Loading...Since his arrival, Bishop George Young has followed the practice of an annual mutual ministry review with the Standing Committee, an activity which is also required of all our parishes. In the past, this process has involved only the Bishop and the Standing Committee. This year we wanted to do something different. Checking around the wider church for models, we found no other diocese that was approaching the assessment of mutual ministry on the Diocesan level. So the Standing Committee decided to develop a new process which would allow them to get input from as wide a range as possible within the diocese.
The Standing Committee invited leaders of ministry groups within the diocese to spend some time with their groups reflecting on a series of questions. The groups invited were: the Standing Committee, itself; the Commission on Ministry, the three clericus groups (gatherings of priests in the three regions of the diocese); the ECW, Union of Black Episcopalians, Integrity, the Diocesan Youth Council, the Anti-racism Commission, the Grace Point Board, the Chancellors of the diocese, the Young Adult Task Force, Diocesan staff, the Finance Committee and the members of the General Convention deputation.
The questions they were asked were as follows:
- What was the highlight of our ministry this year – with one another and in East Tennessee?
- How did we live out (put into action) our mission this past year?
- Describe the quality of our Diocesan community life this past year.
- What have we learned this year?
- How have we grown?
- Describe the one most important factor that gives “life” to the diocese.
- What would you like to let go?
- Where is God leading the Diocese of East Tennessee right now?
Representatives of these groups came together on Saturday, May 10th to share the responses of their groups. The purpose of this meeting was to listen to the input from around the diocese and come to a general consensus on how we’re doing – identifying areas of success and growing edges, as well. The Rev. Steve Sexton, the head of the chaplaincy program at University Hospitals, was our facilitator.
Although not all of the group representatives could make the meeting, we also collected their responses electronically and shared this input as well.
After a full day of listening and talking together, the following conclusions and action steps were developed:
“Our first work is to get to know each other better and more deeply, in order to be able to work stronger together.”
In general, the consensus from this process was that the diocese – by which we mean not the Diocesan House, but the entire Body of Christ in East Tennessee, is doing well. There were no major issues of concern or conflict to be addressed. However, people felt that we had all spent enough time talking about how the Church is dying, is challenged and in trouble. For the future, our focus needs to be about how we can move ahead, together – faithfully, creatively and successfully – with the emphasis on together.
We decided to ask our Bishop and Council group to take ownership of what happens next in this process. Several members of that group have volunteered to take that work on, and will be inviting others to join in a task group to see that the four action steps, below, are addressed.
Action steps:
- Complete an analysis of our strengths – parish by parish, sharing stories of successes, assets, noting weaknesses, but not focusing on them
- Take a look at “The Diocese” (that is, all of us) from different and measurable standpoints – e.g., financial solvency, clergy satisfaction, congregational satisfaction, membership, mission, Christian formation, etc. Share that information as broadly as we can, so that everyone has a clear picture of the actual state of things in our diocese. Opportunities for improvements, for new initiatives and remedial actions will become apparent in this process of information gathering and the sharing of success stories.
- Identify resources that can be shared between and among congregations to meet the needs and opportunities identified (above).
- Determine how to better communicate, more effectively and efficiently, listening to those who read and enjoyed print materials, as well as those who prefer electronic means.The consensus of the group was to make this an initiative for the whole diocese for one year and evaluate, plan further, based on the learnings and experiences of that year.
In general, this process went very well. No doubt we would tweak it a bit if we did this process again. But perhaps the most beneficial part of the MMR process was that it got groups of people around the diocese talking about our life together and wondering about God’s dreams for East Tennessee – something we don’t often take the time or space to do!
