Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

Last night my family was invited over to our friends’ house for supper. With kids similar in age, this meant we had four kids at or under 6 years of age. It was fun and boisterous. In the midst of our roasted chicken, laughter, and interrupted conversation (Mama!! I`m really done, can I puhlease be excused?!), I found myself enveloped into a conversation about God’s abundance. 
During our time there, we started talking about stories of transformational giving. Our friend, who works for a social service organization of a partnering denomination, described how a local church had given its end of the year Christmas offering to a local social service organization. This was extraordinary as many churches rely on end of the year gifts to ensure they are able to make all budget needs. This is especially true as sometimes parishioners pledge but aren’t able to complete their pledge or unexpected expenses arise that require additional giving. 
This Church was willing to look beyond its own needs. Instead they believed they had enough and collectively gave their resources to a social service organization that impacted the lives of many in their local community.

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It’s that time of year again in most Episcopal congregations – time to fill out the parochial report.

There’s a lot of good to this report and, in general, I like having reasonable metrics and a disciplined pattern of going through the books, if only to give me and the parish leadership a bird’s-eye view of what, most of the time, feels like slightly organized chaos. It’s good to figure out just what happened in the year that’s past. It’s good, say, to see how many funerals we did versus the number of baptisms, weddings, and confirmations. It’s good to check in with the Average Sunday Attendance (ASA), and compare that number to previous years.

There are some pronounced limitations to the Parochial Report, however, and I suspect that most people who do the bulk of the report grin and bear it and give thanks when it’s over. Kind of like taxes, and I don’t really blame them.

But I also believe that revamping the Parochial Report – I mean, really revamping it – would be a good kick-off and clear indicator that we’re really serious about restructuring and reimagining and revisioning, or whatever it is we like to say we’re doing these days. That is, I have this wild and crazy idea that instead of denying that we are an institutional church, instead of trying to become more a movement and less a spiritual corporation, we could, instead, used the patterns and disciplines of our, yes, very institutional church to move forward the conversation about mission and flexibility.

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In a faith with long, rich tradition, some things can (and should) be changed.

Annual meetings, for instance, don’t need to be dreary gatherings of moan and drone. Mix them up a bit. Let your annual meeting reflect the life of the congregation—or your hope for life to come.

For the past three years, each annual meeting has been a little different. The first was held immediately after worship. Folks stayed in the pews (or snuck out quietly). The idea was to connect our corporate worship with our corporate business. Last year, the annual meeting was held at the same time but in the undercroft and with a meal.   

This year the meeting was on a Sunday evening. I worried that people wouldn’t come back out for a second time, especially on a wintry evening. But attendance was great with 75 people, and most people left the meeting energized and excited about our shared ministry.   

Here are a couple of reasons why I think the annual meeting was a success. First, it wasn’t chock full of report recitation. Each committee submitted written reports, which were distributed in a packet. The budget and financial information was also included. Instead of representatives reading each report and detailing the nuts and bolts of the past year’s activities, the featured speaker was the priest at the nearest church. Our congregation and community are relatively wealthy, but just three miles away is this urban church with an active ministry to the poor. Our congregation is very active in supporting this urban church, with volunteers at its feeding, food pantry, and health care ministries. In addition to people resources, we host fundraisers and donate thousands, both as individuals and a congregation, to support these programs.   

This priest shared plans for new initiatives, including community gardens and cooking classes. He invited our congregation to participate and to dream.   

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Celebrate. Listen. Be inspired. Plan.

The old congregation had been rocked by the priest’s resignation. Those who loved him sensed that those who wanted him out were silently gloating, even two years later. Some members left. Many who stayed were bitter and suspicious.

As he entered this environment, the new rector called for a vestry retreat. An interesting exercise was designed to help these lay leaders know each other on a deeper level, regardless of what “side” they had been on in the previous controversy.

Each person was asked to bring to the retreat an object that represented their love of the church. No hints or examples about what to bring - just a request to prayerfully do it.

At the retreat, each person explained the significance of his/her object...

“This was my mother-in-law’s crucifix necklace. I wear it now, and it reminds me of our family’s long ties to this church.” “This is the Prayer Book I received when I was confirmed.” “This prayer shawl got me through some dark days of cancer. I will always be grateful to the women in the knitting ministry who brought it to me and prayed with me.” “This is my daughter’s wedding photo.” “My son drew this picture of Jesus in Sunday School.”

