Vision for Mission

Dear St. Paul’s Community,

Last month the Vision 4 Mission Committee held a dialogue with the Congregation at a Sunday morning forum and received good feedback on the Value Statements, Vision Statement, and Mission Statement drafted by the Committee during the fall. Thanks to the input, the Committee altered the language of the Faith Value statement from “Obedient to our Christ-centered faith, we gather at God’s table, honoring our Anglican heritage through, liturgy, music and the arts to “Grounded in our Christ-centered faith…” The congregation suggested that the altered wording better represented the more wide-ranging nature of our faith experience at St. Paul’s., and the Committee agreed. Chapter approved the revision at its meeting on March 3.

During last week’s workshop, in addition to considering the Congregation’s suggestion to revise language in the Faith Values Statement, the Vision 4 Mission Committee also reviewed data gathered by the Current Status Analysis (CSA) subcommittee, heard a presentation on conditions favorable for multicultural and multigenerational ministry by the Rev. Colin Mathewson, and considered and edited draft goal statements in the areas of Worship, Christian Formation, Music & the Arts, Cathedral for the Diocese and the City, Outreach and Justice and Community in the context of the data gathered by the CSA subcommittee.

The data gathered and included in a report by the CSA subcommittee considered Cathedral strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, some of which were detailed in the CAT survey conducted in concert with the Dean search in 2013 and others which emerged from research by the committee. The committee worked to consider the data assembled in the report in the context of Goal Statements, drafted over several weeks by a subcommittee. The data informed the editing of the goal statements and will inform the development of strategic objectives at the next meeting on March 24.

A separate blog post on these results is forthcoming, and the report will be available for the Congregation to read at our Vision for Mission website.

Please feel free to contact any committee member with questions, suggestions or feedback. Also, please visit the website within the Cathedral website to provide information and feedback on any aspect of the Vision 4 Mission process, or on any matter you believe will inform our work.

Blessings and peace,

Susan Hulbert

Vision 4 Mission Committee

MISSION STATEMENT Love Christ; Serve Others; Welcome All VISION STATEMENT: St. Paul’s Cathedral serves as a center of transformative love, faith and service; an inclusive, Christ-centered community that welcomes all people on their journey of faith VALUE STATEMENTS: Community—Journeying together, we honor and nurture each person and family as cherished members of our community in Christ Abundance—We give thanks for the abundance of God’s gifts to all, enriching the entire community Service—Dedicating to Christ our service to the world, we strive for justice and peace, as we care for God’s creation Faith—Grounded in our Christ-centered faith, we gather at God’s table, honoring our Anglican heritage through liturgy, music and arts Love-We welcome Christ in all persons, wherever they are, and love each one as Christ loves us.

Vision for Mission (V4M) is a diverse committee of St Paul’s congregants, gathered for a year-long self-study, to determine who we are and who we want to be. This process will help develop a strategic plan for the Cathedral. You can keep up with their activities here on the blog using this link: V4M