Such Great Heights Final Report

Faith in Action

"What does God call us to be?"

"What does God call us to do?"

PRAYER

O heavenly Father;
We thank thee for food and remember the hungry.
We thank thee for health and remember the sick.
We thank thee for friends and remember the friendless.
We thank thee for freedom and remember the enslaved.
May these remembrances stir us to service
That thy gifts to us may be used for others.

Amen.

INTRODUCTION

The Faith in Action topic of the Such Great Heights ("SGH") movement is coordinated by Karl Cureton and Philip Brooks. Others active in the discussions are members of the Faith in Action ("FIA") Board (formerly the Outreach Ministry Board) and its committees including Micah, Emmaus, Global Missions, and Green Initiatives. Our vestry representative is Philip Brooks.

In conjunction with SGH, the FIA Board has continued to meet monthly to address God's call in this area of the life of St. Paul's. The FIA Board has been in a discernment and strategic planning process for almost two years. We have also received input and suggestions from plogs in the gathering space, from conversations with parishioners, from surveys of both our parish members and others from the broader downtown community, from internal memos on relevant subjects, and other sources.

WHAT DOES GOD CALL US TO BE?

With the re-christening of Outreach as Faith in Action, we continue to believe God is calling us to be a loving presence within and without the walls of St. Paul's. In all of our actions, we should ask ourselves, "What would Jesus Do?"

SGH looks to define better our parish community's understanding of ‘Faith in Action.' St. Paul's is often said to be a church that does ‘Faith in Action' well. One of the first elements we often share with others about our parish life is the service work we help to provide and facilitate in the Richmond and global communities (Emmaus, Micah, Carpenter's Kids, etc.) and less about what we do for each other.

Whatever definitions we make, our core value as Faith in Action remains tied to our tried and true moniker:

"Proclaiming Christ in the Heart of the City"

WHAT DOES GOD CALL US TO DO?

As instructed by the Vestry, this report attempts to give the Parish an honest assessment of the Church's strengths and challenges. It is meant to provoke thought and list challenges and opportunities as we see them and make some recommendations.

As part of SGH, we had a Sunday forum session with the parish. As a thought exercise, we explored our collective understanding and perception of FIA at St. Paul's - Past and Future. We asked those present to make a list of phrases of how FIA at St. Paul's looked 100 years ago, 50 years ago, 25 years ago, and 10 years ago. Then we leapt to the future by asking what St. Paul's will look like in 10 years. We were not too concerned about historical accuracy or fortune telling because as a community our perceptions of what has been and what will be are in some ways more important than what actually was or will be. By searching our understanding and perceptions of trends and patterns in our church community's history, we better understand why we are so and what we are moving towards.

From this exercise and the continuing studies of the FIA Board, two broad themes have been called out for attention.

Diversity

Diversity was mentioned in one way or another in every era surveyed during our exercise. In the earlier time periods (1909, 1959) it was a sense of how ‘un-diverse' was the congregation at St. Paul's. In the later time periods (1984, 1999, 2019), there was a growing sense that St. Paul's is moving in the direction of being a more diverse parish.

We feel it is important to explore what a diverse parish actually looks like and how a parish becomes diverse. To many, St. Paul's is more diverse now than it was 150 years ago; but, are we a uniquely ‘diverse' parish? A review of historical records from 150 years ago would likely show there was a much larger number of congregants of African descent than now, albeit under enormously different circumstances. A look at attendance in the 1920s would likely reveal a significant number of recent immigrants in the congregation, particularly Armenians. In the 1950s, the church was teaming with suburban families and professionals who wanted to belong to the "establishment" church. Today, compared to other protestant religious denominations, there are probably very few Episcopal churches in the U.S. that could actually be called ‘diverse.' Are we?

The issue of diversity is of vital importance. More young people are multi-racial, with parents from different racial groups. More people are expressing their natural sexuality by living openly, honestly, and in community with everyone. Gender does not separate us anymore with one being subservient to another.

There is little doubt that all people are welcome at St. Paul's regardless of cultural heritage, race, gender, and various orientations; however, our parish family is quite heavy on those of European descent and our worship style and over all program has something of an old-Europe feeling.

