Keith Wilkins is a longtime member of St Mark’s and offers this perspective on the recent Planning Conference held as a part of the Ministry Assessment Process.
It had the potential of being an awkward return to high school dances of my youth- cliques of people standing around, not mixing- so feeling a little tense Suzanne and I attended St. Richards Hall on Friday September 27 and Saturday September 28 to participate in the tri-parish MAP consultation. To put it briefly, I was wrong.
Friday evening was an introduction and reminder to the approximately 100 participants that all the thinking, feeling and conversing we have been involved with during the MAP process has been prayer. Like all prayer, this included a mix of thanks, hope, fear, and loss. Facilitated by the Reverend Ross Hammond through the evening, tables of parishioners recorded their prayers. Following the identification of our prayers for the Church and its mission, we reviewed the proposed activities for Saturday and returned home in quiet reflection.
Saturday was perhaps the most beautiful fall day in recent memory and an energetic group, supplemented by parishioners who had been unable to attend Friday evening, re-assembled at 8:30 a.m. After ensuring members of each parish sat at the many tables, we consecrated ourselves to the day with Morning Service. After the Service, we observed 20 minutes of silence to listen for God’s direction to us. I felt again the tension of a potentially contrived environment but the respectful silence washed over me and brought a sense of a common mission to the next activities. Each table recorded their many thoughts of what the Anglican Church at this time needed to embody. Walls were papered with these thoughts and energy and conversation remained upbeat. Thoughts were consolidated into themes and from the themes brought a wide range of possible solutions. Each member further developed a possible solution during two working sessions, which included a light lunch to keep energies up. From the working sessions, the contours of each possible solution began to emerge and commonalities were revealed in some of the 7 proposals while others remained distinct. The possible solutions were, apart from the status quo options, not tied to any specified location and were demonstrative of openness of spirit and community.
As the 2:00 o’clock conclusion of the meeting approached, the work of the day was re-directed to the members of the MAP team who had been a part of our Saturday mission. They will pick up this work and continue the discernment process for the future direction of the three parishes. Their considerations will refine the possible solutions developed during the Saturday sessions as new solutions with all members of the three parishes. Appropriately, we ended the meeting with the Doxology, which spoke to our participation in the process.
Sunday morning, St Richards’s church was filled with members of three Anglican communities worshipping together and rejoicing in the Spirit. Each rector and the Archdeacon led a significant part of the Service to celebrate St Michael and All Angels with music and choirs rejoicing.