VESTRY NEWS AND REVIEW: 

MUTUAL MINISTRY REVIEW

During the past six weeks, the Vestry and Ministry Council leaders have been engaged in The Church of St. Martin’s 2020 Mutual Ministry Review.  I am writing to acquaint you with our goals for the review, our processes, and a brief statement of MMR outcomes.  A report to the Parish outlining all this in more detail will be available mid- to late-July.

Let’s begin with the basics:  What is a Mutual Ministry Review (MMR)?  

A MMR is a collaborative inquiry and study process that seeks to affirm what is going well at St. Martin’s, as well as identify those aspects of our work and shared ministry that need more time, attention, and effort. Although the MMR is a relatively new process for most parishioners at Church of St. Martin, it is widely regarded as a healthy, annual or biannual routine for Episcopal churches throughout most of the world. Going forward, the Vestry envisions an annual or biannual MMR. 

Who is the review team?  

The composition of the MMR Review Team includes the Vestry, Rev. Dr. Pamela Dolan, and the five Ministry Council leaders. The sub-committee that designed the MMR selected Rev. Betsey Monnot to act as facilitator for our review. Betsey has substantial experience facilitating and leading other MMR’s throughout the Diocese of NoCal and has shown her experience, insights, and counsel to be invaluable.

How is the MMR organized and what is being reviewed?  

The MMR has two parts. 

The first, which was just completed, focused on goals, specifically those derived from the Holy Cow Survey and later, the Parish Profile. These goals were articulated with significant input from the parish about three years ago and were intended to guide the work of our new pastor.  The Vestry recognized that a second set of goals emerged somewhat “organically” during the past three years.  These were also reviewed.  

The essential question for the Review Team was:  How have we done with respect to achieving these goals?  And a related question:  Are there new goals or emphases within goals that need to be established as we look towards the remaining months of 2020 and the first portion of 2021?

The second part of the MMR, which will likely be initiated in the fall, will examine the Ministry of Worship, as it is central to so much of who we are and what we do as a parish. Worship was selected because it directly involves the vast majority of the parish. It is also a domain about which many parishioners hold strong views. With this in mind, this portion of the MMR will invite parish views and questions and use a variety of methods to directly engage all who are interested in contributing their thinking to the MMR. 

What goals were reviewed?

The goals outlined below were examined by the MMR Review Team on May 16.

• Develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to attract and integrate new members into the church, especially children and youth, Millennials, and Gen-Xers. 
• Create more opportunities for people to form meaningful relationships in ways that help them to feel connected to the larger body, including small groups, nurtured friendships, shared meals, etc. 
• Strengthen existing and develop new ministries that work toward healing those broken by life circumstances. Similarly, strengthen the pastoral response of the church in serving people with special needs, as well as their caregivers. 
• Strengthen our university connections.
• Given the pace and schedules of parishioners’ lives, establish and maintain a wider range of opportunities for parishioners to access church services, ministries, learning resources (i.e., online education, early morning classes, lunch discussions). 
• Increase opportunities for Christian education, spiritual inquiry, and spiritual formation at every age and stage of life, such as book discussions, guest speakers, classes, and readings focused on our faith traditions (e.g., Book of Common Prayer, Daily Devotions, bedtime stories for the young). 
• Develop the spiritual generosity of the people to financially support the ministry of the church, e.g., understanding and living Holy Currencies. 
• Expand outreach ministries that provide direct services to those living on the margins of society, e.g., homeless, immigrant, transient persons, Paul’s Place, Families Together, St. Matthew Center. 

How were the goals reviewed?

The Review Team was divided into four subgroups. Each of the subgroups was assigned two goals and spent considerable time with each goal answering the questions below:

• Is this goal still relevant to the mission and ministry of St. Martin’s? Why or why not?
• How has this goal been addressed over the past three years? Who has been responsible for the work that has been done? Have those people been acknowledged
• Has the goal been met, or is there more work to do? What remains to be done?
• What has changed since this goal was articulated, and how do those changes affect the goal—does the goal need to be adjusted, augmented, or dropped. 

Next….

Each of the subgroups reported to the large group.  Their reports included a summary of their discussions and conclusions for each goal.  This was followed by an open discussion in which members of the whole group asked clarifying questions of the subgroups, posed alternative perspectives, and, importantly, offered new goals for the Review Team to consider as we looked into the future, especially in view of Covid, shelter in place, etc.

At this point, we had quite a bit to consider, but we managed to articulate eight consensus goals for our parish.  It’s important to note that the goals in bold are those that the Review Team very strongly felt deserved special priority, especially in the current context.  All eight are important and will receive attention.  The three goals in bold are of prime importance to the parish as a whole.

INVITE, WELCOME, INTEGRATE:  Develop and enhance strategies to invite, welcome and integrate new members into the St Martin’s Church community, especially children, youth, Millennials, Gen-Xers and members of the University community.

IN-REACH:  Develop and maintain meaningful opportunities for mutually supportive relationships among parishioners (e.g., small groups, nurtured friendships, shared meals, etc.). 

ENHANCING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES:  Build on what we have learned from using digital technologies in the time of Covid-19 to support parishioners’ access to church services, caring and healing ministries, learning resources (i.e., online education, morning prayer, early morning classes, lunch discussions, Centering Prayer).

HEALING AND SUPPORT:  Strengthen our healing ministries and pastoral responses in working with those whose lives have been compromised or overwhelmed by difficult circumstances. 

OUTREACH:  Deepen the relationships in our outreach ministries that provide direct services to those living on the margins of society, e.g., homeless, immigrant, transient persons, Paul’s Place, Families Together, St. Matthew Center. 

UNIVERSITY CONNECTIONS:  Strengthen our university connections in ways that broaden and deepen our awareness and understandings of the larger issues of social justice, care for our environment, trauma and recovery, etc.

FORMATION:  Increase opportunities for Christian education, spiritual inquiry, and spiritual formation at every age and stage of life. 

STEWARDSHIP:  Develop and implement key components of year-round stewardship (per Holy Currencies) as we build on the current foundation of generosity of the people of St. Martin’s. 

Finally…

As noted, a full report on the process and outcomes will be made available to the Parish as a whole in late-July.  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Bob Polkinghorn