Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

For the past 14 months we have been on a journey, as a parish family, to discern what God wants St. Catherine's to do and be in this place at this time in history. The groundwork for this journey was developed during the summer of 1999, and the Emmaus Project leadership team was commissioned in the fall of 1999 to facilitate the journey. Since January we have asked the members of our parish family to pray, to participate, and to talk about where we believe we are being led. We have met in small home gatherings and in large congregational meetings. Together we have assessed our congregation's ministry, reviewed our parish history, and reflected on our norms. The Emmaus team has also interviewed members of the greater Cobb County community to gain some insight about the projected growth and needs of the larger community. Since the beginning we have prayed as a congregation each Sunday for God's help in discerning the direction in which we are being led.

What We Learned

At each step of this journey the Emmaus team has tried to be open to the voice of God, in prayer and in the wisdom of each member of our parish family. Our knowledge and understanding of ourselves and of each other has grown substantially during the process. We have also come to know, in a very real way, the power of the Holy Spirit, working in us and through us. We have grieved the loss of one of our members, Gene Wood, and we have celebrated the arrival of a new member, Robbie Burlas. For all of this, and for much more, we thank God and all the members of our parish community for letting us have this awesome experience.

We were also able to discern more clearly some central issues that describe who we are as a community and how we see ourselves in the future:

• Our greatest strength is the sense of community and belonging we share together. As a result, we don't let our differences (such as age, gender, race, financial situation, level of participation, attire or opinions) get in the way of knowing the love of Christ through our love of one another. Feedback from many people in the parish was clear and consistent about this issue. Our goals, therefore, need to build on this strength.

• Although we don't talk about it very much, there is substantial financial and volunteer support for outreach and mission at St. Catherine's. Information developed in our interviews with community leaders showed us that there are many more opportunities in this area: the community around us is changing; there are significant areas near us that do not appear to be well served by churches; and there are clear and pressing needs. Some of our proposed goals for mission and outreach will need further development, but they derive from themes that are consistent with the strengths, concerns and aspirations of our parish family.

• Throughout the process we've received a clear message that our use of facilities is at (if not already beyond) our current capacity. As a community, however, we believe that the quality of our parish life and our service to the community come first, not the buildings. In other words, our facilities exist to serve the needs of the community. As we consider the renovation and expansion of facilities, we must maintain this perspective.

• Finally, we have learned that there exists within St. Catherine's a polarity, a tension between two positive factors, which cannot be solved, but which can be managed well, with attention and with God's help. The polarity is reflected in the three previously noted issues, and is this: On the one hand, our overarching goal is that we continue to grow in faith and service to our Lord and in our love of God and each other. We realize that as we meet that goal, our numbers will increase. On the other hand, we have a considerable degree of anxiety about that growth. We are concerned that growth will change who we are, and we are concerned about how we will accommodate the growth. Our goals therefore must address each of these three issues simultaneously: 1) our desire to increase our growth in faith, service, and love; 2) our desire to maintain the sense of community and belonging that we share, even as we grow in numbers; and 3) the need to accommodate the growth in numbers that will occur.

From the information provided by the congregation and the community leaders, the Emmaus team developed twenty-eight possible goals. In late August the clergy, the Vestry, and the Emmaus Project team went on retreat together to pray, to listen, and to clarify what we had learned. We then voted on which of the eight goals we believe we are being called to focus on during the next four years. The process was extremely difficult, because ALL of the possible goals were good ones and worthy of our attention and endorsement. But by the end of the weekend we felt that we had chosen a good set of goals, though probably every one of us had some sadness that we had had to put aside other goals, for now.

Since the retreat the Vestry and Emmaus team have revised the wording of the goals, so that each goal more clearly reflects what we learned during these many months. Last night (September 19th) the Vestry formally adopted the following proposed goals:

1) We will challenge, support, and encourage each one of us as members of St. Catherine's to grow in the maturity of our faith and to deepen our spirituality by emphasizing Christ-centered worship, prayer, study, and action, both individually and as a community.

2) We will encourage intimacy and connectedness by expanding opportunities for people to interact in small groups through programs, ministries, and fellowship activities.

3)We will acknowledge, respect, and celebrate the diversity of our parish community by raising our awareness and knowledge of diversity in its broadest sense.

This goal will include:
    (a) Developing a safe environment for expressing, listening to, and responding to each other's hopes, concerns and opinions.
    (b) Increasing the diversity of our congregation by identifying who our neighbors are, both within our congregation and in the  wider community, and what they want and need.
    (c) Evaluating and implementing various forms of worship that meet the diverse needs of our congregation.

4) We will establish a program of lay leadership development within the parish in order to identify, recruit, train, recognize, and encourage more leaders.

5) We will broaden and deepen our congregational and individual commitment to outreach through increased awareness, opportunities, and involvement.

6) We will establish a process to: 1) identify needs within our diverse and changing congregation and the larger community; 2) evaluate how well current programs meet those needs; and 3) develop and implement new programs to meet new needs. The process will also include identifying and developing the time, talent and treasure to provide these programs.

7) We will develop and execute a comprehensive master plan of our staffing, buildings, and grounds, and financial resources to reflect and support our goals for St. Catherine's.

The plan will include:
    (a) Expanding our facilities to accommodate our needs for worship space, parish- wide activities, Christian education, and meetings, as well as to increase our role as a resource to the wider community.
    (b) Encouraging the congregation to be better stewards of our facilities.

8) We will welcome, accept, and build community among our children and youth as full members of the body of Christ.

Next Steps

During the week of October 15-21 the Stewardship Committee will be hosting home meetings to discuss our stewardship for 2001. A Vestry member and Emmaus team member will be at each home meeting to hear further feedback and to answer questions about the proposed goals.

What We Ask of You

We began this process with the belief that God would offer us direction and perspective, if we asked for God's help and if we were open to God's guidance. God has been with us more powerfully than most of us could have imagined.

We also began this process with a belief in the "collective wisdom" of our congregation. That is, we believe that no one of us fully understands the will of God, but that every one of us holds some part of that understanding. All of the ideas and wisdom that you have offered thus far have helped us come to the point where we are now. But we still need your input, your "piece" of the puzzle. Please, join us on September 30 and at the stewardship home meetings. We really want to hear from you.

In Christ,
 

The Reverend Jim Nixon	Diane Sanders	Sharon Parisi
Rector	Senior Warden	Emmaus Project

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