5 Strategic Plan Needs Your Feeback T


he Strategic Planning Committee has been meeting throughout 2010 in an effort


to create a refreshed strategic plan for our diocese. According to the Rev. Paige Blair, they are, “building on the work done in 2007, including using the Baptismal Covenant as the heart, and placing a priority on the plan having an incarnational and contextual reality. It is a plan unique to our context, and not something that could be a plan for Any Diocese USA or other good-works organizations, but is truly our plan based on the mission God has called us to in this time and this place.”


The committee seeks input and feedback from as many Episcopalians in our diocese as possible (this means you). Please read through the following parts and send your thoughts to the Rev Paige Blair: pblair1@earthlink.net.


Preamble In the Incarnation, God takes on human form in Jesus Christ. This foundational moment in God’s saving work signals the mission of those who are called to be disciples of Christ and ambassadors of the Gospel. This is the mission of God in Christ: to cross the border between the divine and human—to heal division, to make the broken whole, and to defeat death. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, God has called the Church into being to advance the mission of God and to echo God’s own boundary crossing so, as Paul says to the Galatian Church, all may be “one in Christ.”


The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego embraces this mission. We are placed in a unique mission field. Situated on our nation’s border and as a veritable gateway to the Pacific Rim, we are a place of multiple cultures and communities. In addition, we are home to one of the highest concentrations of military personnel in the country, many of whom make this region their home in retirement. In this area, we find some of the most affluent communities in the nation and many of the poorest.


In a world marred by sin, difference breeds fear, which leads to separation, which can spark greater differentiation. In all of this, the seeds of human suffering may be sown. As a diocese, we embrace this particularity of place and time. We are pilgrims who cross borders, not to make others more like us, but to come to understand, befriend and invite them into the


“one Body and one Spirit.”


The mystery and miracle of our journey of faith is that in these liminal places, where borders are crossed and strangers become friends, we find ourselves paradoxically more in the presence of Jesus and more truly becoming the body of Christ for the world.


This is truly our plan based on the mission God has called us to in this time and this place.


In the conviction that God is always guiding and inspiring, we present this plan as our sense of how we will join in God’s mission. God’s mission is alive. And we are privileged to join in that mission.


Our Mission The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego: a missionary community that dares to follow Jesus Christ in his life of fearless love for the world.


Our Vision Undeterred by borders or barriers, we are pilgrims with Jesus in relentlessly searching for others to know, befriend, and invite to Christ’s Eucharistic table of reconciliation and sacrificial love.


Our Baptismal Covenant as lived in our context.


Worship and Formation Will you continue in the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship, the breaking of the bread,


Mutual Ministry Review W


By Suzanne Foucault and the Rev. Wes Hills


e have each been given gifts that differ according to the grace given us, and


the call to use them to live into the Gospel message. Mutual Ministry Review is a process by which the clergy and lay leaders of congregations evaluate their responsibility to that call.


In January, 85 members of our governing bodies, diocesan institutions, and clergy were surveyed about the character of diocesan ministry, specifically areas of strength and areas needing attention. A robust response of 67% was realized.


Bishop Mathes and the Standing Committee reviewed the results and came up with the following observations and conclusions:


The Bishop is recognized as a gifted pastor and strong leader. Bishop Mathes is known as an available, accessible pastor who listens to each of us, and all of us. He is also known


as a skilled administrative leader focused on building the church.


We have a strong, effective diocesan staff. The staff received the very highest marks for its cordial and welcoming attitude, and for being knowledgeable, effective problem- solvers. This is particularly impressive considering the challenges this past year of a down-sized staff, a reorganization of responsibilities, and the appointment of new incumbents.


We continue to grow into disciplined financial management. This discipline is based upon meeting two standards: fiscal transparency, and living within our means. In doing so, extremely difficult issues were weighed and decisions were made to close three mission congregations and to discontinue diocesan financial support of a fourth.


The demographics of diocesan leadership are reasonably distributed, with one exception. A disappointing note is that Latino representation in leadership circles dropped from 32% in January 2010 to 4% in January 2011. To some degree the decline is due to clergy retirements and/or lay persons moving out of the diocese. An encouraging note is that 40% of respondents have been members of the diocese 10 years or less, signifying that participation in leadership is open and does not necessarily require long tenure.


Ethnic ministry needs intentional, effective attention. Our greatest suffering this year has been the close of three mission congregations, two of which served non-Anglo, ethnic populations. This crisis makes it imperative that we focus our efforts on new means of ethnic ministry – efforts that should be of primary importance to all congregations and parishes, and to the Diocese at large.


MMR Continued on Page 8


and in the prayers? I will, with God’s help. With God’s help we are daring and fearless followers of Jesus, empowered by dynamic and transformative worship and spiritual formation practices and programs.


Repentance and Reconciliation Will you resist evil, and whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? I will with God’s help. With God’s help we value repentance and reconciliation, acknowledging when we have turned away from God and from one another, seeking wholeness and healing by turning back to God and one another. In this we seek to be a welcome and open community for all. If you have turned away from God; if you have tried to follow Jesus and have failed, or are trying for the first time; you are welcome here.


Evangelism Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of Jesus Christ? I will, with God’s help. With God’s help we are agents of the Kingdom of God who instinctively live and share the Good News of Jesus Christ within our communities and without, feeding those who are hungry to hear and receive the transforming Good News.


Outreach Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? I will, with God’s help. With God’s help we bridge the several borders God calls us to transcend by offering our time, talent and treasure for the transformative inbreaking of God’s kingdom, and so meet Christ face to face in the hearts and lives of our neighbors near and far.


Advocacy Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? I will, with God’s help. With God’s help, we offer our voices and presence to confront the brokenness in our lives and the systems of which we are a part with the healing and transforming power of the love of Jesus Christ. X


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