Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

While most congregations elect vestry members in the new year, it’s not too early to be thinking about who will serve next. And not just thinking, but praying and discerning.     

I remember one annual meeting, midway through the agenda, when it was time to elect wardens. My heart sank upon realizing the floor was open for nominations – with no candidate. How could it be possible, I wondered, that parish leaders hadn’t identified anyone in advance for this essential leadership position? Perplexed and nervous, I couldn’t believe we were going to make this decision on the fly.

One upside of that situation: the long-term senior warden was stepping down. At least the clergy and vestry had taken steps to return to best practices of term limits and rotation.

Thankfully, the other upside: we elected a fantastic new senior warden. All credit goes to the Holy Spirit. During a few moments of (panicked) silence, a respected member of the congregation nominated, from the floor, a woman who was somewhat new but very engaged in congregational life. A discussion of real discernment ensued among everyone gathered. Did she know the responsibilities of the position? Would she have the time to serve well in this role? Did she have experience that would be relevant to the responsibilities?

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What’s your dream?

I spent the past 2 ½ days dreaming with the board of Forward Movement, an organization dedicated to reinvigorating the church. We did board things like approve the financial report and talk about policies, but we also spent a good chunk of this meeting imagining how the 76-year-old agency might serve the Church.

Under the helm of the new executive director, the Rev. Scott Gunn, the organization is exploring new ways of helping form disciples, from its bread-and-butter business of daily devotionals and tracts to multi-media content and creative partnerships in and beyond the church. Being invited to brainstorm – in a safe place where no answer is wrong and no suggestion undoable – unleashed innovative ideas and boundless enthusiasm. While many of our dreams may never reach fruition (an Episcopal-like Words for Friends game, anyone?), some of these ideas will come to life. And, through the Holy Spirit, perhaps they’ll play a role in transforming the church – and people’s lives.

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“Negotiating limited resources creates community,” says Don Bisson, a Marist brother and widely respected leader on the interrelationship of spirituality and psychology.

When I heard this claim last week from Sr. Carol Bernice, reporting on a workshop Brother Bisson led for Episcopal religious orders, it really struck a chord. I’ve pondered it all week. Then I read Richelle Thompson’s blog post here yesterday, about building community at camp, and realized some of the same elements are at play.

Negotiating limited resources creates community.

Richelle paints a great picture of how campers share limited resources, helping each other out when supplies run low or kids creating fun and games out of the natural materials at hand.

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A domain name is pretty much like a tattoo. Once you get one, you better plan on keeping it for life. 

Otherwise, prepare yourself for some pain.

I speak from experience. Several years ago, I received an email asking why the diocesan youth website was promoting adult-oriented, online dating.

I didn’t know until then that the youth minister had decided to launch a new site with a new url. He decided not to renew the old address and planned to promote the new one in all of the materials. 

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The list of expenses was long.

Over the past year, this Appalachian church installed a new boiler system, purchased an industrial stove and oven, and dug up half the parking lot to repair the water and sewer pipes. Bids are out for a new roof, and the organ builders are nearly finished with a major overhaul.

These weren’t budgeted items.

But as the junior warden recounted the spending, he didn’t bemoan the financial implications. But rather, he shared about being blessed. Each time, the projects came in at a lower price than expected. Sure, the church had to dig into savings, but it could have been worse.

Next on the agenda: discussion of a bequest.

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Our congregational life is a common life, complete with the joys and challenges that come from being in relationship. As congregational leaders, our role involves managing the sometimes ‘sticky wickets’ of relationship that hamper our work of building the beloved community.

The May/June issue of Vestry Papers explores the theme Caring for Each Other. We share resources and articles offering ways to model mutual respect and care with congregational leaders (lay and ordained, volunteer and paid) and the community as a whole.

