WHAT IS A HEALTHY PARISH?

A Parish that Truly Believes that We Are a “Family in Christ.” (In good and bad times)

Parish Council of…

St. Alexis Orthodox Church,

Clinton, CT

Simply Put

As we considered what it means to be healthy parish that is living a life in Christ we began with a few basic statements that we feel describe life in a healthy parish.

At St Alexis, a healthy parish seems to us to fit these descriptions:

• A healthy parish lives the good times and bad times together.

• A healthy parish is one you are “homesick for” when you travel and the one you keep in your prayers.

• A healthy parish does not always make the right decisions, but forgives mistakes, corrects misdirection, and moves on.

• A healthy parish grows in Faith and love and displays it readily, even if there is a temporary setback locally, nationally, or globally.

• A healthy parish welcomes all who pass by, all who enter, all who partake, all who depart and all who stay to share the joy, warmth and kindness of this Family.

• A healthy parish is one that recognizes it is a small unit of the greater Family of Orthodoxy, and not some separate entity.

• A healthy parish enjoys a full Liturgical Cycle of services and attends as a community and a family in Christ, worshipping together just as a family dines together.

The Journey to a Healthy Parish

But how do we get there? How does a parish get itself in this position? And once there how do you stay there – or more importantly grow continually in our relationship with Christ and His Church?

Just as a family believes in continuous education, regular income, a decent house that is maintained, establishment of good credit, visibility in the neighborhood, friendships, extended family connections and supporting events, a structure for getting things done, assigned chores, allowances for expenses, a method and means of getting around, medical assistance, regular attendance at meal time, the bond of love, and guidance and leadership based on sound principles -- so should a parish family!

A Structure for Action

To guide our actions and to do things in good order, we have established a structure that is based on a foundation of Jesus Christ, a framework on top the foundation developed by Fr. Thomas Hopko, and a mission, vision, and yearly developmental goals that support the vision. The process of converting the mission into the present vision and yearly goals was championed by Raymond Boyd. Our initial objective of establishing this parish and making it grow required us to have a structure to work from. We, the Council of Stewards together with Father Steven Voytovich as our pastor, put this structure in place and annually review the goals for acknowledgement of achievement and revision with the entire parish. The following are examples of the content of the structure and this year’s developmental goals.

Building Blocks

Foundation in the Faith -- the forever building blocks.

The Trinitarian Model

Every divine action begins with the Father, proceeds through the Son, and is completed in the Holy Spirit.

Hierarchal Conciliarity

Hierarchy is the structure of decision- making, while conciliarity is the dynamic of communication. (collective decision-making)

Kingdom-Centered

Christian leaders have the responsibility of leading the members of Christ’s Body toward and into that Kingdom…nowhere else.

Informed by Vision

Any group of people trying to accomplish any task will succeed to the extent that they have a shared vision.

Apostolic

Handed-down by the apostles

Personhood 

“Empty your mind of any thoughts that you are deserving of great things, or that any person is beneath you.” --St. Basil

Stewardship

Acceptance that everything is a gift from God.

Unity as a Communion of Love

The mortar that binds the building blocks (listed above) together.

Framework for growth

 As mentioned above we often refer to the following elements of healthy parish life offered by Fr Hopko in His address to the Orlando All-American Council.

• One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church

• Participation in Liturgical Worship and Sacramental Service

• Spiritual Life and Pastoral Care

• Education

• Mission, Evangelism, and Philanthropy

• Structure and Administration

• Unity and Diversity

Parish Mission

We found it valuable to summarize our particular efforts as part of the Church into a Mission Statement from the very beginning. A mission statement becomes a forever description of what we’re trying to do here. 

We describe our  forever “mission” as:

Saint Alexis Orthodox Christian Church is a local English speaking community of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) on the shoreline of Connecticut.

Saint Alexis exists to:

• Call all people to Christ.

• Worship as a community

• Experience the Joy of Christ in our lives.

• Share this Joy with those around us.

• Educate people about the Truth and Presence of Orthodoxy.

We offer the Love of Christ to those in need, both in word and action.

Vision Leads to Goals And Aligns Our Effort

 To help align our efforts in the context of the longer term we continually describe a vision for the parish. For us a ten year horizon works best. The vision is our attempt to describe in reasonable detail what our community is trying to be in ten years.

For our purposes structuring the vision into three categories, Parish Ministry, Worship and Worship Space and Education and Evangelization works best.

On an annual basis we describe a ten year vision, examine our current status and define some focus areas to guide key actions for the coming year.

The following is an example of current vision/status/goals structure.

Overall Vision

Our parish continues to grow spiritually and numerically. We believe our structured approach to aligning the efforts of all of our parish ministries and activities has helped us to do things in good order.

Thank you for the opportunity to contribute our thoughts and reflections.