Report from St. James “Consolidation Team”
November 4, 2019
Cliff Athorn
The Consolidation Team was established early in October by Fr. William and Sr. Warden Kerry Nelson, and given the following charge:
“…develop two consolidation plans — one with St. Luke's and one with St. Mary's. The choice between them would then be determined by a vote of the parish.
Key to this work will be a group of 5-6 people from St. James, meeting (separately) with 5-6 counterparts from SL and SM. Their task would be (a) to identify areas of similarity & difference and (b) to "reconcile" each in order to achieve a new consolidated entity. Areas include:
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Governance & finance
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Worship
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Education (children, youth, adult)
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Service (including Haiti)
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Property (“personal” items like candlesticks, also building & grounds)
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Music
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Congregational life (including peace flags, coffee hour, elder profiles, rides for elders, St. James Delivers etc)
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Name for a consolidated parish
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Other?”
Three additional members have been recruited and the full team is now in place. Here’s a complete list of the team members:
Fr. William Heisley, priest
Kerry Nelson, senior warden
Cliff Athorn
Rosemary Caspar
Tony Morley
Ruth Anne Olson has also agreed to support the work of the team by taking notes at our meetings, and helping to manage communication with the vestry and congregation throughout our process.
At our first meeting, on Saturday November 2, we discussed our charge, and looked at the list of key aspects of our parish life and identity. We reorganized it a little bit, and assigned one or two of our team members to lead the work in each area. (We agreed that “Congregational life” is a broad but very important category, which will intersect in various ways with most, if not all, of the other categories, and agreed that discussions about a new name can be deferred still for a little while). Here’s a list of the categories and assignment we will use to organize our work:
Worship Fr. William and Rosemary
Education Rosemary and Tony
Service Tony
Music Cliff
Finance Cliff
Governance Kerry
Property Kerry and Fr. William
We recognized that the process of creating two separate scenarios for consolidation will require substantial communication within our parish, with our counterparts at each of the other parishes, and quite likely with the bishop or other officers of ECMN. We recognized the importance of carrying out this work in a timely manner, and noted the vestry’s intention to close the building on June 30, 2020. We also acknowledged that factors beyond our control might limit our ability to identify and address all of the issues surrounding this process within a prescribed timeline. We hope, as we dig into our work, to be able to draft a more detailed schedule for our work, which will reflect the vestry’s intentions while allowing for the thorough and thoughtful work this process will require.
We agreed to re-convene next Thursday, November 7, at 3:00 pm in the church gallery. In the meanwhile, we will all be working to draft brief reports for each of the categories we’ve been assigned, including summaries of our history, a description of our current status, and our hopes, potential, and aspirations for the future. We’ll be sharing that work with each other on Thursday, and then working together to develop that work into information we can share with our potential partners.
Finally, Fr. William reported to us on his recent discussions with clergy and wardens at St. Luke’s and St. Mary’s. Both churches are eager to engage with St. James as we explore our options and chart a path forward. To that end, both churches have invited members of St. James to join them in worship on a designated Sunday in the near future. The vestry has agreed that we should encourage all members to participate in these joint services, and Fr. William has now arranged that we will be joining St. Luke’s for their worship service on Sunday 11/17. Services will NOT be held at St. James on that day. We hope to be able to announce the date for visiting St. Mary’s in the near future. It now appears that neither of our prospective partners intend to cancel their Sunday services for a designated day to visit us here at St. James. But we will be encouraging the members of each congregation to join us at St. James for worship at any time in the coming months.
