Back to the Basics Vestry School Saturday, March 5, 2011

Back to the Basics Due to copyright, the cartoon that appeared here is not reproduced. Visit

Back to the Basics  It’s NOT OK that congregations struggle with  Deteriorating buildings  Dwindling memberships  Minimal budget the Church no longer has role in Public Discourse we’re locked in antagonistic relationships

Back to the Basics  It’s NOT OK that old models of organization have decayed young people raised in the church have left and we have not attracted any to replace them theological and liturgical changes meant to grow the Church have left it smaller and irrelevant

The Church is NOT OK Back to the Basics

 What does it mean to be a Christian Leader in an Episcopal congregation? Christian 101 Leadership 101 Polity of the Episcopal Church 101

Christianity 101  From “An Outline of the Faith” – “What is Holy Baptism?”  “Holy Baptism is the sacrament by which God adopts us as his children and makes us members of Christ’s Body, the Church, and inheritors of the kingdom of God.”

Christianity 101

 Jesus’ Baptism marked his true identity  Jesus’ Baptism marked his kinship with God  Jesus’ Baptism propelled his ministry of love  Our Baptism marks our true identity  Our Baptism marks our kinship with God and with one another  Our Baptism SHOULD propel our ministry of love

Christianity 101  From “An Outline of the Faith” – “What is the duty of all Christians?”  “The duty of all Christians is to follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray and give for the spread of the Kingdom of God.”

Christianity 101  “The duty of all Christians... Follow Christ Work for the spread of the Kingdom of God Pray Give

Christianity 101  Belonging to a Christian Community doesn’t make you a Christian any more than walking into your garage makes you a car  It’s believing, and acting on that belief, each and every moment of your life that makes you a Christian

Leadership 101 Due to copyright, the cartoon that appeared here is not reproduced. Visit

Leadership 101  “Leadership Style Indicator” – from packet (You can find both the Indicator and the Scoring Mechanism at ) Circle number indicating your agreement #1 Strongly Disagree to #5 Strongly Agree

Leadership 101  Transfer scores from the Indicator to the grid on the second page of the Indicator  Take care to subtract the score you awarded to the questions given in the final row of the grid. This will give scores for each of the Leadership Styles. For some the scores may be clustered quite closely together, others will have more variation - this is a function of how closely you grouped your scoring.

Leadership 101  Pioneering Leadership Style  Strategic Leadership Style  Management/Administration Leadership Style  Team Leadership Style  Pastoral Leadership Style  Encouraging Leadership Style

Leadership 101  Again – The Leadership Style Indicator and the Scoring Mechanism can be found at:

Leadership 101  Story of the Exodus – God had a purpose for their journey - vision God provided manna to sustain them – trust The journey, not the destination, shaped them  Moses – Pioneering Leadership Style  Aaron – Management Leadership Style  The irony of the leadership dance

Leadership 101  Max DePree – on leadership “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader (and I might add leaders – as the whole Vestry or Bishop’s Committee) must become a servant and a debtor. That sums up the progress of an artful leader.”

Leadership 101  “The End to Business as Usual” Vestry’s job is to run the congregation Goal is to keep longtime members happy They have skills to do the work of the Vestry NOT

Leadership 101  Vestries need to think about congregations future  Take risks & make radical commitment to change  Seek methodologies that suit this era  Vestries need to be savvy about church systems  Need consistent and accurate metrics  Vestries need to listen to the marketplace

Leadership 101 “If vestries stepped back from day-to-day operations, took on entrepreneurial attitudes, learned from others, got smart about church dynamics, made a radical and informed commitment to engaging a changing world, and stopped blaming the recession, they could turn this decline around quickly and set a new growth era in motion. But business as usual will sink us.”

Leadership 101  Episcopal Church Foundation Web Site: practices/the -end-to-business-as-usual  Church Wellness Web Site: wellness/project-materials/leadership- development/

Leadership 101 “Stop asking God to bless what you’re doing. Get involved with what God is doing – because it’s already blessed.”

Episcopal Polity 101  As members of the Episcopal Church we have several things that free leadership from the burden of micro-managing the parish The Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church The Constitution and Canons of the Diocese of FdL The Book of Common Prayer The traditions of the Diocese and the Congregation

Episcopal Polity 101

 National Constitution: Outlines structure of The Episcopal Church  National Canons: Title I – Rights & Responsibilities of laity Title II – Worship of the Episcopal Church Title III – Ministry of Church; Lay & Ordained Title IV – Disciplinary Process

Episcopal Polity 101 The Constitution and Canons Of The Diocese of Fond du Lac And Rules of Order And Other Official Information Amended and Revised by the 135th Annual Diocesan Convention 2009 Meeting in Minocqua, Wisconsin

 Diocesan Constitution and Canons – examples How to live together as separate congregations Responsibilities of Diocesan Committees Officers every congregation must have Financial accountability of each congregation It’s in there! Episcopal Polity 101

Constitution and Canons of National Church and the Diocese of Fond du Lac found on Diocesan web site at

Episcopal Polity 101

 BCP frees leadership in congregation from having to outlining and structure worship selecting Scripture for use on Sundays  Rubrics in BCP free leaders from deciding who does what, when what to require regarding the Sacraments

Episcopal Polity 101  Traditions of diocese and congregation help when your priest retires  Diocese has “best practices” to aid the search when to hold Annual Meeting in a congregation with a lot of “snow birds”

Back to the Basics You have been Baptized with the power of the Holy Spirit to respond to Jesus’ call to serve God and serve your neighbor.

Back to the Basics You have been elected by members of your congregation to be leaders; respond by being a leader that will move the congregation into a better future, leading and helping them serve God and their neighbor.

Back to the Basics You have been given helpful boundaries in the “Constitution and Canons” and The Book of Common Prayer to free you to do this work of service.

Back to the Basics NOW - - “Go in peace to love and SERVE the Lord.”