A place to grow
Each year St. Mark’s begins with seeds, planted in little cups and placed by a window, waiting for sunlight to stream in. These seeds grow into tender seedlings bursting out of the rich, moist soil. They are transplanted to a raised garden bed, where they are fed, and watered, and where the weeds around them are routinely removed. When they bear their fruit, the produce is carried to the community food bank, where our hungry neighbors are able to take them home, and place them on their table.
St. Mark’s is a place to grow.
It’s a place to grow closer in our connection to God. It’s a place to grow closer to the needs of the world, which God places on our hearts. It’s a place to grow among and with other people, from diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
St. Mark’s is a place to grow while worshipping, while singing, while painting, or while teaching a Sunday School class. It’s a place where people grow through a seminar on marriage, a walk on the labyrinth, attending the rector’s forum, or through serving a meal to the hungry.
It’s a place where the waters of baptism, the bread and wine of the Eucharist, and the Word of God feed us, that we might sprout, and bloom, and reach for the light which shines from above.
Come. Grow. Here.
Goals
Over the next triennium, the rector and the vestry will be chiefly focused on growing the spirituality of our current parishioners, growing our membership, and our Average Sunday Attendance (ASA).
We will form small groups dedicated to individual faith formation, with the purpose of inspiring participants to share their faith with others in authentic ways.
We will launch an Alpha program to reach out to the larger community.
We will continuously examine our worship so that it best serves the needs of our current parishioners and is attractive to those who are not yet our members.
Objectives
To have ~20 parishioners engaged in small groups the first year, growing to 40 in three years.
To grow our ASA by 30% in three years, going from 115 to 150.
20 kids as a baseline in Sunday School each week by the end of the Triennium.
Significantly expand the base of Sunday School teachers to accommodate this growth
At least three “Outreach Sundays” a year, encouraging all children and youth to bring a friend.
Set a series of benchmarks for Christian Education.
The vestry will be focused on the pressing needs of our deteriorating facilities.
The most pressing needs (HVAC system, the church floor, and the exterior of the chapel) will be addressed as soon as the funds become available.
The buildings and grounds committees will compile a list of other needs which can be tackled by parish work parties, and directed gifts.
Luke 8:5-8
A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.
Triennial Vision launched on Easter 2017
