ReVision 1998-2005

Our Mission Statement calls for us to "equip individuals for service so that we may be built up in faith, unity and joyful knowledge of the love of God." We want to make the presence of Jesus Christ more alive in our church and in our larger community and continue to build our knowledge and skills to make this happen effectively.

ReVision 1998-2001

In October of 1997, the Strategic Planning Committee of St. Timothy's agreed to embark on a process which would result in the development of a renewed vision and some specific strategic initiatives for our church to move forward to fulfill this mission. In order to do this work, we agreed to pilot a program for the Diocese of El Camino Real which was developed by Percept Group, Inc. of Costa Mesa, California called "ReVision."

This program led us through a thorough, self-evaluation and reflection upon our current practices. We identified the states of "what is" and "what ought to be." We then identified five focus areas, and wrote up five initiatives, with their accompanying strategies (action plans) which would help us close the gap between "what is" and "where we want to be."

The five initiatives were:

Initiative #1
Spiritual Formation and Personal Development: We must build a covenant community of capable people through teaching the Bible, faith exploration, prayer and gift discernment.

Initiative #2
Call to Action: We must support each member of our covenant community to develop and apply their individual gifts in appropriate ministry. Laity must take on leadership responsibility for programs in our church.

Initiative #3
Engaging the Community: We must be disciples of Christ in the Community through service and witness. >Initiative #4
Pastoral Care: We must nurture and spiritually support each member of our covenant community through care delivered in a partnership of laity and clergy.

Initiative #5
Administrative Fundamentals: We must prioritize the allocation and growth of our resources (people, programs, facilities, administrative support and communication.)

ReVision 2002-2005

In 2002, during the Lenten Season, we revisited the revisioning process with two purposes in mind: the evaluation of our accomplishments in the focus areas defined in 1998 and identifying our focus areas for the upcoming three years, and writing some strategies to achieve them. This was done by meeting in small groups, either covenant groups or in a group meeting after the services on Sunday. A self-selected Task Force met in the weeks after Easter to prepare the final revisioning document.

Using the data reported by each of the small groups, the Task Force agreed that although there was no new area of focus, there was need to do more work and expand the focus of the first three initiatives from 1998 - Spiritual Formation and Personal Development, Call to Action and Engaging the Community. As we progressed through our work, it became clear that the last two initiatives, Pastoral Care and Administrative Fundamentals, were fully into the implementation stage. Although there was still work to be done, it was not necessary to claim either of these two initiatives as an area of long-term and intense focus for the next three years.

The three initiatives for 2002 -2005 were:

Initiative #1
Spiritual Formation and Personal Development: We will continue to build a covenant community of faithful people through Bible study, faith exploration, and prayer.

Initiative #2
Call to Faithful Action: We are a church of active lay leaders. We encourage people to discover and develop their own spiritual gifts. A call to faithful action grows out of prayer and a desire to use our gifts to serve God.

Initiative #3
Faith in Action 24/7: Through witness and service, we will act as disciples of Christ in the larger community and the world.

For the complete document which includes the Vision Statement and the details about the Initiatives and Strategies, see ReVision 2002-2005.

ReVision 2006 - ?

The Strategic Planning Committee is currently working on the evaluation of how we have implemented the initiatives for 2002-2005. They will be using the covenant groups to complete this work. The St. Timothy's covenant community is looking forward to developing a new set of strategies for the next three years in partnership with our new rector.