This past week was a pretty big one, starting with the Vestry Stewardship Dinner on Monday evening, then the vestry overnight retreat Friday-Saturday, and finally the Stewardship Sunday and Lunch. I am very grateful to our vestry who really put in the time this week for the benefit of this parish.

While we were at the retreat on Saturday, Rev. Andrea Mysen (Bishop’s staff) joined us to present our CAT survey results- there was some good information in there, and it has created many brainstorms and ideas as a result. The vestry and I have decided to share this information with you in subsequent Sword articles between now and the annual meeting; there is so much data, and we learned so much from Andrea, and I cannot wait to share it with you. Part of the benefit of using Holy Cow Consulting is that they can compare us to over 1500 other churches. Thank you for taking the time to complete this valuable survey! 

Today is the first of these: this one has made me extremely proud of the work we have done over the last seven years. Take a look at this chart (click to enlarge) with the 2015 and 2022 data points marked:

Rev. Andrea said that we are only the second church she has ever seen move from Low/Low to High/High. And to think that this has happened in spite of the challenges of COVID. This also shows that St. Michael’s has much further to go to continue the journey to a parish who is ready for transformation. Over the next couple of months, we will talk about a specific aspect of our common church life. Nearly every index showed some improvement since 2015! And within each area is plenty of room for more growth and transformation.

Perhaps I will offer a warning here: transformation brings with it change, grief, letting go of the past, and sometimes walking into the unknown future (as you have already experienced!).  Change and Transformation can bring joy with the new, and it can also bring heartache and pain as we let go of the past… Hang in there, St. Michael’s, God has more in store for us yet! And take heart- you are doing the hard work and change to positively move this parish into its next 75 years.

God bless,

Jesse