Diocese adopts new vision statement

By Melinda C. Henderson, PhD
Member of the Standing Committee (2010)

On February 26, 2010, the 39^th Convention of the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast voted to accept new statements of Vision, Mission, Commitment and a Five Year Plan.  These documents are the compilation of: (1) the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon (Special) Committee to study the Diocese, Chaired by The Rev. Thack Dyson (2007-2009); (2) a two year visioning  and planning process by the Standing Committee, spurred by The Rev. Albert Kennington’s  2007 challenge to the group to meet its planning obligations outlined in Canon 9, Section 2,b; (3) feedback on the draft documents sent to commissions, coordinators and agencies in late summer of 2009; (4) inclusion of specific resolutions published from the General Convention; and (5) critiques received from experts external to the diocese who reviewed and scored the documents on specified criteria during December 2009 and January 2010.  In addition, a friendly amendment focused on the importance of Christian education for our children and youth was accepted by the convention delegates and will be prioritized into the Five Year Plan by the Standing Committee at an early meeting.

You may say, “Ho, Hum! Seems like a lot of work summarized onto a few sheets of paper.  What does it have to do with me?”  Well, it is not good enough to have a Vision if we don’t publicize it and if every member of the diocese doesn’t try to do their part to make the vision come true. Therefore, the Bishop has sent memos to all Chairmen of Commissions, Coordinators, Agencies, Boards, and Clergy/Congregations identifying the portions of the Five Year Plan that relate particularly to them.  The memos outline the process to follow in orienting members to the plan, assessing their usual and new activities in relation to the plan, how to seek help in implementing the plan (if needed) and how to report their progress (or lack of progress) in implementing the plan.

In case you think that individuals at the congregation level have been left out, you may need to review the plan.  If you are a leader in your church, or if you have a special interest in any of the policies, projects or programs proposed to achieve the outcomes that will eventually lead us to achieving our vision, please volunteer to assist in activities at the congregational level or at the commission level. You may download your personal copy of the Vision, Mission, Commitment Statements and the Five Year Plan at http://www.diocgc.org/vision-mission-commitment-five-year-plan/. You will notice that in order to evaluate our degree of success at next year’s convention (see the evaluation and time line columns on the right of the page) we need to have a good idea of where we were before starting to implement the plan and how specific commissions, etc. might help during 2010.  We hope the Diocesan Survey of Parishes/Missions completed by each congregation will provide baseline data to help answer these questions.  Please help us to get a survey back from every church.

As Plan Facilitator I will be available to help groups to implement the plan.  Groups will also have access to their Standing Committee liaison, or in the case of Clergy/Congregations to the Bishop, to assist in implementation of the plan or in meeting any reporting requirements. Feel free to contact me at mendych@aol.com with concerns or questions. As each of our commissions coordinators, agencies, and boards submit their annual reports in terms of the plan at the next convention and as clergy/congregations complete the survey for 2010 we will begin to see an overall picture of how we have worked together to begin achieving our mission and  vision.