Where my parish is now
Well, up front I should say that I am not a member of an Anglican congregation. I am part of a Lutheran congregation. I am part of Resurrection Lutheran Church in Orleans Ontario.
My congregation had a bit of a relationship with the closest Anglican Parish (St. Helen’s, Orleans) but that relationship has withered in the 7+ years I have been part of my congregation. We used to worship together every Ash Wednesday. But for our partners that service became their confirmation date which made mutual ministry unworkable. But this was not the basic problem with the relationship between the two parishes.
The main problem was that the relationship was between our called leaders, not the general membership. We didn’t own the relationship so when there was a pastoral change the relationship withered.
Where I want my parish to be in 2019
In 2019, I want to be part of a faith community which cares more about ministry in this context than worship in any particular tradition.
I imagine that my congregation, the local Anglican parish and the nearest United Church might merge into one faith community celebrating in three worship traditions. I imagine that we might sell our current buildings and build one new facility together. I imagine we would call 3 rostered leaders with complementary gifts. Ideally one from each tradition but typically one strong in counseling, one in family ministry and another in evangelism.
I imagine that we would have 3 worship services on a Sunday.
A 8 am “old-fashioned” chapel services (heavy on the word, short on music, with a focus on older hymns)
A 9 am “family” service which is kid friendly (fewer readings, modern text, shorter, faster songs)
A 11 am service which is the “full” deal (a mix of music and the choir, a full service and multiple readings)
I imagine that we would keep the type of service steady but change which faith family leader was responsible for each service time on a monthly rotation. So some members might chose to follow one pastoral leader or tradition by changing when they worship. Others might chose to be loyal to one service time and learn to appreciate all three faith traditions.
I imagine that we might re-purpose our current buildings. The Anglican building might be expanded to accommodate a short term stay hospice and day away program to support those caring for family members with long term care needs like Alzheimer’s. The Lutheran building might be expanded into a satellite rehabilitation centre so that outpatients do not have to travel back to the hospital for their exercise program and mini-treatments. The United Church building could be renovated into a Active Seniors centre which promotes, enhance and support the well-being, independence and zest for living of both seniors and of adults with physical disabilities (see http://www.thegoodcompanions.ca for an existing program in downtown Ottawa).
I would like to see us located in the proposed future business park in the centre of this suburb. I imagine that we would give the city the long term right to use the church parking lot as overflow parking for the nearby transit hub station in return for a low cost for the land. We would also commit to maintain public green space around the building site. Here is the Google Map of the location:
I want the faith community site to become a hub of helping organizations in this community. So I want people to come to the site for a variety of reasons other than worship (at first) and then grow into a faith relationship with us.
So in 2019, I want to see an annual report that reads something like this:
Well, it has been a busy year here at Signs of Hope.
The Signs of Hope foundation has continued to develop the main building. The new computer lab is now up and running. It is appreciated by the ESL classes and youth employment bureau during the mornings / evenings and the homework club in the afternoons. The big project for the coming year is the scent garden running from the bus terminal to the overflow parking here at the church. This fully wheelchair accessible path with plantings in raised beds will be a delight to those walking through our property as well as those looking for a quiet sanctuary.
The Faith In Action team continues to try and get all members of the community to participate in at least one mission event each year. This year, there were a total of 17 different mini-events or activities.
The faith development team has reported to the 3 church councils on the results of our 5th anniversary membership survey.
Most members from each of the 3 founding congregations (Orleans United, Resurrection Lutheran and St. Helen’s Anglican) seem to have found a home in the new combined faith community. However, even after 5 years, some people are frustrated by the rotation of the services types through the service times. A few people have said that they have arrived at the building, discovered that they were there at the wrong time for their faith background so they went home. A few mentioned that they dislike the contemporary service even when it is in the style of “their” tradition.
Members who have joined the new combined community have less dissatisfaction with the rotating schedule because they typically chose a specific worship time and worship in each tradition in its turn. However, some members have mentioned that it is hard to get to know those members who wander in and out as they follow the service traditions. Several people mentioned that it is hard sometimes to know who is a member and who is a visitor.
A number of newer members mentioned that they don’t identify with any one of the founding faith communities. So they don’t quite know where they belong. Additionally our set-up means we expect people to belong to one (and only one) of the 3 churches to be consider eligible for voting at annual meetings.
The Worship team would like funding and pastoral time to run a mid-week service at 7 pm on Wednesday. This will be a contemporary service which will have a less formal structure. The primary “audience” for this service is young urban professionals who are not willing to commit to Sunday morning services.
Thanks for listening,
Miranda G.
