Survey respondents were asked to “imagine the year as 2019, and [that] the Episcopal Church is even more vital and thriving than it is today” and then rank a list of 11 goals in order of their importance in reaching that vision.
The five areas called “very important” by a clear majority of respondents were, in descending order: reaching youth and young adults; evangelism/proclaiming the good news of Christ; worship, music and liturgy; leadership; and strengthening congregations.
The six least important areas, in descending order were: multicultural inclusion; advocacy and social justice; stewardship; clarity of denominational mission; planting new churches and communities of faith; and church administration, coordination and structure.
Goal # 1–Don’t bleed to death before you get to goal #2. Goal #2–Stop digging; as in when you find yourself in a hole stop digging. Goal #3–Go over to Fist Presbyterian and get all those young people back who have already left, before they find out that they left because of the acrimony of the last 30 years. Goal #4–Try actually believeing in the basic tenets of Christianity before heading out on evangelistic missions. Goal #4–Get rid of the current leadership. There you go–now don’t you wish you had elected me to EC when you had the chance?
Goals 2019:
1. Parishioners die of old age.
2. Close churches.
3. Retreat to NYC and Washington D.C.
4. Celebrate successes of the last 10 years
5. Merge with Tides Foundation.
6. Retire with fat pensions of remaining assets.
7. Attend cocktail parties and give commencement speeches.
I don’t have enough imagination to get past the first sentence.
Frances Scott
…so, did 815 actually read this? The six LEAST important areas?
I think not.
Funny how shifting the evangelism budget to legal matters is supposed to gratify all the top % and the rest as well. Maybe the ecumenical office and bishop can next be sacrificed to the legal fund. It would be about as useful there. Unless the unitarians are interested in a joint venture.
[blockquote] “imagine the year as 2019, and [that] the Episcopal Church is [b]even more vital and thriving than it is today[/b]” [/blockquote]
Sorry — my hysterical laughter make it impossible to comment further
Soooooo, any guesses which items GC and the Executive Council spend most of their energy on? “Evangelism/proclaiming the good news of Christ”? Nah.
“Multicultural inclusion” & “Advocacy and social justice”; the two items on the very bottom of the list? Yep.
What color is the Kool-aid?
“Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try…”