Many thanks to Sr. Warden Kerry Nelson for reporting vestry decisions in last week’s Transition Update. One of those commitments is to pursue consolidation with another Episcopal church — to create a path whereby St. James will sustain its mission and create its future — taking to the consolidated parish, not only some of our people, but also our ministries, partnerships, traditions and artifacts.
The vestry voted to begin by looking in two directions simultaneously. In one direction, we’ll explore consolidation with St. Luke’s in Minneapolis. In the other, with St. Mary’s in St. Paul. Why those two? Two reasons: they’ve expressed interest in consolidating with us and our recent straw poll at St. James revealed among us strong interest in them. The vestry’s intention is to offer to all of St. James sufficient detail to hold a parish vote — to choose one with which we’ll develop a full consolidation plan.
On one level, everyone is invited to participate in this work. In the coming months, worship at St. James will be suspended on two Sundays. On one of them, we’ll all be encouraged to attend St. Luke’s, on the other to attend St. Mary’s. Similarly, two Sundays will be set aside where we will invite the people of St. Luke’s and St. Mary’s to attend St. James. Various activities will encourage feedback about our experiences.
Much of the heavy lifting in upcoming months will be done by a team of five people. Hoping to join with similar teams from both St. Luke’s and St. Mary’s the team will look systematically at the elements of consolidation: worship, education and service of course and also, music, finances, governance, communication, coffee hours, and much more. How are we different? How are we the same? The team will draw on a myriad of documents developed by various St. James committees in years past. And the work will be lightened by the fact that we’ve invited St. Luke’s and St. Mary’s into these conversations precisely because we already have so much in common.
Fr. William, Kerry Nelson, Cliff Athorn, Rosemary Caspar, and Tony Morley have agreed to serve on our team of five. Collectively, they bring to the table deep understanding of virtually every facet of life at St. James. And they know the people to call on for what they don’t already know. Maybe as early as our Annual Meeting in January, maybe not till 2-3 months later, they’ll offer a plan. Qualified voters of St. James will choose one or the other — St. Luke’s or St. Mary’s — as our consolidation partner. Detailed planning and engagement will follow.
We understand that consolidation will never work for everyone at St. James, and that fact is part of what makes this work so hard. But the vestry is committed to support and respect individuals no matter what routes they choose for their futures. Each route will generate its own stories; each creates new opportunities to share with one another.
A final aside. Neal Cuthbert, Greg Fedio, Rebecca Hamblin and Louise Robinson have been seeking out people involved in recent closures of nearby Episcopal churches. And Tony and I will meet this afternoon with a north shore acquaintance who served as a lay leader during the consolidation of three Lutheran churches. St. James is not alone in what we seek to do; there’s much we can learn from others.
Ruth Anne Olson,
Transition Coordinator
