September 21st, 2010
Dear St. George’s,
Our life together has been a whirlwind over the past 6 months. Our church family has grown over the summer, our Free Family Fun Fall Fiesta was a great success, and we are beginning a new sermon series and ramping up our ministries and programs for the fall semester.
I write to you today on behalf of your corporation and your Futures Group. Early this year we pulled together everyone who leads a ministry or program for a day away at Crieff Hills. The discussions on that prayerful day launched our corporation and Futures Group on a trajectory of prayerful work on your behalf. The ideas, needs, visions and dreams discussed have been through many iterations and evolutions, as the Spirit has lead. We, the leadership team of St. George’s, can now see where the cloud is headed and find ourselves collectively able to point to our future direction in ministry.
So, there are two major things coming this year:
1) The first need raised on our day away was for greater regional presence. We are a commuter church, for better or worse, which is what the Lord is making us. We have parishioners who faithfully drive from Toronto and Brantford, Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph, Brampton, and all points in between. This one-hour radius means that many in our fellowship feel isolated, unable to drive to Burlington for mid-week events. It also makes inviting neighbours to church difficult. To address the need for better regional fellowship and outreach we have divided our 1-hour radius into four geographical proximities. We call these Pastorates. Each Pastorate will be lead by a pastorate leader and will meet monthly. The Pastorate will be composed of every St. Georg’ite who lives in that region. We will launch 4 Pastorates in January. The Pastorate will allow us regional fellowship while addressing other ministry and missional needs. The Pastorate will be a mid-sized group (likely 30-40 people) that offers a safe, local place to invite your neighbours. At the same time, the Pastorate will be the main point of entry for newcomers to our parish family. Newcomers will be identified and connected with the Pastorate leader in their area. The Pastorate leader will contact them to invite them to the next monthly meeting. There is much more that can be said about Pastorates, but I trust that the benefits can be seen. We believe that this is one of the ways the Master is calling us to make better connection with one-another, with our neighbours and with Him.
2) The second need calls for slightly more radical action. After 30 years of adding programs the inertia of ministry business has begun to displace things important to our life together and our mission. In the mix of things we do, there are some that we do very well. There are others that need revamping or refocusing. We need time to develop a prayerful feedback loop for our ministries and programs. We need time to get on our knees and ask the Master, “What would you have us do?” Dear St. George’s, your corporation and Futures Group feel the Lord calling us to collectively evaluate our stewardship of His resources of time and energy. In order to see this happen, we are planning to press ‘pause’ on all ministries and programs for a three-month period. From January to April 1st, 2011 we will do nothing but Sunday services (with all that goes with them) and meet weekly in our regional pastorate groups. The year of Jubilee is a helpful biblical image. Every 50 years, God’s people would let the land lay fallow. A collective pause would fall over the Land. We will not take a year, but only three months. During this three-month pause we will rebuild the ministries and programs around the fresh ministry needs and opportunities facing our church today. Our discerned call to take this radical action must not be seen to disparage the good work we have done to date. Rather, we are asking you to see this as a fresh start. It is not difficult for me to imagine the great joy of meeting together weekly in our regional Pastorates for fellowship, prayer and Bible study or personal testimony. Picture the strength of a three-month break from the business of our ministries and instead meeting in our regions with St. George’s parishioners of all ages! So very much has changed over the past year. It is time to seek the Master’s leading and to see how our ministries should change, too.
Discerning the Lord’s leading for a congregation of our size is a weighty matter, and one your leadership groups have not lightly undertaken. We have met regularly over the past 8 months to pray, plan and listen. You can expect to hear more about our future together over the coming weeks and months. Your wardens, Neil, Dan and Kelvin sit in the pews beside you every Sunday and are always available to answer any questions and to pray with you for any concerns. Your Futures Group is lead by Kelvin, Ed, Rick, Louise, Naomi, Joe, Garth, Bryan, Manuel, Keith, and Gillian.
For the name and fame of Jesus,
RD
