Elevation

Elevation 1.0

Stage I: Implementing our Vision from “Such Great Heights”

Worship

New Minister of Music arrives after Easter.

A series of meetings—“Refreshing the 9:00”—was recently completed, and a timetable is now being laid out to implement some true liturgical “refreshment” in the 9:00 service over the next few months.  A similar series of open meetings will be held for the 11:15 service after the new Minister of Music arrives.

Recruitment of additional volunteer choir will take place after the arrival of a new Minister of Music.

By the start of the summer worship schedule, the Clergy, in consultation with the Worship Reflection Group, will refine plans for a “refreshed” summer service.

The addition of a fourth service is under consideration.  (See see below under Evangelism/Ministry to our Downtown Neighbors.)

A consistent theme for the year, in preaching and teaching, will be the centrality of worship in the life of the Church.

Welcoming & Incorporation

The Welcoming Committee continues to work with the Clergy to establish a regular process of welcome/incorporation for newcomers; including prompt contact from Rector; the maintenance of a newcomers database; and a regular schedule of newcomers gatherings.

A larger pool of parishioners will be recruited to take part in welcoming and incorporating newcomers, and the Clergy will work to cultivate and empower that ministry.

Nametags will be made available to all parishioners within the next two months; and the Rector will regularly encourage parishioners to wear them.

Our new “Exploring the Faith” series for newcomers will be offered multiple times during the course of the program year.  Led by the Clergy, in an open, conversational format, this series explores basic questions regarding our identity, mission, and ministry.

Building Stronger Connections

The Parish Life Board is being reconstituted. A preliminary meeting has been held, and a full meeting will be held in March. In a word, the purview of the Parish Life Board is belonging and caring. (Any functions formerly included under the heading of “Congregational Development” will now come under Parish Life.)

The Clergy are exploring the establishment of a lay pastoral care ministry program that incorporates and empowers a cadre of parishioners to share in the pastoral ministry of the parish. The program will include training and oversight. The hope is to do the first training in the fall of 2010.

The Clergy are exploring a successor to “Stephen Ministry,” a pastoral care ministry that incorporates and empowers a cadre of parishioners to share in pastoral ministry.  The program will include training and oversight.  The hope is to do the first training in fall 2010.

We will continue to build on “Themed Days” such as Earth Day and Mardi Gras Sunday. Staff is reviewing a list of possible additional offerings.

Starting this summer, we will begin offering parish-wide invitations to take part in a “Parish Read,” where we announce well in advance that a certain book will be discussed on a certain night; and then we invite everyone for coffee and dessert, fellowship and informal discussion.

Small Group Ministry

Building on the success that we have seen in recent months with several small group offerings (Jenny Bliley’s group, and the book group for parents), this spring we will survey the parish to get a better sense of what small group offerings would be the most attractive.

In the meantime, Bryan Appel and Leslie Choplin will offer one or two additional small group offerings as pilot projects.

Also, in the next couple of months, we will publish a brochure listing the small groups already in existence at St. Paul’s, including brief summaries, contact information, and meeting times and places.

Evangelism/Ministry to our Downtown Neighbors

We will establish a “mission team,” specifically dedicated to reaching out to downtown Richmond.  This team will build on the work done by Group D and the Downtown Neighbors Task Force. The team’s chief work for the first year will be building the team; praying; building a sense both of community and mission within the team; and going out into downtown Richmond, primarily east of 9th Street, to meet people and build relationships. 

This mission team will work intimately with the Clergy Missioner (see below), if/when such a position is filled. In due course, the mission team will explore the possibility of establishing a fourth worship service.

The Rector, with the support of the Wardens & Vestry, will explore finding funds to support a full-time clergy position, a “clergy missioner,” to be dedicated entirely to mission in downtown Richmond, primarily east of 9th Street.

With the help of our communications director, continue to maximize exposure through media and the web, and in downtown Richmond, especially around such major events as the Lenten series.

A consistent theme for the year, in preaching and teaching, will be the call to evangelism.

Other

By Skylark, the Rector, in consultation with the Wardens, the Associate Rector, SGH leaders, and others, will lay before the Vestry recommendations regarding the next stages of SGH implementation: Elevation 2.0, Elevation 3.0, etc., including, where appropriate, budgetary forecasts.

The Wardens will establish a sub-committee of the Vestry to review the Vestry Bylaws and to make recommendations to the Vestry, by the end of the program year, for amending and improving Bylaws.

The Clergy & Wardens will tighten up ministry leadership succession planning so that it occurs throughout ministries of the parish and on a regular basis. By the fall, reports from all boards and committees will be gathered laying out succession plans for the coming year.

A Shaping Public Discourse leadership team will be formed by the end of the program year, to carry forward the work done during SGH. The Rector will work with the co-chairs of the SGH Shaping Public Discourse team, and the Faith in Action Board, to establish this new permanent team, which will report to the Faith in Action Board.

In consultation with the Wardens, the Associate Rector, and others, the Rector will draft a report for the Vestry by Skylark to update the Vestry on plans for St. Paul’s Church vis-a-vis the upcoming Sesquicentennial of Emancipation and the Civil War.