Opawa-St Martins Anglican Parish
Strategic Plan
Inviting - Forming - Sending – Serving
(These headings are taken from the Diocesan Strategic Plan)
Parish Vision Statement.
The Parish of Opawa-St Martins is an Anglican whanau who bring life to the world through their loving care for all people, in their dynamic creativity, their seeking to know God, and in their coming together as a multigenerational community.
We are seeking to be a church that provides space for people to grow, to be nurtured and cared for within a companionable and refreshing community. We are open to growth and change and ready to adapt to new challenges. We want to welcome all who come to us and engage in loving service of the community. We seek to offer the best riches we can find from the treasury of our Anglican tradition and we seek to have fun as we worship, celebrate and work together.
The vision for this parish is aligned with the priorities of the Strategic Plan of the Diocese of Christchurch 2009-2012
The Strategic Plan for the Diocese of Christchurch sets 3 Priorities for all Ministry Units
Young Leaders:
Raise up; encourage; educate; appoint and enable young people as
leaders in our Diocese.
Christ-Centred Mission: Christ is both our centre and the One we serve.`We become Christ-like by furthering the Kingdom and further the Kingdom`by becoming Christ-like.
Faithful Stewardship: of the Christian faith; environment; Diocesan
properties and finances; time; talent and our heritage. Stewardship of the`Christian faith includes how we offer theological education.
Particular Challenges faced within this parish
1. Nurturing and developing new leaders at all levels of parish life;
2. Providing effective Christian formation in the Anglican Tradition for every age group who attend this parish so that members of this church can identify their God given gifts and fulfil their vocation;
3. Discerning how best to develop ministry and mission at St Anne’s Church;
4. Maintenance of property in a manner that is appropriate for mission;
5. Offering an effective contribution to the life of the wider church.
Inviting
1. New Vestry to consider the establishment of a Communications Group in 2010
2. Website
Our web site is a winner and provides an excellent invitation to those searching for God and a parish to belong to. Needs more frequent updating by more people and more use/blogging.
Objectives for 2010 - 2011
- Provide IT training for website updaters
- Develop a privacy policy
- Provide links and information on Anglicanism and the Anglican Communion
3. Noticeboards
Need to be clean, clear & updated.
Objectives for 2010-2011
· Replace or update and repaint signs
· Uniformity of design at both churches
· Suggest Slot/Hanger for change of times/place of services
· Add the website address in large letters
4. Brochures/Packs/Boards
- Welcome Pack - no action taken in 2 yrs despite suggestion/requests
needs continual updates, has low enthusiasm. No Further Action
- Brochures – Lean Thinking - only print a few to increase use, decrease waste and need to keep up to date
Objectives for 2010-2011
· Keep concise info about groups and parish activities on small coloured brochures or bookmarks displayed appropriately in both parish sites;
· Review information put out in the porches
4. Teach that the ministry of hospitality at the Sunday Eucharist is something that involves the whole congregation, and that it is one of the most important roles in terms of welcoming newcomers to this parish.
Objectives for 2010-2011
· Continue training for those who welcome, greet, and offer morning tea on Sundays.
· Reconsider the use of name tags and provide clearer process for these to be updated.
· Recruit more people to rosters for welcoming, greeting, and morning tea, especially those who have recently joined the parish as they have the most recent memory of what it is like to come to our church for the first time.
5. Establish a culture of seeking out inquirers to the Christian faith. The parish to provide processes and groups to enable these people to explore and deepen their faith.
Objectives
· Ensure there is a confirmation group running in 2010;
· Equip leaders of all groups with the skills required to incorporate new members.
· Continue to enable groups like Little Annies and mainly music to be pathways into this community of faith.
· Equip and empower parishioners to raise up disciples of Christ.
6. Continue to mentor teenagers in line with Diocesan expectations.
Objectives
· Continue to nurture youth groups
· Continue providing mentors for teenagers
Forming
1. The Parish Eucharist
The Parish Eucharist will be the summit of the week, the centre of all we do, and the source of our energy for mission in our community.
Objectives
- In 2010 create a capital fund to be used for the training and formation of parish musicians;
- Encourage excellence in worship by continuing to provide ongoing training and formation for all liturgical roles in the liturgy;
- Encourage more people to take up roles in the liturgy (such as readers, intercessors, greeters, servers, musicians and so on) to enable the people of God to exercise their gifts and take full, active and conscious participation in the worship of God;
- Introduce more Te Reo in worship;
- Provide teaching and explanation about the liturgy both to explain what is happening and to assist people make connections between the liturgy and every day life. This is to be done with the congregation on designated Sundays during the year;
- Provide a liturgy booklet for the congregation with music enclosed to make the liturgy easier to follow;
- Encourage the use of choirs, musicians and music groups in worship.
- Provide training for those who wish to learn to play the organ better and consider offering a position for an organ scholar;
- Provide retreats and quiet days for those involved in liturgical ministry for their spiritual nourishment and refreshment.
- Consider combining the 9:30 and 10:00am congregations at St Mark’s once per month.
