Our New Rector

Hopes and Expectations of a New Rector

Nativity was fortunate to conduct three meetings with the Parish and members of the Search Committee in November 2020, at a time in between the loosening and re-tightening of attendance restrictions. Over three nights, the Parish communicated its hopes and expectations for the ideal candidates in its search. An overwhelmingly consistent theme arose from the three different groups of parishioners: the ideal candidate will possess experience and energy.

Nativity seeks experience and energy from a Priest demonstrated in the following aspects: • Experience living in a town with similar characteristics as Greenwood, and experience to know that there are trade-offs that come with living in an incredible community with a good quality of life, but with certain limitations in terms of offerings; • Experience necessary to recognize the nuances of our region, our town, and its people, understanding and celebrating their uniqueness – both within and outside

Nativity; • Experience to recognize that

Nativity is a destination job, not a stepping stone on a pathway elsewhere; • Experience in a parish with similar characteristics as Nativity, in terms of size, space, programming, demographics, and finances; • Experience in areas other than the priesthood, and the perspective brought therefrom; • Experience in times of crisis and for effective day-to-day pastoral care; • Experience and energy in parish administration, a willingness to understand the management systems Nativity has in place, and a willingness to assist us constructively in evaluating and re-evaluating those systems, as appropriate, for improvement; • Experience and energy in facilitating programming for young families, to enhance their spiritual growth and to keep Nativity attractive to young families; • Experience and energy in enhancing our adult programming;

• Experience and energy cultivating leadership within a parish, such that new leaders can refresh Nativity and make it less reliant on its historical leadership; • Experience and energy to lead us in our call to worship, out of the present situation, where we have been brought to a standstill by the current medical crisis; • Energy to help us identify our strengths; • Energy to embrace Greenwood, and to lead us to greater involvement in community outreach; • Energy to reach into our ministries, and to assist us constructively in enhancing them; • Energy to assist us in looking back into our institutions and traditions which have fallen by the wayside, in order to revive them; and, • Energy to bring us constructive, invigorating ideas borne from experience.