The mission of the Parish Development Ministry is to help parishes to become healthy, hopeful, vibrant Orthodox communities that grow in their commitment to living a life in Christ, share the Gospel with all in their own locale and are prepared to do the work of Christ in the world.
We provide tools, encouragement and services in the form of:
Grants
Workshops
Conferences
Webinars
Newsletters
Articles
Consulting and Coaching
Assessment tools
in the areas of parish life and development, parish vision and planning, stewardship, evangelization, education and formation, lay ministries, parish council and leadership training, parish communication and other areas of importance to parish life and development.
For additional information please contact Joseph Kormos, Parish Development Ministry Leader.
Archbishop JOB Memorial Mission Trip Project Mexico Video
Over 150 persons participated in the Diocese' Memorial Mission trip to Project Mexico last summer. Undertaken in memory of Archbishop JOB, the Diocesan Council commissioned a video summary of the trip. The video including recollections of Archbishop JOB's life by those on the trip as well as scenes from the work to build seven homes during the trip.
We recently reviewed the results of a survey on Parish Practices conducted by the OCA in advance of the 13th All American Council in Orlando. The Council had as its theme "The Parish Community: Our Life in Christ."
The most interesting outcome from the data seems to be the consistent correlation between generally accepted good parish practices and self reported parish growth. These factors all show a positive relationship with self reported parish growth:
Adult education attendance
Infrequent change of pastors (65% of growing parishes had one pastor in the previous ten years.)
Presence of converts,
Frequency of weekly worship, attendance at services including vespers, frequency of communion, frequent confession,
Focus of parish council time on growth and ministry,
Pledge forms, stewardship committees and all member canvas,
Offering a variety of program options
Presence of other miscellaneous good practices were all shown to be more consistently present in growing parishes.
Orthodox Christians love their temple -- no matter how elaborate or modest.
Unfortunately many Orthodox parishes are unprepared for funding the true long term cost of ownership of their facilities. Whether the parish facilities are new or ancient it behooves the parish to take a serious look at undertaking a well thought out, comprehensive "Replacement Reserve Analysis". see article
Your Parish Budget
You can discern a lot about a parish's sense of excellence, its vision and its priorities from its budget. What does your parish budget say about your parish community?
In 2009, as part of a project designed to strengthen the parish's ability to greet inquirers and to integrate newcomers into parish life, St Mark Church in Rochester Hills MI undertook a comprehensive survey to understand the experiences of Orthodox converts before during and after their decision to embrace the Orthodox faith. Here is a summary of what they said. The survey resulted in a class to prepare parishioners for the types of issues and questions often encountered by inquirers of the Orthodox faith. A simple summary of the class can be found here.
Establishing a Solid Parish Youth Effort
We recently compiled lessons learned from a number of Diocesan Parishes concerning the topic of establishing an effective parish youth effort.See the article here.
OCA Parish Ministries Conference 2010
The OCA Parish Ministries Conference 2010 was held on June 27-30, 2010 at Baldwin-Wallace College near Cleveland OH. The theme, Equipping the Saints. (Ephesians 4:11-12) drew an enthusiastic crowd of over 160 clergy, lay leaders, young adults and liturgical musicians.
Slides and handouts from the Building Vibrant Parishes track, presented by the Diocese of the Midwest Parish Health Ministry can be found here.
Endowments
A recent article titled "Endowed Congregations: Pro and Con" written by the Alban Institute offers some useful insight on the role of endowments in parish life. Read more here.
Clergy Compensation Policy
At the 2009 Diocesan Assembly Clergy Compensation Guidelines were adopted to be followed by all parishes of the diocese. Those guidelines can be found here.
Parish Financial Best Practices Manual Available
What practices need to be followed in our parish to assure that we manage funds entrusted to us responsibly and prudently?
The parish council at Holy Trinity parish in Overland Park KS recently developed a best practices manual for answering these questions. Assistant pastor
The document has been posted here for your review. It can be used as a potential model for your parish. Fr. Chris Rowe,assistant pastor, would very much like to receive comments and feedback on the document. Contact Fr Chris here with suggested improvements.
Parish Pulse
Designed to build “connectedness”, Parish Pulse is the communication backbone of the parish health ministry. It is emailed to clergy and lay leaders involved in building healthy and growing parishes
The Diocese of the Midwest held it's second Urban Ministry Summit on July 26-27 2011 at St. Gregory of Nyssa Church in Columbus OH.
Over fifty clergy and laity from urban parishes as well as suburban and rural parishes were in attendance to better understand techniques and ideas for extending God's love to those in living in urban areas.
A new collection of bible studies titled "The Living Word" is under development for the Diocese' Parish Health and Development Ministry. The collection is edited by Fr John Matusiak and is being piloted at St. Joseph Orthodox Church Wheaton IL. The Living Word is a 25-session Bible Study collection for group and individual use. Each series consists of five study guides on specific topics central to the Orthodox Christian faith and life as revealed in the spoken words of Jesus Christ, the Living Word of God.
Series one - "What Jesus Says..." has been completed and is available on the Diocesan website. The What Jesus Says series now has ten individual studies covering what Jesus says about:
Himself
Life
Eternal Life
Faith
Forgiveness
God
The Holy Spirit
Prayer
Sharing the Gospel
Love for God and Others
The bible studies and an introductory sheet can be found here.
What Do Priests Want
We recently worked with a parish to help them develop some plans for the next 5-10 years. Since the rector of the parish will be retiring at some time during that period he asked that we include the topic of preparing for a clergy transition in the discussion agenda. We asked them to think about what a future rector would be looking for from them -- the qualities and attributes an experienced Orthodox pastor would consider to be a good fit for his ministry.
Prior to the workshop we asked that same question of a few senior priests in the diocese. Here are some answers we received.
Parish Health Summit
The Diocese held its first ever Parish Health Summit on July 7-8 in Wheaton IL.
The conference was attended by fifteen priests from twelve growing parishes was convenedto focus on the questions of:
"What do we mean by the term "healthy parish" and "vibrant parish?
What do these parishes look and feel like? What goes on there?
How do we help less vibrant parishes move onto a path to living a life in Christ in a more complete way? ".