Reactions also offered insights…

I remember hearing about an Episcopalian in Mississippi who proudly informed his bishop that he was foregoing white chocolate for Lent. The bishop was astounded by how the man had trivialized Lent.

Unless he had an enormous dependency on white chocolate, his sacrifice seemed comical. We, too, can easily fail to take advantage of Lent as a time for spiritual transformation. Christians customarily give up something for Lent as a spiritual discipline. Lent can also be a great time to take on a spiritual discipline so that God may renew us.

Lent is for a Christian what pre-season training is for an athlete. It is a wonderful time to get spiritually in shape in order to live a more fruitful Christian life. Everyone likes being physically fit. Spiritual fitness is equally rewarding.

I like the notion of feasting and fasting for Lent. Feast on reading the Bible each day and fast on criticism. Feast on praying each day and fast on drinking alcohol. Feast on writing a letter to a friend or family member each day and fast using social media other than for work.

The Book of Common Prayer offers this invitation to us as the penitential season of Lent begins:

Dear People of God:

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Dear friends and colleagues, 

There's a lot of good news to share in the area of Spanish language resources. 

First and foremost, I’m very happy to say that the Episcopal Church Foundation (ECF) has hired a Spanish language resource consultant, Sandra T. Montes, who will be working with me, our translator Laura Eastment, and others here at ECF to develop original Spanish language resources for our Spanish speaking congregations. If you do not already know Sandra’s excellent work throughout the Church, please check out her short biography and video introduction below. 

I would also like to encourage you to check out three important resources. The first is the March 3 webinar “Vestry Orientation” led by the Rev. Juan Angel Monge, ECF consultant in the Diocese of Puerto Rico. This webinar will cover the basic roles, responsibilities, and best practices for vestries. The second resource is a beautiful Spanish-language liturgical calendar which is a product of a joint collaboration between the Office of Latino Ministries, Forward Movement, and the Episcopal Church Foundation. You may purchase this calendar for your congregation here. 

Finally, I’d like to remind you of the many excellent resources available in Spanish on the ECF Vital Practices website. Among the most recent translations, please take a moment to check out the following: “Elevad todas las voces” por Anna Olson y “Mis diez puntos principales para la junta parroquial” por Scott Evanbeck. You can check out the full library of Spanish language resources by clicking here.   

Faithfully,
Miguel Escobar
Senior Program Director
Leadership Resources, ECF 

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Meet Sandra Montes, ECF Consultant for Spanish language resources 

Sandra was born in Perú, grew up in Guatemala and settled in Texas as soon as she could. Her passions are God, family (especially her son), music, education, and writing and she has been hoping and praying for this position for years. Sandra has been developing original bilingual resources for her church, school, and others for years. Sandra has been volunteering and working in the Episcopal Church since she was welcomed into Her in 1986. She serves as musician, translator, speaker, consultant, and writer. She is a full-time teacher and doctoral student.

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Haga clic abajo para este mensaje en español / Click below for this message in Spanish

I’ll be honest. For many years, I saw “professional development” as code for relatively fun junkets away from the office. The idea of taking a retreat or sabbatical seemed like more of an excuse to get out of work than a needed time for reflection and rejuvenation.
I’ve changed my tune. In 2013, I attended Credo, a retreat sponsored by the Church Pension Group as a time to refocus and define spiritual, mental, financial, and physical goals. (Sadly, this was the last Credo for lay employees; the program continues for ordained folks). At about the same time, I began a year-long program through the local Chamber of Commerce for women in leadership. At the close of both, I knew that I had made some important decisions and experienced some needed renewal.
But the real fruits are coming to bear now, two years later. I had no idea the seeds that were planted during this time apart from the stresses of everyday life. But I’m experiencing them now.
In the past two years, I’ve switched careers, finding myself open to a job change after a decade working for an Episcopal diocese. It was a risk in many ways, but I’m finding that I’m happier and more fulfilled in my work than ever, and I believe I’m living into God’s call for my life and gifts. I am learning how to be a manager of people, and I’m certain that I would not have been open to the changes I needed to make in my work style and expectations without these two programs. The time away afforded me the opportunity to really reflect on my strengths and weaknesses, to develop an action plan of how to improve certain areas and to be more cognizant and responsive to others and their particular quirks. Promises that I made about my physical health are finally being realized after two years of gestation.

