The mission of the Parish Health Ministry is to help develop healthy, hopeful, vibrant Orthodox parish communities that grow in their commitment to living a life in Christ, share the Gospel with all in their own locale and are prepared to do the work of Christ in the world.

We do this by providing tools, encouragement and services to parishes that help them to:

• Explore... models of healthy Orthodox parishes in America.

• Connect...to establish helpful relationships between parishes.

• Share... effective practices, methods & ideas

Specifically we provide:

• Grants

• Workshops

• Conferences

• Webinars
  

• Newsletters

• Articles

• Consulting and Coaching

• Assessment tools
  

in the areas of parish life and development, parish vision and planning, stewardship, evangelization, education and formation, lay ministries, parish council and leadership training, parish communication and other areas of importance to parish life and development.

We've created a Facebook Fan page as a place where we can offer quick ideas, reminders or hear from parish leaders.

You can find it at www.facebook.com/parishdev or click the box below.

To build parish strengths for keeping on track during meetings, building consensus not factionalism and having effective group conversations on important issues facing the parish, the Diocese of the Midwest will offer a multi-part series of online webinars on Facilitation Skills for Parish Life hosted by the Parish Health Ministry and presented by Kenneth Kovach --experienced trainer, coach and educator.

The sessions are free and open to all parish leaders --clergy and laity.

next session Tuesday Mar 23 at 7:00 PM CST (8:00 PM EST) Register

More information, schedule and registration >>>

Archbishop JOB recently announced  the recipients of the Diocese’ Parish Health Grants for 2009. Seven parishes from four Deaneries will receive cash grants totaling just over $12000 for important projects that will impact the vibrancy of their parish life and in many cases the life of the entire diocese as well.

2009 grants recipients and their projects are:

• Christ the Savior Church, Chicago IL Orthodox Outreach to the Local Community

• St. Gregory of Nyssa Church, Columbus OH Lay Ministry of Mercy: Definition   and Training

• Holy Trinity Cathedral, Chicago IL Capturing Stories of Parish Heritage: A Multigenerational Parish Ministry

• St Mark Church, Rochester Hills MI  Teens to Teens: Project Mexico Follow Up

• St Innocent Olmsted Falls OH  Small Group Ministry Pilot Project

• St John the Baptist Church, Warren OH Orthodox Exposure- The Mission and Message of the Church: Mall Kiosk

• St Nicholas Church, Mogadore OH  Pilgrim’s Guide Newsletter

A recent article titled "Endowed Congregations: Pro and Con" written by the Alban Institute offers some useful insight on the role of endowments in parish life. Read more here.

At the 2009 Diocesan Assembly Clergy Compensation Guidelines were adopted to be followed by all parishes of the diocese. Those guidelines can be found here.

What practices need to be followed in our parish to assure that we manage funds entrusted to us responsibly and prudently? 

The parish council at Holy Trinity parish in Overland Park KS recently developed a best practices manual for answering these questions. Assistant pastor

The document has been posted here for your review. It can be used as a potential model for your parish. Fr. Chris Rowe,assistant pastor, would very much like to receive comments and feedback on the document. Contact Fr Chris here with suggested improvements.

Designed to build “connectedness”, Parish Pulse is the communication backbone of the parish health ministry. It is emailed to clergy and lay leaders involved in building healthy and growing parishes

• Parish Pulse archive

• Subcribe to Parish Pulse

A new collection of bible studies titled "The Living Word" is under  development for  the Diocese' Parish Health and Development Ministry. The collection is edited by Fr John Matusiak and is being piloted at St. Joseph Orthodox Church Wheaton IL. 

The Living Word is a 25-session Bible Study collection for group and individual use. Each series consists of five study guides on specific topics central to the Orthodox Christian faith and life as revealed in the spoken words of Jesus Christ, the Living Word of God.

Series one - "What Jesus Says..." has been completed and is available on the Diocesan website. The What Jesus says series has five individual studies covering what Jesus says about:

1. Himself
2. Life
   
3. Eternal Life
4. Faith
5. Forgiveness

The bible studies and an introductory sheet can be found here.

The Diocese of the Midwest held an Urban Parish Summit on July 16-17 at St Theodosius Cathedral in Cleveland OH.

Clergy and lay representatives from 16 urban parishes were in attendance at this important event.

Information on goals, agenda, speaker materials and results is available here.

The Diocese held its first ever Parish Health Summit on July 7-8 in Wheaton IL.

The conference was attended by fifteen priests from twelve growing parishes was convenedto focus on the questions of:

• "What do we  mean by the term "healthy parish" and "vibrant parish?
  
• What do these parishes look and feel like? What goes on there?
  
• How do we help less vibrant parishes move onto a path to living a life in Christ in a more complete way? ". 

More info can be found here.

The primary outcome of the summit was the identification of eight focus areas essential to build vibrant parishes.

These eight areas will become the cornerstone of parish materials aimed to help parishes to strengthen leadership and ministries.

Read more