YEAR ONE

The first year of this 3-year ministry involved parish listening, learning and distilling as we focused on three foundational questions:

Who Are We? - We learned about St. Philip’s unique parish identity through the St. Philip’s WordCloud and Storyboard activities. From these, we identified Core Beliefs, Values, and Practices. All was then distilled into a short list of Key Discoveries. You can read about the details of our key discoveries here.

St Philip’s Word Cloud

How Are We Doing? – From parish coffee hour discussions about congregational lifecycles and a Congregational Vitality Assessment Survey, we identified areas of parish life that are very strong and areas in need of strengthening that were distilled into a short list of Key How-Are-We-Doing Discoveries:

  • Growing

  • Lay leadership concerns - pool size, burnout

  • Need more cohesive communications

  • Need to be led by clear shared parish goals and vision

  • Be more proactive, intentional in focus

  • Need coordination of schedules, planning

  • Strong outreach

  • Strong diversity

  • Strong worship

Who Are Our Neighbors? - We reviewed a wealth of neighborhood data from the diocese and had 21 Neighborhood Expeditions teams explore areas within a 10-minute driving distance. Together, these were distilled into a short list of Key Who-Are-Our-Neighbors Discoveries:

  • Diversity

  • Young families with children

  • 20s and young 30s

  • Growing population

  • Community Spaces such as structures, parks, trails, etc.

  • Events or other opportunities to connect

  • Areas with Public Transportation Needs

Map of areas explored within a 10-minute driving distance from St Philip’s