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Strategic Planning

Planning for St. Paul’s Future!

An Update from your Strategic Planning Committee

June 29, 2017 

Dear Parish Community, 
 
We are writing today with an update about St. Paul’s Strategic Planning process, and information about how you can be involved with this important work of discerning God’s hopes for the future of St. Paul’s. 
 
As you may recall, during Lent the Vestry initiated a visioning process for St. Paul’s, designed to identify a handful of high-level strategic goals to guide our shared ministry together over the next five years. The Vestry then chartered a Strategic Planning Committee to design and implement opportunities for every parishioner at St. Paul’s to provide input about your expectations of and hopes for the future of our church. The Committee will report our findings back to the Vestry in the first part of 2018, so that they can inform the drafting of strategic goals for the church.  
 
We are excited to announce two ways that you will be invited to participate. From late August through early October, we will be hosting several focus groups of roughly a dozen parishioners each. These “holy conversations” will be an opportunity to consider our individual and collective experiences, hopes, passions, and concerns for the next chapter in the life of St. Paul’s. Rather than planning sessions for definitive solutions, these will be times for sharing and reflecting, as well as imagining the directions we hope our parish will take in the next five years. They will be facilitated by members of the Committee.  
 
All members of our church family are encouraged to let their voices be heard: young and young at heart, male and female, weekly worshippers and those who visit just on Christmas or Easter. Whether you donate much of your time to church ministries or you quietly worship and observe from the sidelines, we want to hear from you! There will also be a parish-wide online survey that every parishioner (whether or not you attend a focus group) will be asked to complete in November. More details about the survey will be announced in the fall. 
 
Our initial set of focus group dates is listed below. Please take a moment now to click this link and sign up for one of the focus groups that fits your schedule.  You can also sign up on sheets that will be posted in the church Library after the 4th of July.  If all focus groups fill, we will add additional dates/times.  

  • Tue., Aug 29: 7pm to 9pm @ the home of Susan and Alex Brough 
  • Thu., Sept. 14: 7pm to 9pm @ the home of Christine and Donald Thompson 
  • Wed., Sept. 20: 7pm to 9pm @ the home of John and Emily Mitchell 
  • Mon., Sept. 25: 7pm to 9pm @ the home of Sharon and Jack Healey 
  • Sun., Oct. 1: 1pm to 3pm @ St. Paul’s Church 
  • Wed., Oct. 4: 7pm to 9pm  @ the home of Christine and Donald Thompson A special focus group with our middle & high schoolers will also be planned in the fall. 

We look forward to hearing from many of you over the next several months. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact or approach any members of the committee.  

Very truly yours, 
John Mitchell (chair), Nancy Saunders, Betsey Anderson, Bob Scoville, Helen Pulizzi, Christine Thompson, Alex Brough, Cecelia Parks, and Rev. Chris Wendell 
Strategic Planning Committee 

Outreach

The Outreach Committee coordinates congregational activities such as regular mission trips and Bread for the World’s annual Offering of Letters. In addition, we participate locally in the Bedford Community Table and Food Pantry, the Diocese’s B-SAFE summer youth program, several knitting ministries (including Project Linus), and other local activities.

Worship & Music

Worship is the centerpiece of our life together in Christ. Our adult choir sings at every Sunday service. We rehearse at 7:00pm on Thursday evenings and 9:00am on Sunday mornings, before church. The children’s choir sings approximately once a month, on Family Sundays, and rehearses Sundays after church.

Education

At St. Paul’s we believe that we are all continually striving to understand our relationship with God more fully. Children’s education on Sundays uses the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd for preschoolers and a Kairos model for elementary ages. High school and middle school youth groups meet monthly. Adult education takes place through study groups and learning forums.

Fellowship

St. Paul’s is a family of God, and as a family, we enjoy being together, sharing our time, our interests, and our faith. We share food and fellowship at weekly and annual events throughout the year. We also provide meals, rides, prayers, and other support for our members in times of need through our Inreach Committee.

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