through ✓
    Given all that energy and the challenges of the time we live in, it feels like a good time to expand the opportunities for lay leadership beyond the church walls.
  • Commissioning new parish leaders ✓
    A liturgy for the commissioning of new parish leaders.
  • Cultivating a culture of discernment ✓
    St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in St. Paul, MN has been re-envisioning the role of the vestry over the last five years: inviting vestry members to understand their role as that of a spiritual discernment team.
  • Knowledge is Power
    In “Knowledge is Power,” William Doubleday introduces congregational leaders to the resources available to them in Canon 7: Of Business Methods in Church Affairs.
  • Being on the Same Page
    “Being on the Same Page” by Ron Pogue, reminds us of the value of our congregation’s governing documents and how they can be a useful tool for decision making.
  • From Above or Below?
    Alberto Cutié shares key differences in governance between the Episcopal and Roman Catholic churches. Available in both Spanish and English.
  • ¿De Arriba o de Abajo?
    Alberto Cutié comparte diferencias claves en el gobierno entre la Iglesia Episcopal y de la Iglesias Católica Romana. Disponible en español e Inglés.
  • Our Story
    “Our Story” by Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook explores the roots of our democratic style of governance and invites us to consider ways to balance an organization’s need for order with its equally important need for creativity and risk-taking.
  • Personal Reflections on Leadership Challenges
    In a conversation one afternoon Ed Friedman wondered aloud about “the good people of the world who are burning out trying to change the unmotivated.”
  • Characteristics of Effective Congregational Leader
    The issues of leadership that were often raised in the Zacchaeus Project discussions led to initiation of the Emmaus Project.
  • Transforming Attitudes about Ministry
    Our attitudes often dictate what kind of people we become. Likewise, our attitudes as communities of faith dictate what kinds of congregations we become. Here are two good examples.
  • Cortejados por los Presbiterianos
    Primero aprendimos a alquilar y administrar un parqueo. Después aprendimos a alquilar grandes partes de nuestro extenso campus en el centro de la ciudad.
  • Remembering About God
    Stacy Sauls invites us to image a different kind of church, one formed around making Christ truly present in the world. More
  • Missionaries One and All
    Is not God most concerned about how we live from Monday to Saturday?
  • My Top Ten: Vestry Responsibilities
    Just as the Great Commission—“Go therefore into the world to make disciples of all nations”—does not go into great detail on how exactly to accomplish that mission, so the canons of the Episcopal Church are not particularly specific about the…
  • Vestry Members as Spiritual Leaders
    “The spiritual leadership of the parish is the rector’s job!”
  • Liderazgo de resurrección
    ¿Realmente creemos en la resurrección? Eso fue lo que se preguntó la gente de la Iglesia Episcopal St. Alban’s de Waco, Texas, después de haber tenido que cerrar la escuela St. Alban’s Memorial, una escuela episcopal que había servido a los …
  • Leaders Bear the Burdens
    In May 2002 I packed my bags in Manhattan for the West Coast in order to lead a retreat for clergy of the Diocese of Northern California.
  • Wisdom Gathered, Lessons Learned
    There ARE crises that come along that you have to meet.
  • Avoiding the Quick Fix
    The greatest gift vestry members can give their churches is creative, positive challenge and support of their rector(s).
  • The Spirituality of Authentic Leaders
    We are all pilgrims, together on a journey through life.
  • Vestries: Catalysts for Healing
    “What do you think is going to happen?” is a question I hear often in discussions of the aftermath of the sexuality decisions of the 2003 General Convention.
  • Fit to Go the Distance
    Don’t read this piece if you are looking for some McGod off the shelf, for religious leadership in uncertain times is not about a quick fix.
  • When Conflict and Hope Abound
    Conflict and controversy are intrinsic to the church, even if many of us would prefer to live and worship in communities that never disagreed about anything.
  • Bringing Wounds and Blessings
    Conflict can be difficult, especially in the church.
  • Skeletons in the Sacristy
    Skeletons in the sacristy? We have one — figuratively, at least — in our church.
  • Elephants in the Sanctuary
    Conflict. It’s inevitable. It occurs every day, in every facet of our lives.
  • Doing the Advance Work
    When someone asks me about vestries in times of crisis, my frank response is that vestries can be useless in such times – unless they have done their work in advance.
  • Finding God in the Raging Storms
    The events of September 11th have attuned our minds to the reality of crises in our lives. This focusing experience, powerful as it may be, is but one of the many forms a crisis might take.
  • When the Waves are High
    I have been privileged to enjoy a number of explicit leadership roles in my life. People who have a real stake in the outcome have deliberately given me authority and trusted me to use that authority well on their behalf.
  • Faith Forged in the Fire
    On September 11th, as my husband Larry and I were finishing breakfast, we heard a plane go over our house – too low and too loud for the usual air traffic approaching Newark Airport, 20 minutes away. We looked at each other in concern, and I glance…
  • Dejar que brille nuestra luz
    El domingo 5 de junio cerca de 600 personas de la comunidad de Medford, Massachusetts, acudieron a Let’s Move! Medford, un día de eventos deportivos y feria de información centrados en criar niños sanos y activos.
  • Mission of Union and Integration
    The mission I set for myself before becoming a priest was to help establish, expand, and sustain Hispanic/Latino ministries in the Episcopal Church.
  • The Wander Years
    What does life after youth group look like?
  • The Diaconate of Young Adulthood
    Young adults are not big churchgoers generally. Our lives are hectic and often unstable.
  • Youth Comes Knocking
    We often fail to include our youth in one of the most central aspects of our faith, the governance of our church. Until they come knocking, that is.
  • Letting Our Light Shine
    On Sunday June 5, close to 600 people from the community of Medford, Massachusetts turned out for Let’s Move! Medford.
  • Misión de Unión e Integración
    Mi visión como sacerdote es integrarar comunidades de lenguas y culturas diversas en una sola congregación en la que compartimos el espacio sagrado, la liturgia y la misión cristiana, y a la vez creamos intimidad espiritual en Cristo Jesús.
  • The Importance of Being…Barnabas
    I am speaking here of that often overlooked hero in the New Testament book of Acts...
  • Video: Liderazgo Laico Transformacional
    Este video toca al tema del liderazgo laico transformacional.
  • Different Styles, Different Gifts
    The process of making such decisions have enormous capacity to bring together or tear apart vestries.
  • Tips on how NOT to make decisions...
    Louie’s not here. So let’s vote now.
  • Decision-making Led By The Spirit
    The Church is the body of Christ: the incarnation of God in the world.
  • Decisions: The Work of Leaders
    Decisions, decisions, decisions — sometimes vestry meetings seem overrun and overwrought by them.
  • So You Think You Don’t Know One…
    Congregations often include people impacted by addiction and codependency.
  • Bean Counters No More
    Imagine a congregation where the priest isn’t the only one making pastoral calls.
  • 'The Lord Broke Through'
    We used the Psalms as a way to enter into prayer. At the beginning of each vestry meeting, we read a psalm or portion of a psalm, slowly, pausing a beat between verses.
  • Discerning individual gifts on the vestry
    How do you understand your purpose as a vestry member? How do you know what God wants of you during your term on the vestry – or in the rest of your life?