Rector's Annual Meeting Address
January 20, 2008
The Rev. Dorian McGlannan

2007 has been a year of challenges as well as great blessings. If you have read my contribution to the Annual report, you know of the financial concerns that dominated the 2007 vestry meetings, dampened the sprits of the staff and put a bit of a cloud over members of the congregation who were paying close attention to our finances. At any rate I am not going to talk about that. It is history. We are going into 2008 with a much stronger picture in lots of different ways.

Much of my work for my first two and half years as rector has been what I would characterize as strengthening the basic foundation. There were a number of ministries in need of serious revitalization and some that simply did not exist. We now have the foundation in place and will be going into 2008 with the basic components of a program size congregation in good functioning order. Ongoing ministries have been rejuvenated and strengthened. The creation of an Internet Technology group has been terrific in terms of addressing long term concerns with regard to our computer system. The new web site is already generating interest in the church.

How about those folks working on the youth house! What a team. The combined efforts of those who have been coming both mid-week and to the Saturday work parties and making this dream a reality. (Have everyone stand) Bill White got the momentum rolling on this project but I am especially grateful to my husband who has been functioning as the project manager for the past couple of months.

We have a stable and capable staff that has been extraordinary in their diligence and faithfulness to their ministries. The work that Fr. Peter is doing with the youth is fabulous. Not only is the group growing but the stregthening of the lay adult leadership is just great. My associate has many talents that go far beyond youth work and as he moves into his second year of being a priest, more of those will begin to emerge. Fr. Peter recently shared with me that some of you have been asking him how long he is going to stay at St. John’s. I think this comes from the history St. John’ has of sponsoring new clergy for the typical term of two years. Because Fr. Peter was called to this parish outside of the diocesan training program, he is free to stay as long as he feels called to be here. Last I heard from him that would be about another four years. So stop asking!

Scott has been our music minister for a year. Moving from three music directors to one music minister has been a huge change for all of our music groups. The only group that did not experience change is the children’s choir under the capable and loving leadership of June Waldbauer. But life in the area of music is going well and we are blessed to have Scott among us. He is a gifted musician with a deep faith and care for people.

The parish office is humming with more volunteers than ever before. When we welcomed Elizabeth Wilhelm on to the staff in August this once again presented a major change for the church. All of us are appreciative of Elizabeth’s welcoming presence and willingness to work with such a large number of people with constant needs from the office.

In addition to the salaried staff we have a gift in the person of Cynthia Leidal who has taken on some of the work that would normally been done by clergy. I cannot express how grateful I am for the pastoral care work that Cynthia Leidal has done this year in the area of pastoral care. We are blessed to have Cynthia as a part of the congregation. She has a Master’s in Pastoral Care and consequently brought skills to the ministry that are generally ones held by the ordained. She was able to take on a good bit of the routine pastoral care leaving Peter and me free to deal with emergencies. What a gift this has been. She really has taken over a good bit of the work that Fr. Lew used to do.

We have had extraordinary wardens. Jen Towell has been working on multiple levels through more transitions. The change not only in actual people with regard to office staff but also in terms of the actual job descriptions required a lot of oversight. Both Jen and Ed have spent many extra hours shepherding this transition.

A couple of weeks ago, someone asked me about my vision for this church. First of all I want to clarify that it is not my vision, it is God’s vision working through me. Through my time of prayer, study and reflection, God has directed and will continue to direct my work as your rector. I am also always hesitant to share a concrete vision because the vision needs to come from the community. The community needs to share the vision and enable the birth of new ministries. Having said that, I will let you know that yes I do have a few ideas.

I have a vision of a church in which most adults are involved in some sort of small group dealing with spiritual formation. It might be a Bible study, it might be the ongoing Wednesday night Prayer Chapel, it might be an Education for Ministry group or any number of other possibilities. Deep spiritual formation and transformation generally happens in small groups that are in addition to Sunday morning worship. There is a hunger for this, the Wednesday morning Bible study is huge and so I am going to begin a Tuesday morning Bible study that will be another option for people who are not currently participating in a Bible Study. I am hoping that another Men’s Bible study will surface. I long for a church in which all of us can claim a personal relationship with Jesus, that we will know Jesus as one who walks with us side by side, guiding us every step of the way.

There is a real need for an Education for Ministry group. EFM as it is called is a 4 year program that is parallels seminary education. EFM has, in fact, been used for training deacons in some parts of the country. While we have the Whitaker School in Detroit, some people cannot commit to that much travel. An EFM group located at St. John’s would fill the need of those seeking long term education and formation. Finally, we really do not have any program geared toward those who know nothing about the Christian faith. I am hoping and praying that by the fall of 2008, we will have some sort of ALPHA program in place. ALPHA is an introduction to Christianity. It is an evening program that always includes a meal, a presentation by a member of the congregation on their faith journey followed by table discussions. While I love The Discovery Series, that program assumes too much basic knowledge for those who have no background. I would also like to see the beginning of a Women’s Retreat and a Men’s Retreat.

I have a vision of church with a well-functioning and lively stewardship committee. As some of you know, I did almost all of the work for stewardship this past year. Almost every one of the pledge request letters were individualized, thanking you for your ministry at St. John’s. It was well worth the effort as huge strides were made this year in terms of pledges. I am, however, happy to say that Jen Towell has agreed to, in fact she volunteered to take over the leadership of stewardship for 2008. She has a great stewardship story to tell and she is on fire to provide much needed leadership in this area.

I have a vision of a church with much more diversity than is currently found in this congregation. Diversity on all levels and in all ways…more economic diversity, racial diversity, age diversity and lifestyle diversity. This church is very homogeneous and we are missing something by not reflecting the larger population. We are missing the richness of life experience that diversity brings. I long for St. John’s to be an inclusive parish that welcomes all manner of people.

I have a vision of a church that is able to deal with conflict in a healthy way, a church that understands that all of us have different views of how we live our faith but that we are comfortable being in dialogue with one another. In this election year, I hope that we will be able to have healthy dialogue about faith and politics and not shy away from this important topic. We won’t all agree but I hope we will be able to talk, not in terms of endorsing one candidate or another but being able to view public policy through the lens of faith.

I have a vision of a church that continues to enable the poor and the disenfranchised to have a better life, a church that continues to have a strong Mission and Outreach group.

I envision a church where people get together and watch meaningful movies and engage in discussions, a church where people gather just to have fun, the young and the old alike can play together. I hope we will have an all parish camping trip this summer. I hope we will see an interest in dinner groups that have no plan but are simply a place for people to gather for the sole purpose of getting to know each other.

February of the year 2012 will be our centennial anniversary – 100 years of ministry! What an opportunity that will be to celebrate the life of this church. St. John’s has a long history in Plymouth. Soon we will be forming a centennial group to begin plans for this special time. While it is a bit difficult to imagine right now because of all the financial woes in SE Michigan, I would certainly hope that our church will be ready to launch a capital campaign around the time of the centennial. As you can see even as we gather today, this social hall is woefully inadequate for all parish celebrations. At the reception following Bob Sigmon’s funeral, it was an overflow crowd. Today we are crowded. And while youth house will alleviate crowding for a while, it will not be a long-term solution. We are going to need more space.

So these are some of the things that God gives me when I pray about this congregation. The possibilities are limitless. Our constraints are simply time, money and volunteer hours. As the rector of this church, I take those constraints seriously and am trying to pace us so that we stay centered and do not burn out. All of us need to tend to our physical and spiritual lives so that we will continue to be alive in the Spirit.

Thank you for your continued support. I pray for a blessed 2008 for all of us.