Here’s what you’ll find in this issue of Vestry Papers:

Email and social media have changed how many of us communicate with each other. In “Tone Matters,” Scott Gunn looks at how the casual nature of this media can create opportunities for hurt feelings and offers steps you can take to minimize misunderstandings and create an environment of truthfulness and love. The regular flow of congregational life often includes people impacted by addiction and codependency. “So You Think You Don’t Know One” by Chilton Knudsen offers a look at the impact these issues can have on a congregation, identifying patterns and symptoms to look for as well as a call to mindfulness that can open the way to healing and a renewal of congregational health.  There’s a correlation between highly functioning, fruitful vestries and a culture of respect, caring, and transparency. In “No More Parking Lot Conversations,” Nancy Davidge and Mary MacGregor explore ways congregational leaders can encourage a culture of mutual respect. Caring for each other includes treating people fairly. When it comes to our church employees, both clergy and lay, our commitment to being ‘fair’ often runs up against budget realities. “Valuing Lay Employees” introduces readers to the church-wide lay employee pension system mandated at the 2009 General Convention and the resources developed by the Church Pension Group to help congregations and church institutions discern how best to implement this benefit.

Recent Vital Posts blogs also offer resources related to this theme. What Miguel Escobar’s “Google and the Human Touch,” Peter Strimer’s “Who’s New and Who’s Missing,” and Richelle Thompson’s “Care and Feeding of Priests” have in common is a call to take one extra step in recognition of our relationship with each another. And, on June 1, we’ll post four new Vestry Papers articles on this theme.

Building healthier relationships in congregations is the theme of our VP Talk with retired bishop Chilton Knudsen on Thursday, May 19 at 7:00 pm ET. Using case studies from her book So You Think You Don’t Know One? Addiction and Recovery in Clergy and Congregations, Chilton will explore the theological dimensions and symptoms of addiction and codependency and offer strategies for congregational healing.

As always, I invite you to share your “Caring for Each Other” resources in the Your Turn section, by participating in VP Talks, and/or posting comments related to our articles, blog posts, or other content.

Working on this issue, I’ve developed a heightened awareness of the ways I interact with others and the intentional and unintentional messages I send with every action and communication. I invite you to join me in this intentional mindfulness.

Faithfully,

Nancy Davidge
Editor, ECF Vital Practices

PS: I invite you to join us on Thursday, May 26 at 1:00 pm ET, for a VP Talk, “Creating a Sustainable Community,” with Tracey Lind, dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Cleveland and Richard Horton, chair of Trinity’s Green Team. They’ll share how the Cathedral is using sustainability as a tool for evangelism and church growth as well as an economic engine for the rebuilding of a city and region, and the faith community’s role in that rebuilding.

So far this week: eight meetings in three days. Whether I like it or not, meetings form the backbone of my day, vertebrae linking ideas, people, and action. Yet one-third of all meetings are considered unnecessary by the people who attend them.

I’ve been running meetings since leading student council in high school. In college I became well trained in the art of crafting agendas; the student organization I belonged to was incredibly organized and effective. We jokingly earned a reputation as the group that had pre-meetings to plan meetings to plan meetings! I admit it was a bit much at times, but also a fantastic learning laboratory of how to engage people around ideas and action.

But when you’ve run as many meetings as I have, it’s easy to fall into the old adage that “I could do it in my sleep.” In the midst of busy life it’s common to email a hurried agenda, just think about the topic while walking two blocks to the office, or print key documents on my way to the conference room.

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Last Saturday I went to a birthday party for a friend. After the food, socializing, and a round of charades, a young adult taught us improv comedy games. Most of us had never done improv before, but Patrick guided us in a firm and fun-loving manner, encouraging our play and creativity.

One of the games centered on telling a fairy tale. Three people sat in front of the group on chairs. One would begin telling the familiar story. When Patrick gave the signal, that person stopped talking – often mid thought – and the person he pointed to next would have to pick up in the exact place to continue the story. If someone paused too long, sputtered over their words, or didn’t pick up in the flow of words or emotion, Patrick would signal their death. “Die well!” he instructed, urging us to send forth a gasp and collapse to the floor so another party guest could take the seat. The newcomer was then on the hot seat to pick up the tale where others had left it hanging.