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Editor’s Letter

As congregations continue to welcome new vestry members and begin the process of forming new leadership teams, ECF Vital Practices’ continues to share the wisdom and experience of congregational leaders from across our church.

Here are their stories:

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Celebrate. Listen. Be inspired. Plan.

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In his “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. never listed the laws that were needed to make discrimination illegal. He did not define federal code or detail what enforcement agencies were needed. 

Dr. King described a vision. Within two years after Dr. King's speech, several federal acts created sweeping civil rights reform. Dr. King’s ability to describe a vision for the IMPACT of the mission of the Civil Rights movement was a critical turning point that finally got hearts and minds to work together for change. 

Articulating a vision is a vital exercise for anyone in leadership, including vestries. A vision statement is a powerful strategic tool. Because it describes desired outcomes, it has the power to harness activities, ministries and resources to pull in the same direction. It turns everyday thinking into strategic thinking. 

This has been a serious and lofty post so far, but here’s where it gets fun. For your Vestry retreat, try this:

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It happens just often enough to remind me of the power of prayer, that moment when in the course of a Sunday liturgy someone or even a few people give voice to real, heartfelt, genuine prayer. Just the other week, in fact, the husband of a woman who has been going through a rough patch spoke up, told the congregation what was on his heart, and offered his words to the God of mercy. It was a wonderful, simple, beautiful, indeed, holy moment.

But it doesn’t happen regularly, I’m afraid. I’m even more ashamed to admit that, on too many occasions, on too many Sunday mornings, that moment in the liturgy called “Prayers of the People” feels a bit like slogging through a shopping list. And that’s how I experience it. It’s no small leap to suggest, grimly, how those gathered must also feel!

This isn’t so much a post with an answer but, rather, a search and a question. When I was a curate, now ten years ago, my rector gave me the task of trying to find a way to make the Prayers of the People much more prayerful, interactive, holy, and real. We tried a few things, some of which worked decently, some of which completely flopped, but ever since I’ve been in search of an answer, a method, a way to really pray, and pray corporately.

It seems that that was the hope of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, at least in Rite II. In the introductory text (BCP, p.383) as well as the unmistakable fact that they gave six forms for prayers, the understanding seems to be that the People of God would, at that point in worship, really coalesce as a praying community, offering intercession and thanksgiving to God, not merely following rote language and rites.

To do so, and do it well, obviously involves raising up the right people with the right kind of spirit. In my own experience, when I’ve attended to relationships and worked to develop the human capacity to practice honest-to-God prayer, corporately, those have been the moments when real prayer really emerges. Here in Valley Lee, Maryland, I’ve been thinking that it’s time to put out a call for people in our community who have a heart for prayer, and who practice daily prayer, to come forward and begin to work with me on cultivating this spiritual practice more intentionally. That is to say, it’s time to stop thinking about this as a matter of course – like organizing a schedule – and start thinking about it as a spiritual charism.

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Is your congregation ready to quit smoking? Eating badly? Overspending?

Is the church ready to stop being a club instead of a mission station? Is it willing to embrace newcomers from all stations of life? To engage in worship and ministry that is Spirit-filled, not one designed to fulfill personal needs?

When it comes to changing our selves, one option is to go cold turkey. Stop smoking completely. Adopt a strict diet or a frugal budget.

With our churches, we often look at other, slower ways of change management. I’m a fan of building support, seeking collaboration, offering rationales, listening to feedback. But sometimes we need to pull off the Bandaid. When it comes to really bad habits, we might need to go cold turkey.

The challenge is to have leadership astute enough to realize what issues need radical intervention – and to have the strength to deal with the withdrawal symptoms.   

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At the small Episcopal church in San Antonio where I grew up, everyone knew me and I knew everyone. I felt completely at home every Sunday. That experience of being completely accepted and welcomed is part of the reason I am still part of the Episcopal Church.

