At our recent Vestry-Staff-Leadership Retreat on Saturday, January, 9, 2010, Fr. Ken spent some time reviewing the St. Nicholas Parish Vision and translating what it meant in terms of an Operational Vision for 2010.  Both are worthy of your contemplation:

• Self-Support. Achieve the membership and financial resources necessary to support our mission, programs, and personnel and structures. 
  
  
• Membership. Complete and consolidate our transition from pastoral to program-size parish:  Total Average Sunday Attendance (ASA) of 150 or more.
  
  
• Financial Giving. Reach a level of giving which provides us with sufficient income to pay our budgeted expenses without financial assistance from the Diocese: 80% funded from estimated giving = 100 Giving Estimates @ $62 per week (currently at 70 @ $62).
  
  
• Ministries and Programs. Ministries, programs, and committees sustain themselves and support each other (each is a mini spiritual community called to a particular mission, goals, and tasks, in support of the larger parish vision).
  
  
• Leadership: The Next Generation. Prepare the next generation of leadership by shifting the focus of our roles.
  
  
  • Rector: from managing to leading/visioning.
    
    
  • Vestry: from supervising and coordinating to planning, recruiting, and training.
    
    
  • All Leaders: cultivate emerging program leadership and doer-ship.
  
  
  
• Priorities. Decisions, actions, structures, and processes evaluated as to how they support our top vision priorities: (1) depth of engagement, (2) spiritual maturity, (3) membership growth, and (4) financial self-sufficiency.
  
  
• Balance between Doing Church and Being Church. We need to learn how to balance our practical priorities (sufficient financial resources to pay our bills and human resources to provide essential programs) and our spiritual priorities (continuing to be a “Place to Belong” and a “Place to Become”). We need to grow but we need to grow for the right reasons.