The Monterey Deanery met on August 10, 2013, at 10:00 am at St. John’s Chapel, Monterey. The agenda for the meeting is available here and the slides for the meeting are available here.

The meeting opened with prayer led by the Rev. Bob Ott.

Reports

Board of Trustees – Win Fernald reported on the last meeting of the Board of Trustees on June 20.  The main agenda item was the Bishop’s Appeal and the draft budget for 2014 (to be introduced to the Deanery at the September meeting).

Standing Committee – No report as the Rev. Richard Leslie is on vacation.

Website – Jeff Diehl reported on the Deanery website which has been well received. He reminded members how to submit event and information notices to the website (montereydeanery.org). Jeff is also on the Diocesan Communications Commission which is looking at ways to improve overall communications within the diocese.

Stewardship Commission – George Lockwood reported on the activities of the commission. He noted that over the last 15 years, there has been a steady decline in giving at the parish level. One commission proposal is to employ a stewardship officer in the diocese and this has become part of the Bishop’s Appeal. He announced that commission members are willing to meet with individual parishes to help them strategize their stewardship campaigns. He also recommended that parishes consider bringing in Bill Brooks, an attorney in the diocese, to review the physical safety of parish buildings with an eye toward correcting potential hazards.

Program

Diocesan positions open for election or appointment – Bob Ott

Bob provided an overview of the various positions which will be filled this year, either by election at Diocesan Convention or by appointment by the Bishop:

Standing Committee – Made up of 4 clergy and 4 lay representatives, it is the Bishop’s Council of Advice. Every year the Convention elects one clergy and one lay representative at large, each for a 4-year term.

Board of Trustees – administers the real property and assets of the Diocese and acts on behalf of the Diocesan Convention in between meetings. Twelve representatives serve on the Board, one clergy and one lay member from each deanery plus six at large. Members serve 3-year terms. This year the Diocesan Convention will elect three at-large members.

Commission on Ministry – assists the Bishop in overseeing the development and affirmation of ministry and the ordination process. One clergy and one lay member are elected at large each year by Diocesan Convention for a 4-year term. The Bishop may appoint up to 8; this year she will appoint one.

Department of Mission – Each deanery must elect two members to serve in this department.  The Monterey Deanery currently has two members serving. The Bishop appoints four members each year for a one-year term.

Deputies to General Convention – This year the Diocesan Convention will elect four clergy and four lay deputies (along with four clergy and four lay alternates) to attend the 2015 General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Bob encouraged deanery delegates to publicize these openings within parishes and to encourage self-nomination.  The Diocesan Nominating Committee will be soliciting nominations in the near future.

Building Networks beginning with Prayer – Blaine Hammond

Blaine reminded us of our deanery prayer partners which were organized at the last meeting. Jeff is incorporating this information into the deanery website.

St. Paul’s and San Pablo, Salinas – The Rev. James Ezell

For 30 years, the San Pablo mission has been worshiping at St. Paul’s and was seen primarily as a renter.  The dream was that they would become self-sufficient and move into their own space someday. That hasn’t panned out, and now the two churches see that the future belongs to them together as one in a bi-cultural and bi-lingual community.  This is moving forward but not without a lot of anxiety. So far they have been able to integrate many administrative functions and to unify their budgets financially. It is harder to build personal relationships. They have established a parish-union commission to review mutual ministries and stewardship. It is a work-in-progress. San Pablo’s level of giving is improving and there is a growing number of children in the parish. Where St. Paul’s had become an aging congregation, San Pablo is a growing family congregation. This year they will have a joint confirmation class. They are also working with Eric Law from the Kaleidescope Institute (http://www.kscopeinstitute.org) to help them move through this transition.

Congregational Development – The Rev. Canon Jesús Reyes

Following up on the presentation by St. Paul’s/San Pablo, Jesús provided additional information on various congregation development activities in the diocese.

On August 23, Eric Law from the Kaleidescope Institute will conduct a program for merging parishes (such as St. Paul’s/San Pablo) and there are several. One of the Diocesan Strategic Objectives is to expand diversification in parishes. Jesús says there will be 15 consultants available in the diocese to help parishes discern how to improve age, ethnic, and income diversification.

The diocese is establishing a Partnership Committee, another outgrowth of the Diocesan Strategic Plan. This committee will look at missional opportunities and how to be more intentional. This effort is based on three principles:

• Intentionality is our mission
• Citizenship in the kingdom of God is our goal
• Discipleship is our source of energy

One of the congregational development programs of the committee is focused on helping parishes “map” themselves:

• Mapping a congregation and where it resides;
• Mapping faith development and individual faith journeys;
• Mind mapping to determine what the person who doesn’t attend church thinks about church;
• Resource mapping to determine what a congregation is doing and how they tell their story.