Yet, I am occasionally reminded that church isn’t always supposed to be a comfortable place. At panel discussion during last week's Trinity Institute conference, the Rev. Amy Butler, Senior Minister of Riverside Church, reminded attendees that church should not be comfortable. Our churches should be “communities of conversion,” she said, not places that simply confirm our beliefs and biases.

This was one of several conversations I was a part of this past week about race and economic inequality. In these conversations I’ve been reminded again and again how segregated our churches are, not only in terms of race but also economics and politics.

It’s not hard to see how this has happened. We all feel more at comfortable in a homogenous church. It’s easier. Spending hours every week with strangers and people with vastly different experiences can be exhausting.

How do we reconcile the uncomfortable truths of the Gospel, its call to love and serve and be in communion with those who are different from ourselves, with our desire to feel at ease in our own community?

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I am so not an engineer. I’ve never been a huge devotee of personality typing, but even I can see that whatever personality types make good engineers must be extremely different from my own. We see things differently, approach problems differently, and even evaluate outcomes differently.

Greater Los Angeles is full of engineers, and my vestry reflects this abundance. My last two senior wardens, as well as the clerk of the vestry have been engineers. It’s been awesome. Their gifts of organization, project management skills, meticulous spreadsheets, and focus on problem solving have helped to pin me down to earth, and to turn creative speculation into real projects.

Earlier in my ministry, I might have felt threatened by the sorts of piercing questions engineers tend to ask. How and when exactly will this get done? What will it cost? What tools do we need? How will we know when it’s finished? I might have rolled my eyes after the meeting, sighing over the joy-killing realism, the lack of room for rushing wind and fiery spirit.

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Vestries: Start Strong in 2015 Are you interested in practical, spiritually grounded resources for your congregation? Consider a free subscription to ECF Vital Practices: A collection of articles, tools, and resources by and for congregational leaders. With a subscription, you’ll receive 12 issues of Vestry Papers as well as the monthly Vital Practices Digest delivered to your inbox.

In this month’s Digest, we’re offering 5 ways to help your newly forming vestry get off to a strong start, with the 5th being a calendar template to assist you in setting up your year round stewardship program.

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Priests should practice PDA.

Before someone files a complaint, let me explain. First, I mean married priests. And second, I mean chaste and sweet PDA. Holding hands at an open house, an arm around the waist or shoulder, a peck on the check or a smooch goodbye. None of the sloppy, get-a-room PDA of frat houses or high school highways. But rather public displays of affection that signal deeply rooted affection and love for the significant other.

Why do I think this is a vital practice?

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Celebrate. Listen. Be inspired. Plan.

Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” Mark 4: 9

We all know Jesus told stories to help people understand deep truths about God, His nature, and His grace and love. Stories are teaching tools. They help us remember the lesson as well as understand it. 

Jesus sometimes ended parables with the phrase, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” It is a prompt that makes me stop and think, “Hmmm… maybe I better analyze this a bit more. Is there more to the story than I first heard?” 

I’ve been working with a church that has defined its mission as, “Sharing Jesus with neighbors.” It is an old church in an historic neighborhood; its membership is aging. I was told that many folks believe the church has lost its ability to gain new attendees. As I began Appreciative Inquiry sessions with members, I heard story after story to the contrary. 

For example, this singular congregation started a summer service in a local park 35 years ago, and it still attracts about 200 people every Sunday! One of the questions I asked was, “What brought you to this church?” In one group of 15 people, five of them first attended a service in the park - one third of just one small sample!

This is a congregation who is committed to sharing God’s Word with neighbors and who has proven capable of attracting new members through this special ministry. Their stories are compelling, but now, how can their ears be attuned to hear?

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Our second seasonal experiment with combined in-person/online faith learning and growth has come to a close (read more about this year’s hybrid faith formation cohort in the earlier posts). Networked learning has taken off in several more congregations, and outside interest in this new ministry model continues to be high.

As I sit with the detailed and thoughtful feedback from our cohort participants, I am struck anew by the power of community to help us overcome our fear of change. One participant wrote what I think several others were thinking: “I would not have had the courage to try my online project without this group.” I know I would not have had the courage to advocate so widely for this new approach without the enthusiasm and support of this talented group of action researchers.

