Saint Benedict Episcopal Church

I recently read an article about Moses’ Management style. It wasn’t a Christian publication but a secular reading of what was valuable about Moses leadership style and how corporate CEO’s could learn a thing or two from good old Moses. The author related that Moses was the picture of a leader in the midst of change, taking his people from Egypt, enduring their quips in the wilderness and taking his time arriving at the Promised Land which he could not or did not enter. It was an interesting perspective.

Perhaps we are like those Israelites that found themselves in the wilderness. We have left Egypt, according to the writer of this article, Egypt represents the old ways of doing things, the ways that, for better or for worse, we did things. I was amazed when the author declared that there is always a cry that goes up from the people after leaving Egypt: “But we’ve always done things that way!” And here I thought that was just something that happened in Church! Perhaps it is human nature.

So here we are in the wilderness wandering… (Hopefully the Egyptians are not breathing down our neck) so now what?

In early April, the Bishop’s Committee with the help of our Bishop, Greg Rickel met for an afternoon of reflection and a time to think about the upcoming year and ways that we can begin to live into our new strategic plan. It is an ambitious plan in its full detail with lots of different goals for the variety of ministries that we do in our church. The reality is, of course, like the Israelites wandering in the Dessert, we can’t just get to the destination or goal without first taking several steps.  We will have to wander some before reaching our destination. So, what steps will we take in 2008-2009?

Pastoral Care was one of the first initiatives mentioned in our plan.  I, as your Vicar can not do the work of Pastoral Care all by myself nor would I want to. The first step toward creating a better Pastoral Care program is inviting people to join us in giving Pastoral Care to people. Pastoral Care isn’t just visiting people who are dying. Pastoral Care includes bringing communion to people who are sick, visiting or phoning folks who are shut in, and can’t make it to church, praying with people. Our goal for this year is to develop a network of people doing Pastoral Care and to meet on a quarterly basis for check in, reflection and conversation about the ministry of Pastoral Care. Our small team of four clergy and two lay people would love to see more people joining us to help visit or even call people on the phone for checking in and visits and prayers. Our Pastoral Care team met for the first time this February and have begun to organize people to visit those that are in need of  a visitor or even a phone call. Our other goal for this year is to find a lay-person willing to help me organize Pastoral Care. Someone to simply manage the details and coordinate meetings and help keep us going. This is the first step toward the Promised Land of putting into action what we already know about St Benedict as a community: we are warm and loving and prayerful and visit those who are in illness. 

Worship is the centerpiece of our life together. Nothing is more important than the time we spend together as a community praising God. There are many details that go into Worship planning and leadership. In 2007, we unplugged our Worship Committee and tried a different model of  planning. We had a Holy Week Planning team in 2007 that did an absolutely wonderful job of planning all the details of the Triduum (the great three days: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday & Holy Saturday Easter Vigil). In 2007, I also began to hold liturgical ministry trainings fellowship times. The Eucharistic Ministers and Lectors gathered for fellowship Bible Study and dinner on a bi-annual basis. The Ushers and Greeters gathered once in 2007. More of that kind of time is needed. However, more people participating in the leadership of Worship is also needed. Some redevelopment and careful thinking and prayer need to happen in order to renew our liturgical leaders and begin organizing this ministry. With a new musician on the way (God willing) we will also see some changes in leadership and music as well. Our goal for 2008 is to renew the liturgical leadership and planning of this place or at least begin that process. A Bishop Committee liaison is assigned to help us do this work of planning and renewal.    

Integration of Newcomers is another area that will be focused on in 2008. Have you noticed the many new faces around St Benedict? There’s not a doubt in my mind: we are a welcoming community! We have a great deal to offer folks. The hardship, I think is inviting people from the status of  newcomer into membership then into leadership and finally discipleship. That is our work as the church. The question is how we do integrate people into our life in the church? If we do not do this work together, then all the lovely newcomers that walk through our door will walk back out again and find another place where they will be invited on that journey into a deeper and deeper relationship with God and the church. So, how to do this? Our goal this year is to once again hold a fellowship time and meeting for Greeters and Ushers, but we can’t stop there. We also will be recruiting a person in our parish to help us organize integration of those newcomers into our life. Our goal is to begin thinking about integrating newcomers into our life as a church and how we can be welcoming and inviting not just the first time but on into the future. There are many ways that we can this work and while it may sound like an onerous task, I know we can do this!

Buildings & Grounds: Did you know that last year, our Bishop’s Committee Members, Mary Moore & Gary Grewell worked tirelessly to organize and plan out the maintenance cycle of our building and to compile a list of what to do when something needs repair? Have you noticed at the sign up area in our hallway, there are now forms for maintenance repairs needed? These two folks did a tremendous amount of work last year. This year, the two of them will head up a Building Commission. The Building Commission will be meeting together as a team to look at the options of what we need to do for our buildings and grounds for expansion and/or remodeling. They will be meeting with the congregation as a whole and then presenting recommendations to the Bishop’s Committee by sometime in 2009. Our Goal is to discern the best physical plant needed for our mission as a church in the South Puget area.