Jesús is offering a workshop/retreat for parishes called The Sacred Art of Prayer, based on Benedictine spiritual practice and designed to help participants develop their own rule of life.

Episcopal Church Women (ECW) – Joyce Nehlsen gave a brief presentation on the ECW in the deanery. One purpose of her presentation is to solicit two ECW board members from each deanery.

Deanery Stewardship Committee – Bob Ott

Now that the deanery is more intentional about collecting the annual dues from each parish, Bob proposes that the deanery establish a stewardship committee to determine a purpose and procedure for use of the funds in the deanery. He is soliciting members for this committee.

The meeting continued with announcements of activities from various parishes.

The meeting concluded with a benediction by the Rev. Blaine Hammond.

The meeting was called to order by Deanery co-convener Richard Smith of St. George’s, Salinas. Morning Prayer was led by the Rev. Lawrence Robles from St. George’s.

Reports

Treasurer – No changes were reported since the last meeting. However, we were reminded again that there is a $75 assessment due from each parish. It was suggested that the deanery establish budget priorities which will help parishes understand what their assessment is going toward.

Board of Trustees – Win Fernald, St. John’s, Aptos, reported on the activities of the diocesan Board of Trustees. He indicated that the Board is addressing two questions: How are we building the Body of Christ? and How can we grow in a time of loss? He reported that several parishes in the diocese are merging (notably All Saints’ and Cristo Rey in Watsonville and possibly in the near future St. Paul’s and San Pablo in Salinas). He says that the diocese is beginning to participate in The Barnabas Project, a program aimed at leadership development (http://www.episcopalfoundation.org/tools-and-programs/endowment-tools/the-barnabas-project). Another diocesan activity has been the expansion in communications with the recent mailing of a full-color brochure on the diocesan strategic plan. The diocese is looking at various kinds of communications vehicles such as this. Such a flyer costs $1/person per mailing. The diocese continues to plan for moving the office to Salinas; and the recent audit was “clean.”

Standing Committee – The report from the Standing Committee is that they recently met with the Commission on Ministry to clarify roles; and overall things are going smoothly in the diocese.

Ministries to Veterans – Charles Greenleaf, St. John’s, Aptos, reported on a new ministry taking shape at St. John’s focused on veterans. Two Vietnam vets at St. John’s succeeded in getting a grant that has allowed them to open an office providing support for Vietnam and Iraq war vets. They urged other parishes with similar interests to contact them.

Deanery Website – Jeff Diehl gave a presentation on the new Monterey Deanery website (http://montereydeanery.org/) which was enthusiastically received by the delegates and resoundingly approved. We are all urged to submit events and other news via the easy-to-use tool on the website. Jeff Diehl will continue as moderator for the time being. We are welcome to publicize the web address and acquaint our parishes with its availability. Next steps include notifying the diocese, linking from the diocesan website, and announcing on Facebook.

Program

Mission at St. James, Monterey – The Rev. Jeff Kohn gave an overview of St. James’, Monterey, the first Protestant church on the Monterey Peninsula, founded in 1876. He describes St. James’ as a spiritually-centered place. They recognize that they are a small parish, but they have a large building (McGowan House) which has become a spiritual center for Monterey, hosting 27 twelve-step programs, a Korean church, a Zen Buddhist meditation service, and various arts programs. He says they have seen the evangelical benefits of their hosting such services and programs and have learned to celebrate what they have.

missio:Engage! at St. John’s, Aptos – Jon Showalter and the Rev. Rob Neville reported on the missio:Engage! program at St. John’s, a two-year redevelopment process sponsored by the Episcopal Church and supported by a community of practice of other churches (see http://5marks.org/). The program costs $5,000 and includes regular online meetings with other churches participating in the program. It allows congregations to identify the best way to engage with the larger community and to bring in new members. St. John’s has completed an inventory of their gifts and they are now in the process of developing their skills in welcoming and inviting new members. On June 30, they will conduct a 2-hour workshop on welcoming and inviting and it is open to all churches in the deanery.

More Effective Networking – Steve Dodds, St. Philip’s, Scotts Valley, gave a presentation on how we as a deanery can network more effectively, but he acknowledges that the points he makes can be used in any organization. He is the Executive Director of Every Voice Engaged (http://everyvoiceengaged.org/), a nonprofit focused on helping citizens, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations collaborate successfully on improving quality of life. Their process includes various “innovation games” which encourage people to talk together and prioritize solutions. He suggested that the deanery use the process to a) develop a strategy for prioritizing deanery budget and programs and b) get to know each other better. This type of networking process would also work well in developing a capital campaign for a church.