So as I try to put my finger on a couple lessons from this year’s much-improved experience, I’ll try to address them not just to individual leaders—although leaders are crucial for convening hybrid networks—but also to congregations as a whole. Without congregations’ willingness to nurture something new, connected small-group learning will never reach its full potential among their members.

Our learners aren’t students

For years now, churches have been noting that the classroom mentality of Sunday school has been both a blessing and a curse to congregational faith formation. I don’t want to belabor the usual points, but I do want to mention one not often raised: our learners are not students.

If we can help each other do that, we’re bound to find new models, new growth, new life.

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Cinda Lavely, financial resource consultant, tells a story of working with two parishes at the same time and some lessons she learned along the way:

“Working with two churches at the same time to help them find their way to a new form of annual giving campaign in itself isn’t unusual for a consultant. What was striking to me were their very different responses, despite a similar approach.

"Working with each one, it felt as though we were starting from scratch, although these parishes had been around for ages. In each I was struck by the need for inspired members of the parish to work magic on their fellows. “In one church, there was an abundance of deeply faithful, thoughtful parishioners who feel called to live into their support for the church in a visible, vocal, extroverted way. This church successfully transitioned to a mission-oriented budget and vestry, organizing subgroups that allowed the vestry energy to filter down into less active members of the congregation. I continue to be surprised at the complete power each of these live-out-loud lay leaders had over his or her own ministry group. The congregation was involved and engaged.

“The second parish struggled to find its way to a stewardship ngathering. They seemed to suffer from a drought of participation. As a consultant and third party observer, these parishioners seemed more audience-like than involved, and they seemed to despair of reaching their goals.

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I don’t watch E! television nor do I have a subscription to People magazine, but like anyone who’s mildly sensitive to popular culture I’m not immune to the images. And I’ve noticed one pretty consistent thing: whenever you see a shot of a ‘star’ out and about on the street, the celebrity is often holding a cup of coffee or some such coffee drink. Mostly Starbucks, let’s be honest. The white cup, sometimes the cardboard heat protector, the green logo; it’s all part of the image, all part of the brand.

I want to start with these simple cultural observations because this is only superficially a post about the church, and it is not at all about etiquette or proper manners or what is right or wrong to do in church. The title says this is about coffee in church. But let me hasten to add that I’m not saying we should rip out the back few pews and put in a coffee bar (that’d be hokey and silly); nor should we serve coffee in church (although, having said that, we could step up our game and serve better coffee at coffee hour); nor should we be drinking coffee or other drinks in church (I’m completely indifferent to this question anyway and whenever I’m a worshiper I really don’t do it, although I may have walked into the building with the cup I was carrying on my walk over and I’d like to find a garbage can).

What I am saying is that there is a popular culture, today, in which people bring their coffee wherever, whenever. They just do. More to the point, you should expect that if you have a growing church – growing with all kinds of people, including young adults and young families – and your church meets on a Sunday morning, say, you may very well have people who bring their coffee into the worship service. Not hordes of them, not all of them, but at least a few. Also, afterwards, they might not stick around for your “hour of coffee” and please don’t get your feelings hurt because they may only be there to worship God in Christ and, honestly, see my point above about the kind of coffee we’re serving in our parish halls.

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Karaoke isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

I know. It’s hard to imagine that cheering an off-key rendition of Copacabana isn’t how everyone wants to pass the time on Friday nights.

I confess: I love karaoke. I think it’s fun and funny and reminds me of the night when I met my husband (Yes. I was on stage, singing. No, I don’t think that’s what caught his attention). So when we were planning our staff party and wanted to add some joy and mirth to the evening, I suggested karaoke.

Our fearless leader knew nothing of the plan until the evening began. Suffice it to say, he is not a karaoke fan. In fact, I suspect he would rank an evening of karaoke right next to scraping gum off the bottom of movie theater seats.

But an important (and sometimes rare) quality of leaders is that they recognize it’s not all about them. So he sat patiently throughout the evening while different members of the staff sang solos, duets, quartets, and various other configurations.

There were no Grammy winners among the performers. But there was a lot of laughter. Clapping. Picture taking. Folks from different departments paired up to sing old favorites. People shared stories about their lives and music.

All in all, it was a great evening of team bonding.

The leader could have pulled the plug but realized the value of putting aside his own interests (and disinterests). 

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