Fine-tuning the Vision…

was a Diocese of Niagara workshop held at St. Christopher’s, Burlington, on Saturday, October 1st with numerous “vision champions” from our parish and many others checking how we are doing pursuing the diocesan vision and recalculating the direction in which we are collectively heading. We were represented by several visionary members of the Church of the Incarnation. Here are some of their testimonies (with the possibility of more to follow later).

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A Continuous Culture of Innovation

In my opinion, the Diocesan Vision Day was one of the most positive, energetic and meaningful events ever held by the Diocese. In my group (A Continuous Culture of Innovation), we spent the morning describing ways in which our parishes were trying to create new ways of ministering to our communities. This sharing of ideas about how we were "living the vision" was very helpful to me, in that I felt that Inca is not alone, both in terms the challenges we face around attraction and retention of members, and the blessings we receive when we reach out to others in the name of Christ. In the afternoon, we watched 3 videos showing very unique ways in which various parishes were reinventing the very definition of Church:

• In one case, by holding a monthly drop-in service in a pub, featuring videos for round-table conversation afterwards, performances by local musicians, and of course, BEER!
• In another, a parish that reacted to a string of break-ins by youth wanting to skateboard in the church by creating a weekly "Skateboard Worship", which combined skating with prayer and scripture in a truly moving way
• In a third case, an example of a parish that recognized the need for a Community Centre for local youngsters by not only offering programs, but by totally renovating their building to create the ideal space for dance, music and art classes that have built an authentic and real bridge to a community in need.

The result of the day was, for me, a renewed sense of my firm belief that the future growth (or survival) of the Anglican Church lies in finding ways to break down the barriers between the formal "Church World" and the secular world, even if that means literally breaking down or shedding the bricks and mortar that currently define us. We need to go into the world instead of waiting for the world to come to us!

- Peter Heys

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Prophetic Social Justice-making

I was honoured to be the parish representative of the “Prophetic Social Justice Making” section of the Diocesan vision workshop. It was an extraordinary opportunity to meet with other parishes in the Diocese of Niagara and help the Bishop review the Diocesan Vision. This is not unlike the periodic reviews of Incarnation’s Ministerial Covenant that the Parochial Committee, Priest-in-charge and the Diocese facilitate once every 6 months. At the beginning of the session, we broke up into small groups to reflect on how the Diocesan Vision was being fulfilled in our individual parishes and these experiences were posted in Vision categories for all to see. Seeing the enormous cloud of activity around Social Justice, my first thought was: Wow!; the next thought was: what more can we discuss, apparently Prophetic Social Justice Making is a fait accompli! But as I found out, there is always more!

The day was broken up into two sections. In the morning, we reviewed the Vision’s goals, indicators and objectives. Some objectives were date specific and already completed, others were waiting for the installation of the Social Justice coordinator in the Diocese (Bill Mous). It was agreed that more work needed to be done in forging community partnerships and many were interested in receiving a list of Social Justice contacts from other parishes. There was also an animated discussion around charity and justice with a concern that both kinds of work should be valued with in the Vision’s objective. In the afternoon there was a learning session where representatives from St. Christopher discussed their experiences in moving from charity to justice through their Community Supper program to the local community.

- Anne Moniuk

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Life-changing Worship

I was one of the representatives from Incarnation at the “Visioning” day at St. Christopher’s in Burlington. I felt that the day was important for me for a couple of reasons.

First, it gave me a chance to hear what other parishes are doing to reach out to their respective communities, as well as how their worship is conducted within their congregational communities. I was inspired by stories of outreach that ranged from community gardens to lunches for students and seniors to partnering with outside organizations. Within the Sunday morning worship time, I was struck by the importance placed on the music, regardless of the parish, and how it gathered the church community and facilitated a spirit of worship. There is a great spectrum of musical genres represented by the churches in our region, but regardless of style, the essence of the musical experience in worship continues to be a high priority.

Second, it was an important opportunity to feel more connected to the wider community of Anglican churches of Niagara and the leadership of our region. I met several people working out of the head office in Hamilton and as a result, also have a better sense of the resources available to us as worship leaders. I was part of a workshop led by one of our own, Janet Hope, who has been active in the planning of these sessions. Finally, I was impressed by the active role Incarnation has taken within the wider Niagara diocese. We were well represented at this session.

- Charlene Pauls