2. Baptism and Confirmation
Objectives
- Continue to expect that God will send adults for baptism;
- Equip and empower parishioners to raise up disciples of Christ;
- Provide an excellent and high quality process for preparation and formation of adult baptism candidates;
- There will be confirmation candidates every year and a confirmation liturgy presided over by the Bishop.
3. Ministry with children and young people.
Objectives
- Call and equip more leaders to enable the Sunday School to be split into three groups at St Mark’s on Sunday mornings;
- Call, equip and nurture leaders for mainly music and Little Annies;
- Improve the governance structure and support for Little Annies;
- Continue to provide mentors for teenagers;
- Continue enabling SMY and SMYLE youth groups to build Christ centred community among young people and to enable them to grow in the faith.
- While preserving existing family space at the rear of St Mark’s, encourage families to sit closer to the front of the church;
- Provide service book for children;
- Provide space at the rear of St Mark’s to display children’s art work.
4. House Groups and other small groups
Objectives
- There will be a variety of groups in the parish where individual believers can find community, practical help, and spiritual nurture.
- These groups will include Lent study groups, provision of seminars series on particular subjects of interest or concern;
- Support the expectation that house groups are welcoming of new comers so that they regularly grow and generate new groups;
- Enable house groups leaders to mentor others into leadership;
- In 2010 develop a structure to nurture house group leaders and provide for their spiritual nourishment and refreshment;
5. St Mark’s School
Objectives
- There will be a good relationship with St Mark’s School and the parish;
- Implement new church service on Thursday mornings;
- Implement regular school Eucharist (twice per year);
- Provision of teaching of the Anglican Schools RE curriculum for four year groups by clergy and laity will continue;
- Clergy team will support other school staff in teaching the RE curriculum;
6. Contemplative Worship
Objectives
- Consider re-ordering St Anne’s Church and/or Hall for contemplative forms of worship.
- The parish to listen and discern whether a Fresh Expressions may be appropriate.
7. Training of clergy
Objective
- To ensure curates who leave this parish are the best trained clergy in New Zealand.
- Clergy team work with supervisors, spiritual directors, and the bishop’s office to ensure they have an adequate ongoing spiritual nurture, self care, and study programme.
8. Financial Stewardship
Strategy
• To recognise that the “steward” is a key Gospel role which emphasises that the
real owner is God, and that we are holders of a sacred trust.
• To live out the spirit of abundance found in the Gospel.
• To educate that there is enough for all if greed is abandoned.
• To uphold the sacred vocation of caring for God’s Creation.
Objective
- Hold a stewardship campaign in 2010-2011
- Call new people onto the fair committee who can bring new ideas and new vision for parish fund raising in 2010-2011.
9. Community Nurture
Objective
Provide occasions when the parish family can meet together for social events or a combination of social and spiritual nourishment.
For example:
- Parish camps
- Picnics
- Parish dinners
Sending & Serving
1. Serving the local community
Strategy and Objectives
- Teach and preach about living the Gospel in every day life;
- Help parishioners speak about their faith with confidence at home and at work;
- Continue to support Glenelg Health Camp and Waltham Community Cottage and the City Mission night shelter;
- Consider holding a parish arts festival;
- Produce a giveaway cookbook with nutritious and cheap recipes. (There are several organisations who have these available eg Supergrans and CPH. Two cook books have been produced as fundraisers by the parish some years ago and it was a lot of work. As a variation on a theme how about a parish meal where people bring a dish to share that is inexpensive, nutritional and a favourite in their family. They also bring a copy of the recipe which could be included in a booklet. Everyone over 5 years of age pays a gold coin admission which defrays the cost of the booklet and we all have a great time). In plenary time on Sat 7 November there was a lot of energy for this project.
- Develop St Anne’s site as a community centre as well as a place for new forms of worship.
2. Pastoral Care
Objectives
- Continue nurturing the existing team of lay ministers who take communion to the sick week by week;
- Update licences for those involved during 2010;
- Call, train and equip the next generation of leaders to conduct home communions and pastoral visiting. Begin this 2010;
- Ensure there is a system to ensure the elderly and infirm are visited’
- Provide retreats and quiet days to nurture and refresh those involved in this ministry;
- Make use of meals and parties to gather young families together.
3. Mission Committee
Strategy
There will be a mission committee tasked with challenging the parish to focus energy in social justice advocacy.
Other Objectives
Parish Property
Objectives
- A property committee maintains a maintenance plan;
- Address the leaking roof at St Mark’s Hall in 2010.
- Ask property maintenance committee to ensure health and safety issues are attended to, especially an updated fire evacuation plan for both churches.
Parish Staff
Objectives
- The parish is served by a stipendiary vicar, deacon/priest assistant and requires non-stipendiary clergy support to provide Eucharist in both centres on Sunday mornings;
- Some parishioners aspire to appoint a children and family worker and a music director if funding allows;
- There will be dynamic administrative support from the parish administrator and a verger;
- Recruit a (human resource) team to work with the finance committee to ensure staff reviews are completed and job descriptions and contracts are updated regularly.
Appendices available from the parish office:
Summary of Process with Paul Dyer
Paul Dyer’s Report
Summary of meeting on Saturday 7 November 2009