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St. John's 2019
130 years in ministry
10 years in Aptos
Where is God calling us now?
Dear St. John's,
This upcoming program year (Fall 2018-Spring 2019) is a particularly significant one for our parish. 2019 will mark the 130th anniversary of St. John's founding, and the 10th anniversary of our move from Capitola to Aptos.
This anniversary year, coupled with the fact that we are still in a time of transition into a new pastorate, makes this a particularly appropriate time to step back, remember and celebrate our past, and begin to dream and discern about our future as a congregation.
Over the past year, I have heard numerous people express a desire for more clarity around our mission and purpose as a congregation. These concerns have risen to the fore most recently during the decision to acquire the new organ and the questions about the Helpful Shop's future.
Inevitably, in discussing such big-picture questions, someone will ask, "How does this serve our mission? How does this align with God's call for us right now?" And no one really ever has a solid answer to that question.
Of course, we all know that we are called to love God and love neighbor, to share the Good News of Christ with the world, and, as the prayer book says, "to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ" (BCP 855). But how, specifically, is God calling us to do these things at this time, in this place, with these people who make up the community of St. John's? That's the part we're less clear about.
To address this uncertainty, after conversations with the vestry, the worship committee, and several adult formation groups, I am inviting you into a "Year of Discernment" for our parish, a time of intentional community-building, prayer, reflection and listening for where God might be calling us now.
The centerpiece of this Year of Discernment will be a parish-wide program called "Faith Leader," which will meet on Sundays between the services. To allow us enough time to fully engage with the material, we will be changing the time of the second service from 10:00 to 10:30, and the Faith Leader program will meet from 9:15-10:15 a.m. in the church.
The Faith Leader program was originally developed for small groups of 8-12 people and the end result of the program is each person developing a "Personal Plan for Ministry." For our purposes, I will be modifying the curriculum for use with the whole congregation in one large group, with the end result being our development of a "Congregational Plan for Ministry."
The Sunday morning class will run from September 9 through the end of February. It will culminate in our Lenten series in 2019 (Wednesday nights, March 13 - April 10) being devoted to the "fleshing out" of our Congregational Plan for Ministry, so that by Easter, new life will be emerging from us as a congregation.
I facilitated the Faith Leader program for three different small groups while serving St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Franklin, TN, and I am excited to adapt it for parish-wide use. The program will help us to examine our spiritual gifts, both as individuals and as a parish, and to consider how God is calling us to use those gifts in the world.
The best part about this program is that it is not a workshop. It's not a "strategic planning session." It's a class that builds community and fellowship among its participants -- which in this case will be our entire parish! Although some of these ideas about spiritual gifts and calling will not be new to many of you, going through this material together as a community will create value that you likely will never have experienced in smaller groups or one-time workshop sessions on this material.
So I invite you to commit to be with us on Sunday mornings from 9:15-10:15 this fall and winter. It will be a unique opportunity for people who normally worship at different services, serve in different ways and attend different small groups to come together as one body and listen for God's call to us as a community.
To kick off the program, we will have ONE SERVICE at 9:15 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 9, the Sunday after Labor Day, followed by a workshop after the service with Joanna Shreve, who was St. John's diocesan consultant during the rector search. She'll inspire us and set us on our path as we embark on this ambitious, congregation-wide program -- a first in this diocese!
It might seem like a lot to ask of your time, to spend an extra hour at church every Sunday between now and Lent, plus a weekly evening program during Lent, but please know that we need ALL OF US present to truly and honestly discern what God is calling this parish to do. No small group of 10 or 12 people can presume to do that for the entire parish. You hold a significant and crucial piece of the puzzle, and if you're not with us, there will be holes in the picture we create.
I look forward to seeing you all on September 9 and embarking on this journey together!
Many blessings,
The Reverend Tracy J. Wells Miller
Rector
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