Insights from Visioning Conversations Report

Visioning Conversations Report by members of the Visioning Team Karen Hollis, Betty Schultze, Shelagh Huston, Owen McCooey, Susan Brockley

This is not the Vision This is a report, a snapshot, of the visioning conversations we had with all of you. You, the congregation, will be part of creating the vision. I m going to share with you how we collected the information we re sharing with you today.

Background of the Visioning Process Brief review available on the Christ Church Gabriola website (May 7, 2019 to May 2020)

Background of the Visioning Process Guiding scriptures I have called you friends because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last (John 15:15-16) So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, You have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. (James 2:17-18)

Background of the Visioning Process The Questions Why have you made church a part of your life? When has Christ Church Gabriola or any church come closest to your sense of what God wants? Tell me a story. In what ways can Christ Church Gabriola deepen connections with the community? What is your dream for Christ Church Gabriola? Is there anything else you would like to share?

The Visioning Conversations January 7 to February 25, 2020 Each conversation started with our two guiding scriptures.

Preliminaries By phone, in person, or by email, we contacted everyone on the contact list who had expressed a desire to be included as a member of the CCG community. Questions were published before the conversations.

The Facts 76 conversations were completed out of a total of 99 people on our CCG contact list. A majority of the conversations were in person. Most conversations took place at the church.

Observations The conversations: sometimes lasted more than the scheduled 30 minutes involved heartfelt sharing

Participants had obviously given thought to their vision for CCG came with well-thought-out suggestions sometimes came with written notes and sometimes spoke spontaneously came with a wealth of experience really cared were eager to share

Inference Christ Church Gabriola matters to its people

Surprise! Although we are officially an Anglican-United Church, we are more than that!

Experiences of the Visioning Team Privilege Deeply touching Witnesses Responsibility

Since the Conversations The notes of all 76 conversations were read by all five members of the visioning team

At our retreat day on February 21stwe: looked for ways to put similar ideas into groups looked for themes that emerged from the conversations talked about the stories we heard talked about the words we heard used And now we are reporting to you.

Your voices How to share so much wealth? Filters >who chose to talk >what got recorded >what jumped out (poster) >what we selected to share here What you told us is the ore from which the vision will eventually be refined, through future dialogue & discernment

Topics What jumped out was over 500 items Similar items were collected into 33 clusters Groups of clusters were formed into 10 topic areas

What we heard Presenting a TOPIC on each slide The CLUSTERS are the sub-topics Plus a few snippets to give the flavor of what you said

Habit, in a good sense Attending church don t feel complete without it - comfort, guidance, grounding Why I began being a church-goer Why I attend church What got me started coming to CCG everyone made me feel very welcome at CCG in a busy life, church is a place to go for needed stillness, a rock, be present with yourself my relationship with God sustains me, reason to come to church gratitude

my main thing is listening to God, in a daily way Spiritual life some of the ways we think about God are limiting of the Sacred Connections with God we can draw strength from knowing we re part of something larger - faith and science agree on this wondered if the God I d found on my journey was the church God - after a few months attending, decided it was the same God you can put a hand on the barn you just built, and it was the Spirit that excited you about the day s work

the people I know in this church are the real deal! Life together like-minded people, not necessarily same theology Fellowship and community Our joint ministry I love this congregation dearly - I love the people, I love the way we ve found to live together - this has come from Spirit About welcome Negative concerns all the work we ve done of bringing it together - that was a great start, but not the end of the journey all holding each other up when you re new, it can be nerve-wracking - you need the warm and persistent welcome

celebrate the arts, use the gifts in the congregation - appreciate beauty, from flying buttresses to sacred dance Church services Suggestions for worship Worship good that chamber orchestra and concerts are here Sermons/preaching Creativity disappointed church has dropped beautiful KJV and BCP language bring language from churchy to conversational, simple, poetic like when minister describes how bible stories apply to today - same issues need more silence, words get in the way language is awkward - male, directive language - it s all anthropomorphizing

Running CCG those in charge are doing good work Work inside the church sometimes I think I don t have a lot to offer, but I sure have a lot to do Leadership About our minister I like to have something to do - there s two hands available, a left and a right when I heard Karen preach, witnessing her light, how she fills her words with that light I thought, this is a real church

Connecting with and serving our community CCG as a missional church, not a church that simply looks after itself Ways to deepen connection: general Ways to deepen connection: keep doing there s a place for CCG to be involved in reconciliation between Snyneymuxw and settler communities Ways to deepen connection: new ideas Ways to deepen connection: reconciliation Individuals doing outreach work ..we are infiltrated in the community - have agents everywhere the map showed me a vision of connectedness I hadn t seen listen to community, go with needs - don t decide without checking with community responding to the hunger of the heart Do we need to stop doing things, in order to do something new?

