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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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