A progress report from the discernment committee co-chairs By Jay Moore and Shelley Spalding
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t. Stephen’s discernment committee is the group of parishioners charged by the vestry to guide our parish through the transition from our ministry with our former rector and our new one. For some people in our parish, this is an anxious time, and we’re glad to give you this written update. (In the January 9 Sunday Forum, we reported on the committee’s work thus far. Visit ststephensRVA.org/discernment to see a video of that presentation.) We’re happy to say that through the yearend holiday season and ups and downs in the pandemic, we’ve been able to remain on track in this process, which typically takes between 9 and 12 months and includes three phases.
Phase 1 is the discovering/visioning/ planning phase and is typically the longest and most time-consuming part of the process. It involves a parish self-study along with the creation of a portfolio and then a posting of the position. In Phase 2, the discernment committee receives applications and conducts interviews. We’re happy to say that there are already a number of highly qualified priests who are eager to apply when we begin accepting applications. In Phase 3, the committee presents a finalist to the vestry, whose canonical responsibility it is to issue the call. Once the person chosen accepts the call, we will
begin our transition to a new ministry led by him or her. The committee began Phase 1 by thoroughly reviewing the important work done by many of our parishioners through the Envisioning Our Future process conducted before the pandemic. This work involved 20 months of engagement coordinated by five parish leaders along with “ministry liaisons” for 24 ministry areas. Dr. Susan Wilkes, the project consultant, met with the discernment committee to review the findings. With this background, and knowing that the world has changed since March 2019, the committee engaged a firm to conduct a parish-wide survey late last fall. We had a fantastic response, with 687 people participating in the survey.
In January and February, the committee held listening sessions—some in person and some virtual—to give people an opportunity to share in a way that they could not with a written survey instrument. 22
SEASONS OF THE SPIRIT
Sarah Bartenstein
The discernment process
