Approved: A Plan for Parish Development

The Rev. Kerri Brennan presented a Plan for Parish Development (Action 10 of the strategic plan) that was adopted by Synod. She explained that the plan is all about equipping congregations with core knowledge and skills that are essential to thrive—particularly during times of change. “It’s crucial that we understand how healthy parishes work and how to work within our parishes,” she said. “And this knowledge and skill development applies across our diocese regardless of our location, whether we live and work in rural towns, villages, suburbia or in urban towns.”

The new plan builds on the knowledge and resources gained when the diocese participated in the School for Parish Development, a two-year program offered before the pandemic. It will also incorporate educational and training resources from other Shape of Parish Ministry actions that can be expanded into program modules, Brennan said.

The modules will be short (maximum 30-minute) low-cost, slide-based videos, easily accessible from the diocesan website. The first modules produced will focus on five key areas:

1. parish governance
2. building healthy communities
3. visioning and priority-setting
4. effective stewardship
5. engaging with the wider community

The leadership teams of each parish and congregation (corporations and councils) will be expected to complete the modules in a timeframe that will be determined later, but others who are interested could also participate.

The modules will be reviewed, revised and redeveloped over time to ensure that current best practices are being made available and that content remains current and relevant, Brennan said, adding that feedback from parishes will help inform revisions and updates. The modules will also be complemented by other activities to be developed such as occasional in-person or online learning events, she added.

Parish development will be the responsibility of a subcommittee of the diocesan education committee and will work collaboratively with diocesan staff and other leaders and groups to produce the modules

The cost for producing the five modules is expected to be between $4,000 to $5,000. That sounds low, said Brennan, but explained that the cost is low because the videos will be short, slide-based with video overlay with the content developed in-house.

Brennan spoke on behalf of a task force of clergy and lay people who developed the plan, including the Rev. Matthew Brown, Leslie Giddings, the Rev. Canon Peter John Hobbs, Heather Maclachlan and the Rev. Rosemary Parker. — Staff