January 2009 In My View

Dear Friends,

In the next few weeks clergy and lay leaders in each of our parishes will begin planning and working toward Annual General Meetings. As soon as I type the words, "annual general meeting" I can hear the groans and imagine eyes beginning to glaze over — you’ll notice that I didn't use the phrase in the title to this letter in the hopes that readers will at least read this far! As long as I remember, AGM's have been considered an annual necessary evil, not unlike the annual trip to the dentist. We know we need to have one, but we'd rather not if it can be avoided. As a result, attendance statistics at the AGM's in parish churches across the country are only slightly better than the voter turnout in the last federal election. I still remember in my last parish holding the AGM right after our main service in the hopes of increasing attendance. A few more people came, but many escaped out the main doors with a kind of sheepish — I’m sorry, but I have to ... whatever it was.

The Annual General Meetings in our churches can be rather routine, or seem irrelevant to our Christian life, but let me invite you to consider the AGM in a new light. What if we saw the AGM not as a collection of routine reports, and discussions of how we will make the budget in the New Year, but as an opportunity to think about and plan for our participation in the Mission that God has for us! Pick up the Annual Reports when they are made available and look at the budget not as a financial statement that will make more demands upon our charitable giving, but as a document, which gives shape, and makes concrete our collective commitment to mission. The financial statements can be viewed sacramentally. When I give to the Church I am giving from what God has given to me to God's mission in this context in a very concrete way. When I vote on that budget I am voting on what I believe God would have us do as a church this year. Each gift, but also each voice is important because the budget is the road map for the work we will undertake. Imagine what we could do together for God, if we all gave freely for that work.

And then there are the reports on the activities of last year. They describe not only activities, but people's response in faith to the call of God. What did your church committee decide and do? What response did your congregation make to those in need? As the economy falters, are their people or situations that we need to be thinking of more specifically? What was accomplished and what challenges do we face? As you read the reports, what do you think is missing, and where might your gifts for ministry, called forth at your baptism, be offered for God’s work in our communities? There will be an election of parish leaders. They are often willing, generous people who care about the Church and the mission of the Church. They often go about their work without a great deal of splash or much recognition. They are the ones who take our dreams forward into action and who are the stewards of the funds and the mission your church will undertake. Your support and encouragement is so important and perhaps as you think about your parish you might find yourself called to be amongst them in serving God through your church this year.

Your clergy will also have an opportunity to address your congregation and answer questions. It is an opportunity for he, she or them, to share with you their perspectives on the life of the church and its future. It's a time to ask, "How have we been faithful to God's call to us?" It is also a chance to say thank you for their leadership and ministry.

AGM's are just around the corner. If you've never been to one, know that your presence is desired and your participation is important. If you plan to attend this year, God bless you and consider encouraging a friend from your church! The AGM is an opportunity to be together as the People of God in this place, to ask what it is that God is calling us to do, and to ask ourselves, how are we doing?

God bless each of our congregations and may God guide us more and more in the mission to which we are called.

Faithfully, +John