Building for Tomorrow:
Renewal and Stewardship

The Church is 2000 years old.  On this time scale, Saint James' parish is quite new, having been established in 1876.  Whatever the age, the Church at large and all its constituents face a changing world.  We must carry Christ's message to the world around us as it is now, not to some past age we remember or imagine.  This means that our modus operandi, the

 way we work, must be made relevant today.  Change is often necessary.  But how much, and how fast?  Too little change leaves us moribund; to much leaves us rudderless. How should we respond?

In the parish of Saint James we have committed ourselves to an ongoing process of renewal.  We began by asking our parishioners - that's all of us - to tell us how they perceived the parish.  From that response we went on to define our vision:

On the basis of the response, we have identified four ministries - the "four pillars" - which encompass our activities as a parish.  These are:

All of our activities should be done in support of one or more of these ministries.  Each parish group has been asked to put forward an annual plan which includes a mission statement (for that group), goals, strategies, and actions, as well as results. It is important that this be an ongoing process, not a one-time effort.  A summary of these reports is included as one of the reports to Vestry each year.  The aim is to continually re-assess our efforts and make changes to improve the outcomes.  This process of annual reporting is our response as a parish to the question of change: 

• Change may be incremental or radical, providing its rationale is well grounded.
• Incremental change is normally a bottom-up process, driven or initiated by individual parish groups.
• Change affecting the whole parish may be suggested by any person or group, but the requires consideration by Corporation and Parish Council.
• Consultation is required if a proposed change will affect more than one group.
• The whole parish should be informed even if only one group is affected.

The renewal process was begun in 2004, and began full operation in late 2005.  During that same time the Diocese of Ottawa undertook to begin a parish-based diocesan-wide stewardship campaign.  Saint James' parish is well placed to begin such a project, and is actively participating in its initiation.

Read more on the Renewal Process.

Read more on Stewardship.