Results of the BC Retreat

It's been a week since we had our Bishop's Committee Retreat, and I've had sometime to reflect on it.

We held our retreat at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Bainbridge Island. The Rector, The Rev. Dennis Tierney, was gracious enough to let us use "A Room with a View", a cozy room that was just right for our needs. Our retreat was led by Sue Clary, a trained facilitator for the Diocese of Olympia and a member of the faculty of the College for Congregational Development.

Sue led us in a number of team-building exercises that helped us loosen up and get a sense of who we are as a team. She had us line up across the room according to how long we've been at St. Antony's; how long we've been Episcopalians; and how long we've been BC members. Then she asked us to sort ourselves into the four corners of the room according to how we think we fit into these criteria: Action, Meaning, Structure, and Caring. It was fascinating to perceive how we see ourselves, and I think we learned a lot.

Sue asked us all to read the Vicar's Annual Report that came out in January, and we began our discussion on the topics raised in it, especially the need for re-structuring. After much discussion about the purpose and mission of our church and how to accomplish them, we came up with the idea that we'll have a "Transition Year" to help us move from Commissions to Teams.

At present we have a number of Commissions, each of which is headed by a BC member. We want to move to a Team approach, so that each Commission becomes a Team which has team members from the congregation and is led by a congregation member. BC members will still function with the team, but not necessarily as the head of the team. The idea is to have more grass-roots participation. We hope to have teams of people that meet as needed to work together.

Here are the teams we came up with:

• Welcoming Team (formerly the Evangelism Commission) - responsible for evangelism, greeters, bulletins, reader board, advertising, new members.
• Support Team (formerly the Finance and Administration Commission) - responsible for administration, stewardship, office, fundraising, and team support. The Vicars and Wardens are part of this team.
• Environmental team - responsible for building and grounds
• Worship Team (formerly the Worship, Liturgy, and Music Commission) - to act as support and advice to the Vicar
• Parish Life Team - same responsibilities as the Parish Life Commission
• Youth Team - same as Youth Commission
• Faith Formation Team - responsible for Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and Adult Ed offerings
• Outreach Team - same responsibility as the Outreach Commission

At our next meeting on March 18, we'll talk more about how we'll implement these changes and clarify just what each team is supposed to do. Then we'll present our plans to the congregation and get feedback.

I think it was a very productive retreat and we generated a lot of excitement. We said, "Wow, we've got some good ideas that honor the past and help us invite more participation by the congregation. Great!"

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