cial and ethnic groups. Children are celebrated at the heart of our life together. We are an Oasis congregation, which means we have made a commitment to be a haven for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. The All Souls VThe All Souls Vision Statement We seek to follow Jesus in his boldness, courage, and compassion. As a parish we are called to live into a shared vision: Loving God, we worship in joyful celebration and in prayerful stillness. All Souls’ services, rooted in fo…

inspiration, but here are a few measures of the breadth of activity and engagement, so far:  2012 – Creation of All Soul’s Vision statement. 2015 – Vestry adopts a Strategic Plan.  Deep Hospitality and Christian Action and Practice are the two remaining atwo remaining areas of areas of focus. $2,000,000 – Celebration Goal for new commitments beyond the Jordan Bequest.  17 Living Waters Directors who each guide a specific area of the campaign – from Advance Commitments and Children and Youth to Communication…

So, it is time.  How Do We Know What to Do? Together, the parish went through a process in 2014 to articulate the core values of this community. The resulting Vision Statement is posted around the campus and can be read/seen here: ASEP Vision Statement. And Statement. And, while a vision statement identifies core values, a strategic plan articulates how to live into those values. After months of congregational disc

nization. What are the stresses and challenges that we face because of the larger culture? What are the gifts and opportunities that we have because of it? Beyond the next year or so, where should we be pointing our efforts? This kind of work often ends up in vis ends up in vision statements, strategic plans, and goal setting. Generative functioning is the creative process of framing decisions, broadening perspective, and considering new ways of engaging. Often groups get so caught up in the necessary details of the ope…

they go to the polls in November.All Souls Vision Statement As a member of All Souls’ vestry, I was asked last spring to lead in an effort to close the gap between income and expenses in our parish’s annual operating budget. Of course I said “yes,” without fully knowing what all I was signing…

From the Rector Side by side “We encounter the Holy through Gospel-inspired service, working side by side with our sisters and brothers in the wider community.” All Souls Vion Statement On Monday of this past week, I found myself in a most unexpected situation: one on one with a state Assemblymember. It was Immigration Day at the State Capitol and faith leade…

statement into practice. As one of the leaders of the strategic planning process stated, “I want to be able to tell people I meet what All Souls stands for, and the ways that they can join us to do something about it.” For the better part of a year, using the vis, using the vision statement as our foundation, we listened, distilled, and planned. The three areas for focused attention that emerged from this process were, Deep Hospitality, Christian Action and Practice, and the Planning for the Parish House. More will co…

o answer such a call. But through further research, we found that in fact, as long as guests left the premises before preschool activities began, that this could be a possibility. So it was that at our January Vestry meeting, following the direction of our vistion of our vision statement that reads, “We encounter the Holy through Gospel-inspired service, working side by side with our sisters and brothers in the wider community,” we engaged in conversation with Stephen Southern, an All Souls parishioner and a Dorothy D…

e arrived Friday afternoon and enjoyed a potluck dinner of soup and salad. The theme for this retreat was “All we do with all we have,” and after dinner we got right to work. Each of us rewrote one sentence of the All Souls vision statement in more casual or poet casual or poetic language, owning the parish-wide document in a more personal way. Next we read selected passages from the Bible in small groups, listening for which images and phrases came to mind, and considering what this scriptural snapshot said about wha…

nity. Before the vestry makes a decision on how to proceed, they would like to hear the priorities and concerns of the parish community. We ask you to begin as the vestry and task force have done: prayerfully read our parish vision statement, then imagine the en imagine the church All Souls seeks to become 5, 10, 20 years from today. As we develop into a place of deep welcome and intergenerational connection, and a center for daily Christian practice and action. What does this look like and how can we best use this pa…