Important Letter to the Congregation
about the Emmaus Project
In the early summer of 1999, the Vestry and the Parish Life Council began discussing the formation of a "futures" committee, whose purpose would be to identify and address critical questions about the future of St. Catherine's. Announcements about the formation of this group were published during the month of August, and the committee was formed in mid-September. The process was named the "Emmaus Project" and charged that the mission of the Emmaus Project team would be "to facilitate St. Catherine's discernment of what God wants us to do and be in this place at this time in history." The Emmaus team was commissioned on Sunday, October 24th.
The Process we will be using
The process is based upon the work of Roy Oswald & Robert Friedrich, Jr., as presented in their book Discerning Your Congregation's Future: a Strategic and Spiritual Approach. (Alban Institute, 1996). We found that the assumptions of Oswald and Friedrich are very much our own, and are well summarized in the following (from the introduction): "this book is based on the premise that all of us are in a relationship with a God who is ever more ready to communicate with us than we are to listen, a God who is ever more ready to bestow grace on us than we are ready to receive it. This god is also willing to offer us direction and perspective if and when we are ready to surrender our willfulness and be open to receiving such direction. ... We also need to say that god will rarely overwhelm us with a message so clear and blatant that our freedom to choose is eliminated."
Assumptions of the Model:
1. The heart of strategic planning within a church is our relationship with God.
Congregational "strategic planning" should therefore be a spiritual process, with emphasis on prayer and discernment.
2. The best plan for a church is developed not by the priest, or the vestry, or a "planning committee," but by the members of the congregation.
3. Because planning is a spiritual process and the best plan is developed by the members of the congregation, both individual and corporate spirituality are important in discerning God's will for the church.
4. The process as presented involves an understanding of systems theory; that is, an understanding that change in any part of the congregation affects other parts of the congregation.
5. Finally, it is assumed that this process takes time and con not, and should not, be hurried.
Theology of Discernment
Discernment involves engagement with the question, "How can we understand and live the will of God?" In the context of strategic planning for a congregation, this can be restated as, "What does God want us to do and be in this place at this time in history?"
The process we will use emphasizes the "collective wisdom" of the congregation, guided by God. While no one person alone fully understands the will of God (true prophets being the exception), each of us holds some part of that understanding. As we share our insights and experiences with each other, and as we listen to this collection of "bits of wisdom" within the community of faith, we begin to develop a fuller understanding of God, and the will of God can begin to emerge.
Method:
There are two parts to this process, and both the Emmaus team and the members of the congregation are asked to participate in each part.
Because discernment is assumed to be primarily a spiritual process, the "real work" of the process is that of prayer, followed by genuine listening for the will of god. For that reason every meeting of the Emmaus team begins with spiritual reflection and prayer, followed by some form of team building. Prayers are offered for discernment for St. Catherine's during worship services, and the members of the congregation are asked to remember St. Catherine's in our private prayers, throughout the discernment process.
The second part of the process is a series of home and congregational meetings during which the Emmaus team listens to members of the congregation. The focus of the home meetings is on assessing the ministry of St. Catherine's. The remaining meetings are held at the church, and are congregational meetings. Focus is on the history of St. Catherine's and the norms that we follow at St. Catherine's.
After each meeting with the congregation, the Emmaus team meets to "distill" the information heard into workable form. Specifically, the team looks for patterns on information, which will be developed into an extensive list of possible goals for St. Catherine's. Goals are developed in four areas:
1. Congregational strengths to be nurtured and preserved.
2. Areas of weakness to be addressed.
3. Mission goals.
4. Long term (4-5 years) goals.
In addition to meeting with members of the congregation, the members of the Emmaus team will interview key members of the greater East Cobb community, to gain insight about the projected growth and needs of the larger community. This information will also be considered as we develop possible goals.
This fall the Emmaus team and the Vestry will together facilitate the third congregational meeting. The goals of that meeting will be to present to the congregation the proposed 6-8 goals, and to get feedback from the congregation about the goals. The information obtained from the congregation during that meeting will be further assessed and "distilled," and if necessary the Vestry and Emmaus team will reconsider the goal priorities. The Vestry and Emmaus team will then work together to develop a mission statement based on the final list of goals. In January, 2001, the Emmaus Project team will turn over the final list of goals and the mission statement to the Vestry for implementation.
Emmaus Project
Collated Goals
Presented to the Vestry
August 15, 2000