Plan a compass to guide us toward our vision
by Bishop Claude Miller
In early May the Diocesan Council, the Diocesan Parish Support and Development Team, the territorial archdeacons and the regional deans co-operated in a huge effort to present themost recent draft of our Shared Ministry Plan at Archdeaconry Greater Chapter meetings throughout the diocese. I sincerely appreciate their hard work and commitment to this important initiative in our diocese.
Our Shared Ministry Plan is a distillation of the combined wisdom expressed by our clergyand lay at synods, council meetings and archdeaconrymeetings over the past six years. It is a reflection of ourunderstandings of where our diocese is today, and where we hope to see it in the future.
We long ago recognized that we needed a vision for our diocese –– a point of focus for our efforts and our prayers. With the information gathered from meetings over the years before us, we articulated that vision –– to be a diocese of healthy, mission-focused, welcoming and growing parishes. We prepared to analyze our present situation in relation to our vision, then devise a plan of action that would lead us to it. We weren’t naive enough to believe we could create a road map to takeus directly to our destination, real life isn’t like that. We did pray, however, we could create a tool that would act as a compass and keep us moving in the right direction.
We prayed for guidance to accomplish this monumental task. They were abundantlyanswered.
Our sincere efforts to meet the challenges of a rural diocese in a post-modern and increasingly urban world qualified us to participate in a National Church pilot project in partnership with Letting Down the Nets. All the skill and expertise we needed to flesh out a plan to guide us to our vision were funded and delivered in the person of Suzanne Lawson, an expert consultant as well as acommitted Christian fromToronto.
The latest draft of our Shared Ministry Plan emerged in several day-long meetings of Diocesan Council which she facilitated. I enthusiastically endorse it as a renewed vision for our diocese and understand that whatever draft or other stage it is in, it will always be a “work in progress.”
Any vision is a journey and ours is through some uncharted territory. We must be prepared for anything. Wemay be sent on detours. Wemay be shown shortcuts. Through it all, we will sustain our vision.
Detours, shortcuts and all manner of perceived failures and successes on our journey are all opportunities –– gifts to help us make progress. Perception is vital to a vision. We often blame the vision when some of our efforts fail, but we shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves. Nobody gets it right every time. Some of our perceived successes maypresent challenges of their own –– even a growing church, with its demands for nourishment, can cloud our vision.
Failure, success and the pressures of every day life andministry can all limit our ability to realize our vision if we don’t have a reliable compass. I believe we have that compass.
Our Shared Ministry plan has sharing at the heart. We are all on this journey together. We don’t leave stragglers by the wayside, we carry them with us. In order to do that parishes may need to share priests, lay people may need to assume some pastoral care and administration duties, and we may even have to share worship with Christians of other denominations. We will do what it takes to become a diocese of healthy, mission-focused, welcoming and growing parishes in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and always to God’s glory.
Claude Miller is Bishop of the Diocese of Fredericton