When I arrived in this parish in January of 2014, I was excited to be a part of a parish which had such a rich history of ministry, and with which I had a personal connection through my family history. I was honoured to be appointed your incumbent and joined you in ministry knowing there were challenges ahead, but excited by the adventure we were undertaking together.
The first step after arriving, and getting to know the parish, was to look for tools from around the church, and from my experience, which might help us to assess our situation and look for possibilities moving forward. I met with PJ Hobbs, our diocesan Director of Mission and we talked about some of the options together. Out of this conversation, and in the light of the projected deficit for that year, I felt that the Ministry Assessment Process (MAP) was the most comprehensive tool for our situation. We were not facing a modest readjustment of our ministry, but a need for deep reflection and the changes that follow from such deep work. MAP, from the Diocese of New Westminster, was designed for just such a task. At Vestry of 2014 we chose MAP as the best tool for the job.
So much has changed in the last year.
After embarking on the Ministry Assessment Process (MAP) in spring 2014, MAP sub-committees, the wardens and Corporation spent the early part of 2015 developing the four options which came forward from MAP. We worked with the Masters students in Social Work at Carleton University and learned from their research. One of our parishioners, David Tipple, provided us with extensive demographic information. Another parishioner, Innogen Henderson, provided us with a cost-benefit analysis of re-development. We became excited at the thought of re-developing our church building and property. Another option was to re-work the church building so that we would live upstairs and re-develop the basement. (As a first step in that endeavour we removed a number of pews at the back of the church opening up the area underneath the arches and created a new children's area on the south side of the church.) As further MAP options, we looked at amalgamation and sowing the seeds elsewhere. We also costed out the options.
On Tuesday November 17th, our corporation and the corporation of All Saints' Westboro met with Michael Herbert, the Diocesan Director of Administration, to talk about next steps in our ongoing amalgamation talks. We had a number of questions for Michael concerning what must be done to leave this building. Michael indicated to us that we are on the right track establishing the various committees we have, the Sacred Objects Committee, the Furnishings Committee, and the Liturgy Committee. In addition we will need to have a meeting between the incumbents and treasurers of the two parishes to finalize the budget figures for the new parish. Once decisions have been made about what features and furnishings are to be moved, the rest can be left here, at least for the time being, and becomes the responsibility of the Diocese.
Since our Special Vestry meeting, which affirmed the motion committing us to an amalgamation with All Saints' Westboro, we have been busy with our normal parish activities of the Flea Market and Diocesan Synod. With these two events completed we now have to consider next steps in moving forward. With this in mind, Corporation met Wednesday of this past week to begin the look ahead. Taking into account our ongoing concerns about heating and repairs, budget concerns, and mindful of the flow of our liturgical seasons we concluded that the last day for Sunday Worship here at St. Matthias will be the Sunday of the Transfiguration on February 7, 2016. In this scenario, we will begin to worship at All Saints' with the Ash Wednesday service that week, and worship as one body on February 14th for Lent 1. Lent is the season of letting go, and this seems an appropriate theme for the time of adjustment to our new home. We hope this will allow us to share the Easter Celebration with a burgeoning familiarity to our new worshipping environment.
Proposed Budget for Amalgamated Parish is available here