audit manual

Parish Health Ministry Notes & Information

Diocese of the Midwest, Orthodox Church in America 

Issue: # 2/4 May 23, 2007
Brothers & Sisters,

By now most of you know that the new Diocesan Website is alive and well. Many thanks to Fr. Deacon Joseph Matusiak for getting this launched. Hopefully this can help keep things updated around the Diocese. To look around go to www.midwestdiocese.org
 

If you have suggestions about the Parish Health or Missions pages send them to me at the address below.  Info on other sections of the site should be sent to Dn. Joseph. (chancery@midwestdiocese.org  )
 
 
In Christ,
 
Joe Kormos,  Parish Health Facilitator, Diocese of the Midwest
In This Issue
Events Link
Parish News Link
Cleveland "Insularity" Workshop
ON Line Surveys Need Attention
Need Graduate Names
Five Practical Suggestions
Web Site Tools
Better Meeting Checklist

Parish Health Ministry

The Diocese' "Parish Development Engine"
 
The Parish Health Ministry is a new effort of the Diocese of the Midwest. Click here to learn more.
Join Our List
Join Our Mailing List
Upcoming Dates & Events 
 Deanery Camps et al
See the parish health page for a list of Diocesan and Deanery events including camps. To date we have the following camp schedules:
  • FOCA Jr Sports Tournament - 7/8-14
  • Indiana / Columbus Deanery Camp 7/29-8/3
  • Chicago Deanery Camp 8/16-19
Parish News
Tidbits on Parish Health Page
To read selected tidbits of parish activities within the Diocese go to the Parish Health page and look in right hand column.
Cleveland Workshop Examines Evangelization & Charitable Outreach
 Cleveland table discussionParishes Discuss "Breaking Our Insularity"

Insular adj. pertaining to an island, or to the inhabitants of an island their customs;etc.; inward; narrow

On Saturday May 5, over 40 clergy and laity from the Cleveland Deanery explored how to let the Light of Orthodoxy shine more brightly in Northern Ohio, and more specifically in the neighborhood of their parish.

To learn more about the workshop content and outcomes ("pruning the parish activites tree", door to doorknob, greeters ministry, more signs, and more -- click here.
 
To view some of the videos shown in the sesion go here for
On Line Surveys Need Your Attention - NOW!
On Line Survey Metrical Data, Clergy Compensation and Communications Practices
Three on- line  data collection activites are on going within the Diocese. They need your attention.
  • The parish metrical records survey is manadatory and needs to be filled out by Rectors and and priests in charge. Click here to submit data
  • The Clergy Compensation survey is the foundation for review of the Diocese's compensation policy. Incomplete response has delayed this efffort. This is for rectors/priests-in-charge only.  click here for compensation survey
  • The communications practices survey is optional and available to clergy and laity. The more participants the more useful the data.Click here to access the survey.
Calling All Diocesan Graduates!
Priests or Designeees: Submit Your List of Graduates
His Eminence has requested that we pull together a master list of HS & college graduates from each parish and mission in the Diocese. Priests or their designees are requested to email this information to yours truly to coordinate the creation of this list.

For submission instructions and to view the early form of the list click here
Students Attend Liturgy Morning After Prom
 Congratulations to Students, Parents & Parish
As we prepared the early version of the graduate list, we noticed the following in one parish bulletin:
  • "Our two high school graduates had attended their Senior Prom on Saturday night, yet they met their commitment of attending Liturgy on Sunday morning."
Five Practical Suggestions for Parishes
livonia sign At Least One Applies to Your Parish 
In preparation for the launch of the Parish Health Ministry  we were asked to visit numerous parishes in each Deanery. - to explain this new ministry. Here are a few impressions left by the visits.
 
In short - get a nice sign (like the one shown), cut the lawn, clean the fellowship hall, get a flip chart and then an LCD projector and screen.
 
PARISH WEBSITE  OFFER from ORTHODOX WEB SOLUTIONS
sttheowebsite Waive Start Up Fee 
We received lots of interest in last month's article on parish websites. (Here it is if you missed it.)  Now an offer of potential interest.

The Diocese and many parishes use web tools from Orthodox Web Solutions. With few exceptions these sites look great. I can attest the website bulding tools work very well -- even for novices!
 
A standard parish website costs $125 (choose from 12 basic design templates) plus $25 per month hosting costs. Custom sites are $725. If ten Midwest Diocese parishes begin a website with OWS the $125 start up fee waived. Contact Joe Kormos if interested. 513-683-1911

We mentioned the importance of an up todate service schedule in the article. It's a breeze with OWS. No more leaving people waiting in the parking lot for a worship service that was cancelled or moved to another location.
Need Help with Better Meetings?
indymeeting
Meetings are the stuff of parish life. Some are to be relished and others to be avoided. What follows is a menu for changing the latter into the former.
 
 
Thank you for reading these letters and for the many encouraging comments.  
 
In Christ,
 

Joe Kormos, Parish Health Facilitator
Diocese of Midwest