It is important for an organization to be diverse in order to become diverse. Because the country is moving in the direction of greater cultural diversity, we too must begin moving in the direction of having many cultural influences in our worship and faith programs. People are going to be looking towards community centers/churches/organizations that are multi-cultural. The more diverse we are in our styles and traditions, the more we will be able to truly welcome families of all cultures and orientations.

Downtown Identity

Our downtown identity is very important to us. Our physical location is mentioned in one way or another in every era surveyed. We can feel our pride in the statements that point out that we ‘made the choice to stay downtown.'

There is an important lesson to take away from this pride of being a downtown parish and from this very important aspect of our history (deciding to stay in downtown when other churches were fleeing). It could be the time has come to fully embrace our downtown identity, while maintaining our current ministry programs and worship. We MUST maintain our current program mindset (for families, retirees, suburban residents) which is fully in place and successful, while we also are implementing new programs and worship specifically geared to downtown residents and workers (if this is the age, demographic group we seek).

It is essential to understand that attracting downtown residents and workers means creating a new model that will sustain a presence of downtown residents and workers while maintaining the model that we currently have. It is important to take into account that ‘communicating' to these downtown residents is NOT the crux of the issue (at least at this point) as we are not providing many programs and worship services that are aimed towards their desires and needs.

It is also important to realize that ‘boots on the ground' is going to be the most important form of evangelism to the people of downtown. A passive approach will not be successful. It is time to realize that fewer people are born into the Episcopal Church. The model of getting people to come to our church is outdated. We must go out into the bars, the coffee shops, the bookstores, the restaurants, and engage with people. We must build partnerships with businesses in downtown. Hold Bible studies and education meetings over coffee and beer. We have to be out in the community to actually be a part of it!

People are hungry for spiritual engagement, journey, relationships, and God. With refinement, we have a place that offers such opportunities.

Faith in Action- The Next Step

A celebrated St. Paul's story is the intentional, systemic evaluation and implementation of the Micah program. Clearly, the success of the Micah program is a sign that we should continue to have a similar approach to our FIA ministries. This would not only help our ministries become more organized but we would also be able to accomplish more. The plans should not be so inflexible that we can not respond to immediate needs, but fixed enough that we understand to what we are working towards.

A next step we could take, in a Big Picture sort of way, would be to begin coordinating our FIA ministries with the other Episcopal churches in Richmond. To take a look at what our collective ministries are doing, where we are duplicating efforts, where we are dropping the ball, where we could combine efforts, where we differ philosophically in regards to what ‘Outreach' should look like, and where we agree.

We live in an odd time of greater centralization of organizations/government with a higher level of individual autonomy/choice. The trick is for us to find a way to take advantage of this centralization (and the fact that the Episcopal Church is set up as a community of parishes) while maintaining our individuality as a parish and providing opportunities for people to have a unique interactions of their faith through service on an individual level.

Specific Challenges, Recommendations, and Considerations

• What is the next logical step for Micah?
• Where are we headed with global missions? Do we have a one-year plan, a five-year plan? Etc. 
• The Emmaus program is a source of great pride in our parish. Not only is it a way to minister to those who are hungry, but it is also an opportunity to minister to those who are looking for ways to serve others. What more can we do - mental health, physical health?

From the Plogs

• More international efforts
• More of us traveling vs. monetary supports
• More done through technology, especially communications
• Forward thinking people working to address problems
• Satellite locations - say in the Bottom or Manchester - Scott's Addition
• Bus service to/from downtown residential areas
• Minister to both older parishioners and younger/single parishioners
• Continue to think outside of Sunday
• Continue to unify community
• Gay & Lesbian outreach
• Latino outreach
• Young people outreach
• Transient outreach
• Faith in Action- doing what feeds faith
• Not about hour on Sunday
• FIA non-denominational 
• Lenten Lunches- different form
• More community building services like Hope in the Cities
• Greater commitment to M-F
• Downtown base-camp
• Metro church
• Retirement communities
• Young/Married w/o children
• Creative worship
• Eco friendly
• Boy Scouts growth
• General Assembly interaction
• Stephen Ministers
• Connect Worship w/Community
• Lenten Dinners instead of lunches to accommodate residential downtown
• Expand Micah summer camps city-wide
• Veterans outreach
• Evening programs
• More volunteers from Parish
• Coffee house
• Faith at work series
• Help St. Paul's College, the only Episcopal college in Virginia