A Message to all Clergy and Wardens in the Diocese

We write to you as members of your diocesan Executive Board, who have been charged with implementing the mission, vision, and guiding principles for our diocese accepted at Council in January of 2012. We are excited about the possibilities for our life together in this new vision, and we would like to ask for your help in developing this vision among us.

The vision statement accepted by Council as part of the Sustainability Report reads:

In order to join in God’s mission in this time and place, the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia will be a household of congregations in which each parish will make known its blessings and challenges and desires of the heart, and diocesan leaders will respond tangibly through direct consultative services and building bridges between parishes and resources.

This vision invites conversation and exploration, as we unpack its ideas in terms that make sense on the ground in our congregations and circumstances. What would a “household of congregations” look like? Can you name a quality, or characteristic function of that household that you would like to see? How would our own parishes identify our “blessings and challenges and desires of the heart”? Can you name some specific examples? What barriers to communicating blessings and challenges and desires might we have to overcome? Is there parochialism or territorialism or mistrust among us that needs to be healed? How could diocesan leaders like the Bishop or a Canon Missioner facilitate this sharing? What sorts of “direct consultative services” and “building bridges” would really benefit our congregations? What new models of ministry or strategies for mission might emerge from our congregations? What local assets, partnerships, collaborations and resources do we presently share and how are they benefiting our common life? What are some of our best experiences of doing local/ regional ministry together? These are the kinds of questions we want to bring to conversation in the congregations — we want your help in developing this vision.

We will pursue this conversation in two ways: in person, and on the internet. In person, members of our Mission Strategy Working Group will visit with clericus groups around the diocese in early summer to explore these questions. We will then look ahead to broader conversations with clergy and lay leaders of congregations in September. On the internet, this letter will be posted in a blog (diocesanvision.blogspot.com), where further blog entries and online replies can continue to share observations and insights and questions and new ideas. Through these channels, we hope to build the vision by embodying the vision: to develop our networking by networking.

This is an important time for our diocese, as we embrace the results of the Sustainability Report accepted at our 93rd Diocesan Council, and prepare together for the election and ministry of our sixth Bishop. The visioning we share together will shape our common life for many years to come. We hope you and your congregation will be actively involved in these ongoing conversations.

Yours in Christ,

The Executive Board Working Group on Mission StrategyHelen Beasley, Chris Mason, Amy Nordberg, Paul Nancarrow, Stephen Stanley, Barkley Thompson