Next steps for CCC: Charting the Course into God's dream for us.

We've been together at Christ Church Cathedral for five and a half years. We have said goodbye to old friends and welcomed new ones. We have seen many changes and also many things that have stayed the same. It is a pilgrimage -- a journey together that is not just about us changing the world but about us being changed.

We're just getting started, and I'm writing to update you on the work your Chapter has been doing, the next stages of this journey and the part I hope you will play.

Last year, we had house meetings where we identified five core values that we shared as a Cathedral, the foundational principles on which we are built.

Spirituality and Faith

Diversity

Growth

Service

Communication

From those values, Chapter crafted a mission statement that we presented at the annual meeting in January. A mission statement tells us our basic purpose. It should answer the questions “Why do we exist?” and “What, at the most basic level, do we do?" For us that is:

We seek a deeper relationship with God and each other in Jesus Christ through:

*Celebrating the sacraments faithfully.

*Proclaiming the Gospel boldly

*Embracing diversity joyfully

*Serving all passionately 

as a Cathedral.

By themselves, mission statements are just words unless they can be translated into meaningful actions. That has been the work of your Chapter this year. The work of translating our mission into a vision of God's dream for our future and concrete steps of how to get there.

We are blessed to be led in this work by our own Dr. James Kimmey, member of Chapter, longtime Cathedral member, and someone who has led organizations as large as the Missouri Foundation for Health and colleges of St. Louis University through strategic planning processes. Beginning this spring, Jim has led us through a process that will end with our Eucharistic Annual Meeting on Sunday, January 11, where we will commit to our goals for 2015 ... our next steps in becoming the Cathedral God dreams for us to be.

Chapter began by revisiting the values that came out of the house meetings, fleshing them out, and adding one that we believe is equal to the others in its importance to us: Respect.  

Spirituality and Faith: We see the face of God in everyone.

Diversity: As God's children, we welcome all.

Growth: We cultivate relationships that help us grow as individuals, as a faith community and as a civic partner.

Service: We actively answer the call: "What gifts can I share with others?"

Communications: We use communications to inform, to engage and to express who we are as a faith community.

Respect: We treat one another as blessed images of God.

Chapter also created a vision statement. Whereas a mission statement says "why we exist," a vision statement describes our heavenly Jerusalem -- what we will look like when our mission is accomplished. It is what we measure ourself against when we ask the question: "How are we doing?"

The vision Chapter has developed is:

Christ Church Cathedral is a place where people, all people, can gather to seek God and to be present to each other while being a catalyst for change and growth within the wider community.

Last night, Chapter affirmed this mission, vision and values and we agreed it was time for two things.

First, it's time to come back to the three constituencies the Cathedral exists to gather -- the Cathedral congregation, the Diocese of Missouri and the St. Louis region -- and get your input. How does this mission, vision and values resonate with you. Does this feel like who we are and who God is calling us to be? 

One opportunity for you to give your input is Sunday after the 10 am service in the Nave during our quarterly "On the Table" forum. Emily Lehr and Howie Hirshfield will open with a description of this process and then they, other Chapter members and I will be there to hear from you and answer any questions you might have. 

In this post you will also find the email addresses of every Chapter member. We hope you will contact us and give us your thoughts, which will be incorporated into the rest of the process. As always, the best conversations are face-to-face, and your Chapter is ready and eager to meet with you.

It is also time to start to consider the concrete next steps. We have divided the Chapter into four teams -- each one taking a piece of the mission statement -- to imagine strategies for achieving our mission. Jim has encouraged us to dream big because we have a God who dreams big, and Cathedrals are places of great visions and great potential. From those strategies we will discern concrete goals and action steps for 2015. And from there we will be on our way.

The mission teams for this stage of the process are:

Celebrating the Sacraments Faithfully
The Rev. Michael Dunnington – Convener
Dave Lawson
Laura Lambrix
Tom Gardner

Proclaiming the Gospel Boldly
Howie Hirshfield – Convener
Claudine Allen
Jim Berger
The Rev. Emily Hillquist Davis

Embracing Diversity Joyfully
Emily Lehr – Convener
Urlene Branch
Rudy Walz
Miriam Jenkins

Serving all Passionately
Lorraine Key – Convener
Jane Mayfield
Dr. Pamela Steurke
Titus Olajide

At the Chapter's October meeting, we will hear from each of these mission teams as well as consider the input we have gotten from you. On Saturday, November 8, Chapter will meet for a workday to clarify the mission strategies and specific objectives. These objectives will be used in constructing the 2015 budget, which Chapter will approve -- along with the final strategic plan document -- on Thursday, November 20.

While the timetable may shift if we need to spend more time to do all of this well, our goal is that on Sunday, Nov. 23 -- the Feast of Christ the King and last Sunday of the liturgical year -- all of this will be presented to the congregation. Advent will be a season of preparation of and prayer and on January 11, 2015 we will gather for our Eucharistic Annual Meeting and commit individually and together to do the work we have set before us for the coming year.

If you can, I hope you will be part of the On the Table gathering this Sunday ... or contact one of your Chapter members ... and definitely keep the Cathedral and this entire process in your prayers.

I am deeply grateful to be the Dean of a Cathedral with such a rich history and a bright future. You can be extremely proud of your Chapter leadership in getting us this far and committing to the work ahead. I am convinced that as long as we commit to continue to have the real conversation, pray with our lips and with our feet, keep our eyes fixed on the cross and hands linked with one another there is no mission that God can set before us that we will not accomplish.

What do you think?

Here are the names and emails of your Chapter members (click on a name to email):

Claudine Allen
Tom Gardner
Dave Lawson
Emily Lehr
James Berger (Trinity Church–De Soto)
Urlene Jackson Branch
Miriam Jenkins
James Kimmey
Jane Mayfield
The Rev. Michael Dunnington (All Saints -- St. Louis)
Dr. Pamela Stuerke (St. Mark’s Church–St. Louis)
Howie Hirshfield
Lorraine Kee
Laura Lambrix
Titus Olajide
The Rev. Emily Hillquist Davis (St. Martin’s Episcopal Church–Ellisville)
Rudy Walz (Emmanuel Episcopal Church–Webster Groves)