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Our purpose is to help your congregation find a deeper experience of vocation and mission and assist you in becoming a healthier community

By Ven. Pery Chuipka

Some of you may have already made your New Year’s resolutions and if you’re anything like me – you’ve already broken them!

Well, there was a woman who said to herself, “I am not making up resolutions this year. I am just going to pray for what I want in 2019”. This was her prayer, “Dear Lord, I want a fat bank account and a skinny waist line”. She paused and added, “And don’t mix them up like you did last year!”

Most people, whether we are an individual or we are a church community want better health. Congregational Coaches are available to help you and your congregations work towards better health.

Our Vision is a spiritually regenerated church

Some of you may have heard that for many years now, in the business world and in many other areas, people have been hiring coaches to help them achieve new outcomes to enhance various aspects in their life. Our diocese offers you this coaching service along with all of our resources for free!

We can assist your congregation in becoming a healthier community. We can be a resource for you, our clergy and all the churches in our diocese. We’re not pretending to have all the answers. Some issues are very difficult but we do have resources that can move things forward in a positive direction.

Coaches are available to help you with your Mission and Ministry Plan in the New Year

Currently, one of our priorities is to help parishes develop and enrich their Mission and Ministry Plans.

Coaches may be able to assist your parish with the some of the following: ways to incorporate the five marks of mission into your M & M Plan; additional resources to explore the Five Marks of Mission; evangelical possibilities to include in your plan; partnering and working with other groups in the community; developing some of your goals; providing resources to enhance already created goals; and exploring a healthy decision-making process.

We are always open to discussing with you other possibilities in assisting you with your Mission and Ministry Plan.

Your Congregational Coaches also have other resources that might assist your parish: VIVA visioning & goal setting; Evangelism Education; Discovering your Spiritual Gifts workshops; Re-imagine Church workshops; Parish Profiles; Brainstorming; Guided Discussions; Relationship Building; Effective Meeting Skills; Natural Church Development; Assisted Town Hall meetings with congregations to discuss specific issues; and Custom Workshops designed in discussion with the Rector or Leadership Team.

Feel free to contact us about possibilities for your parish

Let me go back to the story of the woman who was praying to God to ask for the things she wanted to happen in the New Year to help her become healthier. We all need to pray for God’s guidance but we also need to take action when God is nudging us forward into new areas of our congregational life. We may not feel that confident on our own. Bishop Linda supports the work of the Congregational Coaches to provide that extra help. We can’t always do things on our own. Sometimes we need the help of others in our community.

We are always looking for new coaches from both the laity and the clergy. Check us out at our website https://coaching.diohuron.org/ and if you’re interested, please contact your Archdeacon, Regional Dean, Co-Chair, Paul Townshend, myself (Co-Chair, Archdeacon Perry Chuipka) or one of our coaches: Helen Cole; Sandra Coulson; Linda DeBurger; Rev. Stephen Hendry; Cheryl Highmore; Rev. Matt Kieswetter; Shirley Sewell and Rev. Paul Silcox.

Ven. Perry Chuipka is the Archdeacon of Congregational Development.

(Featured photo: Nong Vang/Unsplash)