All Saints' Church Strategic Planning Profile
At All Saints’ Church we gather to know Christ and to make him known. All Saints’ is a deeply spiritual community grounded in liturgical worship. There is an abiding sense of community that we highly value. Yet, we are open to the stranger and the visitor. In fact, we are known as a warm and welcoming community. One concrete result of this is that we are blessed with people of different backgrounds and nationalities- more than is typically found in congregations of the diocese. We seek God’s guidance in responding to the issues plaguing our world.
We are blessed with highly competent and godly clergy and lay leaders. Our financial management and stewardship are outstanding. Our property is expertly managed. We have substantial investment accounts managed by the Diocesan Investment Trust. Our clergy lead worship and preach in ways that draw us closer to God.
We are blessed to have Cheryl Minor, an internationally recognized leader in Godly Play, managing our program and our Godly Play outreach to the Global Montessori school and the larger community.
In recent years we have embraced brave change by making dramatic changes to our worship space, welcoming the Global Montessori school as a partner, conducting a successful capital campaign, installing a lift, and creating a welcoming and accessible Clark Street entrance. After years of discussion and debate, we made the move to create an online giving option which has been widely embraced especially in light of the current pandemic.
We have remained connected to the diocese through clergy service on diocesan council, the deanery executive committee, deanery clericus and lay involvement in the deanery assembly. Our capital campaign was done collaboratively with the diocese and connected us to efforts to build intentional Christian communities and to serve the Roxbury/Dorchester communities.
Our outreach has focused on the Global Montessori school, the Bristol Lodge feeding program, the Mission of Hope in Haiti and the Godly Play outreach to the Latter-Day Saints community in Belmont.
When the COVID-19 crisis began, we were early adopters of online worship. This has led to exponential growth in virtual worship attendance. Amidst the financial crunch of reduced rental income, we committed to installing a permanent live streaming system. We have not yet grasped the implications of this dramatic shift.
The expansion in our virtual life has us wondering how we can leverage this technology to deepen our community connections perhaps through small groups and other forms of virtual connecting which diminishes the obstacles of space and time. We are wondering how we can deepen in person connections as well We are wondering how to help our clergy focus their time and energy most efficiently.
We are wondering if we have capacity to expand lay engagement in administrative tasks and if we can further leverage technology to that end. We are wondering if we are doing all that we can to nurture our youth. We are wondering if we have the capacity to extend our outreach efforts or perhaps change direction to make room for new initiatives.
We remain committed to our spiritual identity, and liturgical worship. We will continue to entrust the shape of the liturgy to our clergy. We remain committed to the deep sense of community, solid administration and wise stewardship. We will continue to be a Godly Play congregation. We look to the future with hope and grateful anticipation.
Drawing in our internet congregation in some way
Deepening connections through technology (small groups?)
Deepening in-person connections
Help clergy focus time and energy efficiently
Expand lay engagement in administrative tasks
Youth ministry
Review, contract or expand outreach, e.g. deeper community engagement, Bristol Lodge, Montessori School, Haiti, new initiatives?