How do we let people know we re a really cool church? Visibility remind people we re here Making CCG more known Building and location do things at North end - need to be out in community we re distant from main centre of community in North end village get rid of pews, allow for flexible uses - this would make a visible statement about this church

could hold series - purpose to explore, not indoctrinate - intriguing questions, not we have answers Learning and sharing Formation, education, discussions want to learn more; want church to provide place to expand my consciousness, horizons, wisdom Theological issues would like to have more sharing, to hear from people about their beliefs how to make Christianity relevant for 21st century deal with wide-ranging issues facing church and world - if we don t, we become irrelevant you have to feel your way to figure out God

I believe strongly in intergenerational church Attracting new members how do we make this community so embracing and alive they want to come? give them something they want - food, and opportunities to serve Attracting new people: directions Attracting younger adults I would support taking some risks Serving families, children the people who aren t here may need the same substance in a different package Attracting new people: ideas

Dreams for CCG Joy! I see joy! Positive intuitions In future? I hope we still exist Church is everyone belongs, everyone leads, everyone serves, everyone grows Happy with CCG direction ..in 20 years? I hope I m not still doing the coffee! What we want our church to be like CCG in future things seem risky, but when Spirit moves, you have to act We re in a new stage now - interesting and exciting we are preparing for something - something quite wonderful here in this church - that s what God wants! something transcendent is going on

Appreciative Inquiry We ve been using this tool during the visioning process: Appreciative Inquiry is a process intended to assist the congregation in identifying(and answering) our call from God by focusing on our strengths, as well as our sources of joy, energy and hope.

Lifting Up Our Strengths In the following slides we will share quotations we heard from you followed by questions we pulled out from the many conversations we had with all of you. We organized the strengths of the congregation into 4 areas: welcome, fellowship, personal connection to God, worship & music.

The Warm and Inclusive Welcome I just moved to Gabriola, and she drops by and shouts out the car window, Come to the potluck, you ll have a good time! It was so spontaneous, and I felt so welcomed. Church represented stability, grounding, welcoming, a safe place it was like my sense of family, has been very special for a long time. I was so touched by the handshake and the smile. It may seem a little thing, but we shouldn t overlook the simple; following the impulse, doing the gestures that say This can be a place for you. People keep in touch, that was so vital when I didn t attend for awhile, I wasn t a noticeable member, just a newcomer, but they reached out. I really appreciate how Karen always opens the service with her message of welcome, Whoever and wherever you are on life s journey you are welcome here .

Questions We Heard Are our procedures for welcoming newcomers as good as we would like, can we make sure no one gets missed? How do we make sure our welcome is truly inclusive, inclusive of people from other faiths, no faith, those who have no time on Sunday morning, those with children or disabilities? How and who else do we need to welcome to ensure that we really are doing God s work of being the church in the world?

Fellowship Authentic and loving relationships, based on knowing each other fairly well, and trusting our spiritual and psychological safety to each other. People come along at the right time and bring comfort and support. I gravitate to caring, compassionate, non-judgmental people. The people of the church are what I like the likeminded spirit. It seems we were led to this amalgamation, and I think it seems right to be doing visioning now. It is small enough that we all know each other and genuinely care for each other. I wanted to meet people.

Questions We Heard How about fellowship outside of coffee on Sunday mornings? Can we meet at different times, in different places for fellowship? How about fellowship with other churches, the ecumenical society, other groups on the island? Do we have the resources to do more than what we are currently doing? Do we have enough energy for new projects, new directions?

Personal Connection to God I crossed the border into belief. It just happened, I could believe! I felt divine wisdom telling me THIS is the time, never looked back. Recognition that God is in my life, I can t fix everything. Someone has to be in charge. Being in church feels like a reinforcement of all I have been taught. It is a refuge. We have to live in the world and sometimes get disconnected from the source. It is hard finding our way back. As a scientist, I grew up agnostic had difficulty with religion vs. science, but now see there s a close association. Nothing can happen accidentally. There was a sudden start to the Universe some moving spirit. I like the word God but it s not an essential term. A place to thank God for miracles and blessings in my life. You have to feel your way to figure out what God is really like.

Questions We Heard Is there a place to have people consider the big questions: Reconciling the Big Bang and Genesis: how are they connected? What does Jesus teach about conflict? Where is God found in the way our ecosystem works? How do we become more effective at prayer? What daily practices should we undertake to build stronger relationships with God? Can our Church be a place where we learn about how to have a better personal relationship with God? Aside from Sunday services, where can we question, study and learn about Christian theology?

Worship and Music Love the music. Word and scripture are more powerful when set to music. Services should serve a wide range of people from more to less spiritual; some hold to traditions, others find them stultifying. When as a church we trusted in the process things worked. When we TRUST that God is constantly drawing us to him, the process is working. The theme of every sermon is love God, love neighbor as self. The Church community keeps that teaching in mind.

Questions We Heard How can we provide worship that may suit the people (e.g. younger people, less traditional) that are currently not joining us for worship, without taking away the acceptance and comfort level that our current worship is providing for our parishioners? How can we enhance our church music experience?

Where do we go from here? Congregational Comments & Questions Sessions on this presentation: Thursday, May 28 at 10:00am OR Friday, May 29 at 1:30pm. Then, Visioning Team will finish their discernment work. Then, Visioning Team will bring back provocative propositions for the congregation to consider. Date & format TBD. The propositions are called provocative because they are framed in a way as to provoke (incite, stimulate) the people to want to act on them. Mini mission/vision statements.

What about the pandemic? Significantly shapes our ability to do the discernment work as a whole congregation Is COVID going to change our vision? Pandemic or no, we are discerning the essence of our call. Things we are noticing about congregational life during COVID. How will we be different when the church re-opens?

Closing Prayer Loving God, who created and continues to create as the world unfolds through time . . . God who gathers us like the first Christian community, leads us like the Israelites through the desert, and shapes us with the gifts, flavors, and constraints of each context, as seen in the beautiful diversity of the church in the world . . . we bring our prayer to you. Out of the depths you call to us . . . Open us to listen and to lift up your voice. In the name of the Risen Christ we pray, Amen.