St Ambrose  Parish Pulse
    A Newsletter for Parish Leaders
      Diocese of the Midwest,
     Orthodox Church in America

January, 2008 - Vol 3, Issue 1
In This Issue
Announcements and reminders
Need Help Just Ask
Reorganizing Ministries
Honest Feedback from Strangers
Lessons Learned from Mystery Worshippers
The Parish Conversation
Join Our Mailing List!
Quick Links
Glory to Jesus Christ!
(For those reading this on the train or in your favorite chair a .pdf printable version of this newsletter can be viewed here.)Parish health Min logo

Welcome to our second issue of Parish Pulse for 2008. We don't necessarily expect to send one per month -- but we have lots of content to share with you -- so we've picked up the pace. 

If you are new to this list and unfamiliar with the Diocese' Parish Health Ministry an overview can be found here.

Past Parish Health info can be found on the Parish Health page of the Diocesan website.

As always please provide your insight and suggestions on future directions for this Ministry.

Joe Kormos
Parish Health Facilitator, Diocese of the Midwest
Announcements & Reminders
  • Grant ApplicationParish Health Grants -- Last month we announced the availability of new Parish Health Grants. These pay real  cash dollars (~ $2000) to parishes  whose good idea for a new internal or external ministry is selected. We've offered assistance to any parish wanting more info, ideas for grant proposals or preparation in planning the application. So far our phone has been silent. Deadline is May 30, 2008. Perhaps the Background Info document was just sooo... good assistance is not needed!
  • Compensation Feedback - The proposed clergy compensation policy recommends  that priests with ten years experience receive compensation at least equivalent to the Median Household Income (MHI) of the county in which the parish resides plus pension (6%), life insurance, employer's portion of FICA, disability and health care. The full policy can be found here. The Clergy Compensation committee desires your feedback via this address: [email protected]
  • Sexual Misconduct Materials - Diocesan Materials on implementing the OCA's guidelines for Sexual Misconduct can be found here. (scroll down to "Misconduct material") These documents recommend that:
    • two persons are with church school classes at all times,
    • written permission slips be received prior to any youth field trips,
    • background checks be undertaken regularly for all teachers and youth leaders,
    • a locked parish file cabinet be available to keep all relevant records and more. 
Is your parish up to date? 
  • Attention Parish Treasurers - We are looking for two more parish treasurers who are interested in participating in a group (sometimes known as a committee!) to define standards for parish accounting and reporting practice and other finacial issues. Time commitment is to be determined but likely it will include participation in a few conference calls and between call efforts on a voluntary basis. Contact Joe Kormos. (513.683.1911)
  • Mission Parish Needs - The Diocese Mission Committee recently met to review reports from the Diocese' 13 Missions in six states. We asked them what needs they may have for liturgical items. Can your parish help? You can contact that community or that Kormos fellow.
    • Holy Cross Mission -- Lindstrom MN: Priest's vestments (green, red, blue); altar servers' robes (adult & youth--gold)
    • St Raphael Mission -- Quincy IL: baptismal font, litya set, artophorion, processional candlesticks
    • Holy Myrrh Bearer -- St Cloud MN: Altar blessing cross.
Need Help? Just Ask. 
No Cost
Helpbutton We're often asked by clergy or laity "Can you help us with ___." Most of the time, with the priest's permission, we say yes. We deliver or "produce" via others:
  • Workshops
  • Retreats
  • Assessments and coaching -- determine areas of parish strengths/weaknesses
  • Help with communications and parish identity building
  • Making contact with others who know something about ___.
More info (right column)

Re-Organizing Your Parish Ministries?
Cleveland table discussion
Many parishes are in the midst of re-thinking their set of parish ministries. Identifying new needs and replacing activites that are no longer useful.
If your parish is undertaking this exercise the following information from Holy Trinity Parish in Overland Park KS may be of interest to you.

Read more.
 
Mystery Worshippers Provide Unvarnished Feedback
mysteryworshipper
What If a Complete Stranger Came to Your Parish and Offered Totally Honest Feedback? Would You Be Interested?

Most of us have wondered how our parish appears to visitors.  Do we smother visitors or ignore them? And which is worse in their eyes?  What do they experience?

Likewise if we understood how people experience non-Orthodox churches could we be better prepared for a soft landing when they encounter our parish? What do visitors observe while at worship in these churches? So if the above questions and issues are of interest to you, a set of visitor reports posted on the web at Mystery Worshipper may be helpful. Reports are posted for visits to many denominations including Orthodox parishes.

Read the rest of article
What Can We Learn from These Reports?

welcomematEach of you that reads the summaries of Mystery Worshipper reports we've execerpted will likely draw different conclusions. The following is what we took away from them:
  • The gift of greeting requires personal empathy. Few people want to be shunned or treated as an invisible. However, not everybody wants to be overwhelmed with a greeting -particularly a false one. Few people want to be singled out publicly. A smile and eye contact are most always good first steps.
  • Different people can and will have different reactions to Orthodoxy.  When you hear of a reaction listen and consider it. Don't act on every comment. Make it a point to gather, without pressure, a reaction from each visitor.  Some qualities that we might expect are unattractive to outsiders may in fact be very attractive. And vice versa.
More...
 
The Parish Conversation 
St Ambrose
What Are the Experiences of Visitors To Our Parish?

Last month we posted some questions for parish conversations that were relevant to that newsletter's articles. Here are a few that go with the Mystery Worshipper and visitor friendly aspects of this month's discussion.
  1. How many new persons showed up at our parish in the last (e.g.) 6 months?  Was it more or less than the previous six month period?
  2. What, in your opinion, (or theirs if you know it) were they looking for? Did they find it? How would they evaluate that?
  3. Did they return? Why? Why not?
  4. What would be/are the experiences of a visitor to our parish?
More....
Thank you for reading these newsletters, for your feedback and for your encouragement.
 
In Christ,
 
Joe Kormos
Parish Health Facilitator,
Diocese of Midwest
513.683.1911