Faith and the Future Project
Challenge
As a new year was approaching the Christ Church Cathedral of Cincinnati saw the need for a shared vision to give shape to their purpose and identity. Knowing of the Aria Group’s work, a team Meghan served on, a partnership was formed to spearhead a collaborative future planning process called the Faith and the Future Project. The project would be a widespread participatory process that would give all members of the congregation the opportunity to offer their thoughts and hopes to serve as the basis of planning for the future. The hope was for the Faith and the Future Project to establish priorities for the ministry and combine them with strategic financial planning as a guide for the vestry. The process would include a focus on individual members faith journeys and the faith journey of the congregation as a whole to achieve the desired results and understand the best collaborative direction for the Cathedral.
Process
The visioning process began with the formation of an implementation team that would work with the Aria Group to guide the process. The process unfolded in three steps. January began the first phase, data gathering by both an online and printed questionnaire, encouraging constituents to share their vision, passion and energy for the Christ Church Cathedral. It was made accessible to all members of the congregation to achieve a participatory process with valid results. By the end of the month a total of 190 questionnaires were collected then tabulated and analyzed by the Aria Group. The finalization of the data analysis moved the process into the second phase, small group sessions. With the data serving as the foundation for discussion, small groups comprised of congregation members met to validate the data and hammer out preliminary vision statements. Participants worked in collaboration with the data to identify goals and develop strategies for Cathedral. Each group then selected a representative to present their work during the summit meeting held at the end of March.
Resolution
The third phase, an all day summit meeting, gathered 60 congregation members and representatives using a consensus process. Together they pulled themes from the vision statements formed by the small groups and forged them into six simple, clear vision statements. These statements composed the final vision that would guide the cathedral for the next 3-6 years. The summit crafted a platform of specific objectives, complete with action plans for the entire cathedral community. The vestry was able to use these goals to direct funding efforts and shape budget priorities for the next year.
Outcome
Throughout the process, members poured out their passions, ideals, stories and hopes for the cathedral they call home. Identifying reoccurring themes such as social justice, inclusiveness, diversity and a caring community Christ Church Cathedral was better able to understand what the congregation envisioned for the future. In the implementation phase the Cathedral will be selecting champions to oversee the success of each vision statement. They will be working with vestry members to keep the visions viable, while seeking ways to fully integrate them into the life of the cathedral. Overall, the ultimate product of this process was the crafting of a vision for the future of the cathedral that was owned by all members of the congregation, its clergy and staff. Now they can all move forward with one shared vision.
Learn more about the Faith and the Future Project:
Strategic Planning: Faith and the Future
