Mission 2018- "Our Story"

A Beautiful Story-
The Church of the Good Shepherd was founded in 1967 when missionary families from St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Vancouver, accepted the challenge of starting a church in the rural, East Vancouver countryside. A small building was constructed and on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6th, 1968- the first worship service was held with Fr. Bob Rhodes at the pulpit. Even then, with 25 members to it's name, there was a commitment by the founding members to be a welcoming congregation that made special provision for children and their families.

Eight years later, the congregation nearly closed it's doors due to financial difficulties at it's parent congregation. The following year, 1976- Good Shepherd became a diocesan mission with an annual budget of $20,000. The word "mission" took on a whole new meaning for the congregation. Undoubtedly, in addition to being literally a mission- they were people of mission. The culture, the DNA, the very foundation that was laid in building this community of faith- was one of missional living.

Good Shepherd has been quite purposeful about seeking God's will. As a community, we have undergone a number of visioning processes- whereby the entire congregation has engaged in heartfelt discernment to articulate God's will for the parish. As difficult as this is to do on an individual level, it is even more remarkable at a corporate (parish-wide) level.

The first visioning process involved Good Shepherd deciding to establish itself as a congregation. The second process led to becoming a diocesan mission. The third led to the building of the church sanctuary and parish hall. The fourth process led to the calling of a full time Associate Priest. The fifth, entitled Vision2001, led to the establishment of 32 different ministries and guided the congregation during a time of rapid growth. The sixth hallmark happened in 2003 when the community took up the challenge of wrestling with specific language of God's call to Good Shepherd. The resulting document, Mission2018 has been our fifteen year guide post- our attempt to put into words our intention of spirit.

The year-long process of discernment and drafting of Mission2018 was in some ways, the easy part! Living into it- it's vision- it's mission- that's the challenge. Let's take a closer look at our corporate call as described in Mission2018:

Mission2018
Mission Statement-We are people of God, committed to acting in love, seeking and serving Christ in the world, one another and ourselves.

Mission Imperatives- The word "imperative" is not lightly chosen. As the word suggests, each of the seven Mission Imperatives are compulsory to our actions of faith. The Vestry is currently developing Theological Statements for each of these Mission Imperatives- and in doing so- we will be able to more fully express and relate what we have discerned God's call to be- to the teachings found in Scripture. This underpinning is truly the "why we do, what we do".

Spiritual Growth- We will support and honor each person's faith journey by seeking to awaken, deepen and empower our faith in Christ and the faith of others.

Evangelism- We will equip and encourage our congregation to reach out to the unchurched with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Diversity- We will reach out to all, recognizing and celebrating our similarities and differences as we remove barriers to fellowship and build a diverse, inclusive community.

Community- We will foster joy-filled, supportive relationships across all generations.

Leadership- We will develop, sustain and advance excellence in leadership.

Resource Growth- We will prayerfully and creatively develop the human, financial and physical resources necessary to carry out our ministries.

Outreach- We will share our abundance by responding to those in need throughout our community and the world.

All of this is to support our overall Vision- A world transformed by the love of Jesus Christ.

The Mission statement, Vision, and Mission Imperatives are all supported by five Core Values. Any decision we make must be in alignment with our core values of: Responsive to Members, Integrity, Compassion, Leadership, and Responsiveness to Community.

Our Next Step
Our visioning processes have not ended with Mission2018. If anything, change and transition has been the "buzz phrase" around our community for the last number of years. With Fr. Bob's retirement, Christy accepting a call to become a rector of her own parish, Fr. Jim Bethell joining us as the Interim priest- and now with Fr. Tom Warne joining us on our journey of faith as the second rector of Good Shepherd- there has been a whole lot of change going on. But- through it all the people of Good Shepherd have been true to the same pioneering spirit which called those few missionary families to start a congregation in East Vancouver.

Today we have grown to nearly 700 members and have an annual budget of roughly $700,000. We have greater resources to make Christ known- not only to our community but the world as well and as we discovered in our most recent visioning process where we developed our Parish Profile and set goals for ourselves to achieve over the next 10 years- we are eager to do more for Christ.

Our "next step" is living into our corporate calling of Mission2018. It would not even be possible to do so if it were not for the firm foundation we are standing on- a foundation that has been laid brick by brick, stone by stone, deed by deed- by the people of Good Shepherd. Over the past nearly forty years, each stone was laid with mortar comprised of faith and boldness- even in the midst of uncertainty.

Consider this Easter season- a time of resurrection and renewal. The opportunity ahead will be filled with blessings and challenges as well- but much of the pioneering spirit of our founding fathers and mothers still beats in our hearts today.

Over the next six weeks we will be discussing how we might fully live into our corporte calling as articulated in Mission2018. Please join us during Adult Ed- 10:15 on Sundays. If you're not able to-this blog will be posted along with a audio clip of each Adult Ed session.

Zechariah 8:9 captures the sentiments of our time ahead-

"This is what the LORD Almighty says, "You who now hear these words spoken by the prophets who were there when the foundation was laid for the house of the LORD Almighty, let your hands be strong so that the temple may be built.""

While our founding fathers and mothers might shy away from being charactarized as "prophets"- their pioneering spirit and faith have served to infuse Good Shepherd with a boldness of character. It's with that example in mind that we boldly take "Our Next Step".

Reflection Questions-

Feel free to share your responses as comments below or join members of the Vestry in conversation following Adult Ed on Sunday.

1. We've used the word "transition" frequently in recent months. What thoughts and/or feelings does this word elicit for you?
2. Consider our "Mission Time Line" as described in today's session. Where have you been involved? Reflect on the process- what was helpful? Useful? Difficult?
3. Examine the seven Mission Imperatives. Which imperative(s) excite you the most and why?