Vicar's Report
Jacqueline Schmitt

Inviting
Forming
Sending
Serving

These four words describe the mission statement of the Diocese of Massachusetts, the brief description of what we are about as Episcopalians participating in God’s mission of reconciliation in this world. We participate in God’s mission – we didn’t just make this up. It’s not something passed down to us from “the bishop’s office.”

To invite is just that. In order for people to hear the Good News we have to invite them in.

And then Formation: who are we as the People of God? What does it mean to be part of this household, this community of faith?

Sending and Serving are our activities traditionally associated with Mission: we get out there and do the work God has given us to do. And we know God has given us much work to do here in Brockton.

Over the past year we have done enormous work in this mission. It has seemed slow going at times, for we have been laying the foundation for the future. A year ago we began a series of conversations with partners from Episcopal churches in the area, led by Br. Reginald Crenshaw, OHC. We looked at where we are, who we are, and what God is calling the Episcopal Church to be and to do in this place.

Those partnerships with neighboring parishes have solidified, and we now present today a leadership team for this mission work: a new Executive Committee that adds people from outside this worshipping congregation.

Those partnerships also include funding: we will ask for grants and aid from parishes and from additional diocesan funds.

The future of St. Paul’s as an Episcopal worshipping community, and of St Paul’s as a place of social mission and outreach, are intertwined. Planning and development in three areas must occur at the same time.

The first is the growth of the congregation, which will be planned and carried out by the Executive Committee. This will include attending the “New Start Boot Camp,” learning how to canvass and organize in the community. We will learn what it takes to become a congregation that reflects the population of the City of Brockton, a congregation that presents the Good News in the words people can hear and lives out that Good News in ways that make people want to join us.

The second is the development of St. Paul’s Community, the group that will oversee and fund St. Paul’s Table. Also in the works is the development of a day/hospitality center in this place. A coalition of community and church groups have joined us in this effort. We feed 100 people a day, and the Table has just this week begun operating on Thursdays – we feed people six days a week. This effort has for many years involved partners from around the area, as volunteers and as donors. We are continuing to solidify our organization and to expand our circle of support.

Thirdly, the future of this congregation is tied to this neighborhood – to how this neighborhood looks, to the crime, blight and litter, and to its hope – to its development, growth and beautification. Our discussions about the future of the Table have led to partnerships and conversations with local groups and churches, as well as with our own Episcopal City Mission, about how we can work with others and with the city to clean up and develop this corner of Warren and Pleasant.

We have much to do, but we are not doing it alone. We have partners: Jesus, of course, is our first partner, our strongest friend, our best hope, the one who went before us and showed us the way. But along with Jesus we have our Episcopal sisters and brothers in the area, we have our friends from the religious communities in Brockton and from the city and secular agencies. As a mission congregation of the Diocese of Massachusetts, the Bishop is our Rector; this is the bishop’s congregation. But it is God’s mission in which we are engaged, and God’s mission cannot fail.