Leadership

*A congregation is led by its clergy and vestry. This is not a board of directors, nor is it a senior management team, though there are similarities in how these groups function.  A Vestry is different because a church’s focus is different.  We can only understand the peculiarities of Vestry identity when we see the identity in the context of the church’s mission, the setting in which the vestry exercises its ministry of Leadership.  The clergy and laity share a covenant of trust in their leadership roles to fulfill the church’s mission.

The Catechism in The Book of Common Prayer describes the church’s reason for being: it is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Jesus Christ.  The ways in which we live out our mission as the Church are further defined in our responses to the questions in the Baptismal Covenant.  Although we respond as individuals, our commitment is corporate as well.  We live our faith in community.  That community, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Somerville has a particular culture reflected in our liturgy, music and governance.

Accepting a call to a leadership position is an act of stewardship.  Vestry members share with their parishioners a wide array of knowledge, skills and experiences plus the devotion of their time, talent and treasure for the parish community.

The Vestry and Clergy:

1. Help to discern the vision toward which God is drawing our community.

2. Articulate and communicate the vision.

3. Hold the community accountable for the realization of that vision

4. Keep the mission of the Church and that of the individual congregation clearly before the parish community.

God creates the Church, and invites us to participate.  A congregation’s leaders are the stewards of that creation and hold it in trust.  Our congregation is blessed  with abundant resources needed to do the job God called us to accomplish.  The clergy and vestry identify and allocate those resources, enabling the Church to carry out its mission.  They also lead the congregation in celebrating and giving thanks for those resources.

 *An abridgement from The Vestry Resource Guide, a publication of the Episcopal Church Foundation.

Rector

Vestry & Wardens

 

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