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I have the privilege of working with congregations and their leaders as a bishop’s staff member involved in congregational development. One of the persistent behaviors I witness among vestry members is their reluctance to speak up about lingering concerns in the course of their meetings. 
I am sure there are many reasons for this reluctance including not wanting to rock the boat or appear disrespectful. Whatever the reservation, this silence forces issues to go underground only to surface in parking lot conversations. Yes, people literally lingering after meetings beside their cars to air feelings about what did or didn’t happen in the vestry meeting. A modern day alternative might be to send a quick text message or email to a like-minded person who was also present to air concerns or judgments about what was or wasn’t done. This might be automatic behavior that is not conscious of the impact it has on group process. 

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Jesus said to us “be not afraid” and yet we are afraid. We, in religious communities, are afraid that we will run out of money, run out of people, run out of energy. If our focus was on formation, not on maintaining the status quo, I believe we would be less afraid.

What would be different now if our vestries had led us in an exploration of the needs of the local community? What would we have learned if we had our time meeting, loving, welcoming, and addressing the needs of our neighbors?

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My diocese is not known to have many money problems.   

But when a committee started drafting the 2011 budget, they realized we were facing a shortfall. Like every church organization, we’ve tightened our belts, frozen salaries, and made tough decisions. Still revenue is down in many congregations, which means mission share – the portion each congregation contributes as part of the diocese – also is down.

The budget committee could have...

Click here for the English version of this blog post.

¿Intenta su junta parroquial hacer todo a la vez en reuniones mensuales en las que todo lo que enfrenta la iglesia se saca a relucir y discute? ¿Se improvisan casi todas las ideas? ¿O se presentan como comentarios considerados respaldados por buena información? Una buena manera de evitar las reuniones maratón en las que nadie recuerda exactamente qué se logró es enviar el trabajo de la junta parroquial a comités productivos.

Uno de los principales beneficios de un modelo de esa índole es que en él pueden participar muchos más feligreses en la toma de decisiones que sólo los 9 ó 12 miembros elegidos de la junta parroquial.

En St. Andrew’s lo hacemos de la siguiente manera: primero, dejamos claro que el rector y sólo el rector supervisa y lidera el personal. A ningún miembro del personal le gusta que un miembro de la junta parroquial esté mirando por encima de su hombro, si bien aman y aprecian a sus compañeros laicos en el ministerio.

Después determinamos el trabajo principal del que era responsable la junta parroquial y creamos siete comités permanentes para que se dirigieran a ese trabajo. Ahora tenemos grupos de Finanzas, Mayordomía, Edificios y Terreno, Personal, Comunicaciones, Tecnología y Planificación que procesan casi todo el trabajo considerable que se nos presenta. Todos ellos tienen un enlace con la junta parroquial pero todos incluyen un número de otros feligreses que ensanchan el círculo de participación.

Las reuniones de la junta parroquial consisten de informes de esos grupos y de una sección llamada Artículos de Acción en los que los comités pueden presentar proyectos que desean impulsar y obtener autorización para ello. Con tanta diversidad de comités, las personas pueden participar en aspectos que realmente les interesan y en los que tienen experiencia. La regla en las reuniones de la junta parroquial es cinco minutos para informar y más tiempo si hay que tomar una decisión.

Los miembros de los comités se nombran por un plazo de un año después de la reunión anual en una carta firmada por el rector y el coadjutor principal. Después todos están invitados a una fiesta de fin de año en diciembre, en la casa del rector, en la que junto con el personal celebramos el trabajo que realizamos. Hicimos mucho de esta manera sin que las reuniones de la junta parroquial se convirtieran en combates de lucha libre en las que el resultado habitual era “Sin decisión”. Además, siempre hay una fiesta que esperar a fin de año.

Haga clic aquí para leer una traducción al español de este artículo.

Does your vestry try to do it all in monthly slugfests where every issue the church faces is pulled out on the carpet and discussed? Does most of the thinking come off the top of the head? Or does it come in considered comments informed by good information? One big way to avoid the marathon meeting where no one remembers exactly what got accomplished is to send the work of the vestry back to productive committees.

A major benefit of such a model is

Do you believe the Episcopal Church's system of governance helps or hinders your congregation's ability to carry out God's Mission? During her remarks at the Executive Council's first plenary session, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori challenged the Executive Council to avoid "committing suicide by governance."

Read the ENS story here.

What do you think? How does your vestry manage the balance between a mission focus and managing the internal aspects of running a congregation?