. . . ENVISIONING OUR FUTURE
As many of you know, St. Stephen’s 75th anniversary is coming up in 2012. Plans are already underway to help us celebrate this milestone and remember those who were important in our lives as a parish through the years. As we honor the legacy of those who helped build St. Stephen’s, work is also underway to ensure that we can continue to be a vibrant church for the next 25 years and beyond, to help us remain an integral part of our members’ and guests’ spiritual lives, and a strong part of our community.
The first step is to examine and reaffirm our parish’s values and priorities to help us assess what we need to do, as a parish, to remain a welcoming spiritual home long into the future. We have enlisted the help of Erin Weber-Johnson of the Episcopal Church Foundation to work with a small group of St. Stephen’s members (Cathy Cella, John Ellingboe, Dave Holmberg, Fei McKhann, Brian Ostenso, Len Slade, Karen Smith, and the Rev. Neil Alan Willard) to enter into a discernment process to determine the best way forward. This Discernment Committee is asking for your input and participation.
Last fall we invited all members to add their voices and bring their ideas to the table. We asked questions like “What keeps you at St. Stephen’s?” and “What do you believe is most important for St. Stephen’s to remain a vital Christian community over the next 10 or 20 years?” We provided surveys to our members at all services on two “listening Sundays,” November 6 and 13, and also invited St. Stephen’s committees and small groups to bring us in to solicit ideas and input. We wanted to be sure that anyone who wants to be heard and involved could be.
In December and January, we’ll analyze what we’ve heard and, with the help of our Vestry, will put together a plan of action. We’ll continue to keep the parish fully informed of our progress along the way and will endeavor to keep the two way conversation going. Stay tuned for more information. In the meantime, if you have questions, please contact anyone on the Discernment Committee by clicking here.