The Episcopal Church of the Mediator

Vestry Goals

If you've been at Mediator lately, you've probably heard the phrase "the goals of the Vestry" more than once! Following our very successful retreat in early February, the Vestry came away with a sense of renewed energy and focus, as well as with the determination that goals need to become action points. Now that it's spring (I say that with confidence that the temperature will soon catch up with that statement!), here's a quick outline of what those goals are, and how we're doing on attaining them.

1. Fellowship. Creating a sense of connection and relationship, of community, among our members is a primary value, as it allows us to minister to one another as well as to work together as a team when we do God's work. Goals attached to fellowship include:

  1. Continue to develop small groups
  2. Target age-specific constituencies: young families, older adults, specifically intergenerational
  3. Promote social activities outside the parish that bring parishioners together in a common interest
  4. Plan activities bringing both services together at least twice a year with a social event.

We are pleased with some of our new fellowship activities like our monthly dinner groups and those wonderful events that have remained successful each year: the pancake supper, our Parish Picnic (June 3, 2007) and the Art-in-the-Park festivities (June 16). The town meetings that are currently underway are gathering us together just to talk about where we are in regard to fellowship (hopefully in a way that's enjoyable in and of itself.) Look here for article on Town Meetings.

2. Christian Education. After worship, Christian Education is a priority that many of us feel the most strongly about, with concerns reaching from our youngest members through our adult programming. Here are the highlights:

  1. Focus upon how to strengthen Adult Forum and our Middle School/High School Christian Education programming
  2. Consider how we might develop a midweek youth program
  3. Continue to refresh our intellect. Keep programmatic opportunities for learning available through study groups, etc.
  4. Children's music and theatre: developing ways in which music can enrich the CE programming for all of Mediator's children.

The recent class on Luke (which has become another class on Acts!), as well as the Lenten program that partnered us with our friends at Calvary Moravian, have provided some excellent opportunities for adults, and we continue to focus upon ways in which we can move forward in order to serve our children. We have deeply dedicated, wonderful teachers in the church school, and we want to support their work by making something happen with children's music, and with more opportunities for our youth, when the church school year begins again in September.

3. Infrastructure: What this means is looking at the ways in which we get our work done. Are our people engaged in and satisfied by participating in ministry through Church of the Mediator, or is there a disconnect? Do we burn some people out, but miss the talents of others that we could nurture? Do our ministries speak to the faith commitments that our parishioners feel passionate about? Have we got a healthy, self-sustaining mechanism to generate lay leadership? Some energetic conversation on this topic resulted in these bullets:

  1. Develop an administrative support structure, linking volunteers to needed tasks
  2. Make communication, both internal and external, a bigger priority with: Better use of Media-rite/bulletin to get information out; concept of "town meeting" to permit parish to discuss issues more regularly; use questionnaire format to elicit input from parish
  3. Reorganize commission structure
  4. Enrich Stewardship with estate/planned giving and long-range planning
  5. Work with Finance to improve vision for the needs of the future.

A lot to do, but progress is beginning: the Personnel Committee is working with staff to identify administrative needs, an up and coming Communications Commission that recently worked hard to organize the Neighborhood Walk, distributing 500 postcards sharing the news about Easter at Mediator; the town meetings that are directly impacting fellowship; the Commissions Committee that is undertaking the study and reorganization of parish ministry; Stewardship and Finance working together to plan for Mediator's life well into the future. We hope that this is exciting to you, too!

4. Partnerships. This is an area in which we hope that we can work smarter, not harder, and grow through relationships with our neighbors, such as Christ Lutheran and St. Stephen's right up the street. Here are some examples:

  1. Seek opportunities in which we can join with others to pool resources and talent
  2. Consider Lay Leadership joint retreat with St. Stephen's and Christ Lutheran, with whom we have initiated dialogue
  3. Pursue the EMBRACE program, working with multicultural issues facing youth in Allentown.

Again, our Lenten series with Calvary Moravian is a perfect example of how this kind of thing can enrich our lives; we have partnered with St. Stephen's for Vacation Bible School, so what about our after school program or youth group initiatives? Look for more on this in the upcoming months as we grow in our thinking (or, perhaps, as we find our way out of the box!)

So this is a long way to say: Church of the Mediator is putting faith into action. Every day, individual members make Christ visible in their commitments to God's work at Mediator, and we know that any goals that the Vestry might have depend upon, and ultimately must serve, the Body of Christ that Mediator represents. We hope that the work of the Vestry thus far this year, and the opportunities that are coming up in the future, both nourish and challenge you as a part of our community - and that you'll also let us know what else we should be doing!