Building Networks Beginning with Prayer – The Rev. Bob Ott, St. John’s Chapel, Del Monte, and the Rev. Blaine Hammond, St. Andrew’s, Ben Lomond, gave a presentation on prayer networks. At the January 2013 retreat of the Board of Trustees and the Standing Committee, Bishop Mary told attendees that she and the diocesan office staff pray daily for all the parishes in the diocese. Following up on this practice, each member of these two committees was given three congregations to pray for. Each was asked to contact the parish and ask them what prayers they needed. Both Bob and Blaine thought this would be something to think about doing within the deanery, partnering two churches to pray for each other. St. Andrew’s, Ben Lomond and St. George’s, Salinas are already doing this for each other with rewarding results. So at this meeting, we put all the names of the churches in the deanery into a bowl and paired them up. Here are the Deanery Prayer Partners for 2013/2014 (additionally, all churches are asked to pray for Trinity, Gonzales):

St. Andrew’s, Ben Lomond and St. George’s, Salinas
Epiphany, Marina and St. Dunstan’s, Carmel Valley
Calvary, Santa Cruz and All Saints’, Carmel
St Luke’s, Hollister and All Saints’/Cristo Rey, Watsonville
St. Paul’s, Salinas and St. John’s, Aptos
St. Stephen’s, Gilroy and St. Philip’s, Scotts Valley
San Pablo, Salinas and St. James’, Monterey
St. John’s, Monterey and St. Luke’s, Jolon
St. Mark’s, King City and Good Shepherd, Salinas
St. Mary’s, Pacific Grove and San Pablo Apostol, Seaside

Announcements

Among the announcements of various activities at the churches in the deanery, Maurice Dyer from St. James, Monterey, introduced himself as a new member of the Episcopal Young Adult Service Corps. He will be leaving for South Africa this summer to begin work at the Holy Cross Monastery and School in Grahamstown, South Africa. Prayers are encouraged, along with donations to the diocese to support his work. Follow what’s happening with him on his blog http://mauricedyer.blogspot.com/.

Next meeting: August 10, St. John’s Chapel, Del Monte

On February 23, 2013, the Monterey Deanery of the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real met at St. John’s Chapel in Monterey. Following the opening prayers and meditation, a short business meeting included a report on the treasury and a report from the Board of Trustees of the Diocese. In terms of the treasury, the Deanery reminded delegates of the request for an annual contribution from each parish ($75) which will add to the existing balance of $840 and will allow the Deanery to pursue mission and ministry opportunities. Meanwhile, members of the Board of Trustees (which operates similar to a vestry for the Diocese) and the Diocesan Standing Committee will be visiting with all of the parishes in the Diocese to “map” and measure our ministry and to foster cross-pollination of ideas.

The main program for the meeting was Mission in the Monterey Deanery:

1. Mission at St. Philip’s, Scotts Valley – The Rev. Mary Blessing and several of her parishioners told the story of how St. Philip’s evolved from a mission church planted in 1987 to a parish church, which was finalized at the Diocesan Convention in 2012.
2. St. George’s, Salinas – Richard Smith described the process of calling a bilingual rector and working with a grant from the Diocese to develop a strategic plan and programs that will connect them more strongly with the community.
3. Trinity, Gonzales – Robin Denney, a lay pastoral leader, has been sent by the Diocese to this church which is no longer functioning to serve as a missionary within our own diocese. She is looking at ways to raise up a bilingual community with many young families for whom an “emergent” style of worship might appeal.
4. All Saints’ and Mission Cristo Rey, Watsonville – The Rev. Rob Sommer spoke about how they are working to bring these two congregations worshiping in the same place closer together through programs for the youth of the two congregations.
5. Diocese of Western Tanganyika – Becky Mikkelsen and Julie Fudge talked about the Diocese’s partnership with the Diocese of Western Tanganyika and the scholarship project for continuing education of children 7th-10th grades. Just $75 per year guarantees that a child can continue his or her education. So far contributions to the diocese have supported 400 children.

During the brief panel discussion which followed the program, the participants discussed avenues for support of mission within the Monterey Deanery. A motion was put forward to donate $500 from the Deanery treasury to support the work of Robin Denney in Gonzales. The motion carried.

The next meeting of the Monterey Deanery is Saturday, May 4 when the program will be Implementing Mission.