Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The above Collect, which we pray on the fourth Sunday in Advent, sums up nicely the deepest desire we all have for Pohick Church, not only during this holy season of preparation, but throughout the year. As in the Beatitudes, we want to be humble and pure of heart, ready to welcome our Lord into our midst, whether he comes to us in Spirit or on the face of a stranger. We want to gather here as a community united in Christ, ever singing his praises, ever deepening our relationship with God and our neighbor, ever willing to lend a hand to those in need.

It is no accident that our Annual Meeting is always set early in the season of Advent, the start of the new liturgical year. From this vantage, we are well positioned not only to reflect back upon how we have fulfilled our mission during the previous twelve months, but also to gaze into the future, reflecting on how we might be even better servants in the year ahead. And so let me begin with a retrospective before turning our sights forward to the road in front of us.

An Emerging Vision

This past year was one in which we, like the early Church, together began to "dream dreams and see visions" (Acts 2:17). In January we held a series of forums wherein we shared with one another our dreams and visions for our next decade of ministry at Pohick. The Vestry took those ideas to their retreat that same month and continued to work with them over their next three monthly meetings. After that, the Strategic Planning Committee, chaired by Mason Botts, met several times to further distill these ideas, to integrate them with previous statements, and to craft them in a clear and concise Strategic Plan.

After moving the section on accountability to the top, the Vestry unanimously adopted the Strategic Plan at its June meeting. It was subsequently distributed at the Parish Retreat and published to the entire congregation in the July Pohick Post. It was also posted on our parish web site, where it remains a permanent fixture.

As a key element of this plan's implementation, the Sr. Warden and I have assigned responsibility for each objective to the most appropriate vestry commission (in some cases one or more commissions were given secondary responsibility for a particular objective). Since those assignments were made in the late summer, the commissions, along with the committees and groups under them, have slowly but surely been meeting to take tangible steps toward fulfilling their charges. In fact, some of the commissions, anticipating their directives, began working toward this end even before the Plan was published.

Putting the Plan into Action

A good case in point is the work of the Communications Commission, a division that did not even exist a year ago. The Vestry created this commission at its retreat in response to the overwhelming number of parishioner suggestions dealing with communications issues. One of the groups under this new commission, the Web Committee, took action over the course of many months, producing an attractive, fast-loading and content-laden Web Site that has already become a model within the diocese. Likewise, May saw the launching of the E-Post, an electronic version of the Pohick Post, which, to my knowledge, is the only publication of its kind in the Diocese of Virginia.

Staff have provided an important assist in this area: our parish secretary, Vonne Troknya, frequently spends a significant portion of her day inputting activities on our new Internet calendar, which itself has become a vital nexus of communication on our Web site.

As a result of this commission's work, information is now flowing even more freely, enhancing our ongoing publication of The Pohick Post, which Cammie Liddle so faithfully continues to oversee and execute.

Making Ourselves Known and Welcoming Others Onboard

The Communication Commission also provided an important assist to the work of our Outreach Commission—more specifically, to that of the Newcomers and Evangelism Committees. Here, the Pew Card was totally redesigned, as was the Folio of information presented to interested visitors. A new parish brochure was laid out and printed for use not only in newcomer welcome bags, but also in mailings to residents moving into the surrounding neighborhoods. As a result of this intentional ministry of hospitality, we have had more than two dozen families indicate their desire to join our parish family in the last few months alone.

Again, staff have provided important assists. Each week, both our Parish and Finance secretaries follow up on inquiries, passing them onto the appropriate parish leaders. In addition, my new Assistant, the Reverend Jane Piver, as part of her many tiered ministry at Pohick, has contributed indispensable leadership in this area. I welcome her as a colleague and fellow servant of Christ within our congregation.

Her arrival came about through the efforts of a branch of the Resources Commission—the Personnel Committee—which helped in the crafting of the position description. Its chair, along with the Wardens and other advisors, faithfully assisted me through two separate search processes.
This group, as well as the Vestry as a whole, was likewise supportive of the taking on of a seminarian for the first time in many years. Parishioners have already commented to me about how Chuck Hatfield and his wife Jan have been wonderful additions to our congregation. Next year we hope to take a second seminarian as we have done in years past, with the Assistant serving as his or her supervisor.

A Time to Pray, a Time to Learn

One of the most pressing issues raised by the congregation at the January forums was the need to offer more time on Sundays for Christian Education. Our Worship and Christian Ed Commissions teamed up for the execution of this objective, presenting their research first to the Vestry and then the congregation at large. The outcome appears to have been a happy one. While resulting in a minimal shift in worship times, the implemented change has brought our Sunday school classes up to the desired fifty minutes, time which allows our teachers to more fully present their lessons.

Simultaneously, our Christian Education Commission, under the leadership of Frances Sessums, undertook a review of our curriculum, with the desire to find materials to better capture our students' imagination. One of the results of their search was the adoption of the Godly Play curriculum, which we were able to launch a year earlier than slated, thanks to the many contributions given through the Wishing Well—an idea itself advanced by the Stewardship Commission.

Another outcome of our service-time change review was the addition this Fall of an Adult Sunday school class after the 7:45 am service, a first for our congregation. I would like to thank Jim Hayes for making this class possible. Likewise, Jane Piver has been offering a weekday women's Bible study throughout the Fall on Tuesday mornings.

Following last year's pattern, I myself have been offering an adult class on Sunday mornings this Fall. Earlier in the Spring, it was my pleasure to prepare thirty-two adults and young people for Confirmation or Reception, the greatest number presented by this congregation in a single year since the baby-boom period of the 1950s.

Looking ahead, Virginia Seminary has recently honored me by asking me to present the New Testament lectures in their Lay School of Theology this Winter. These ten sessions will run from 7:30 to 10:00 pm on Thursday evenings, beginning in February. I hope all those in our congregation with an interest in the New Testament will come and be a part of this series.
Our Strategic Plan has also called for the strengthening of our Youth Programs, a task especially facilitated this past year by two of our staff, Jennifer Crump-Strawderman, our EYC Director, and Vicky Shields Harding, our Music Director. They, along with the help of many volunteers, have devoted themselves to helping our Young People understand the importance of Christian service, worship, and study—all coupled with a good measure of playfulness and wholesome fun. That youthful vibrancy has extended into our adult choirs, whose members continue to play such an important role in "lifting up our hearts" during worship.

A Changing Neighborhood

As we have begun the work of turning our common vision into a reality, the neighborhood around us continues to change. New developments are springing up wherever you look, including a 38-unit, single-family residential community that will adjoin our property to the southwest within two years. Despite fiscal problems, VDOT is still slated to widen US 1 in front of our property, beginning in 2003. Old Lorton prison will soon be rebuilt to include new schools, new residential developments, and new community centers. Ft. Belvoir will be the site of a new Army Museum and a massive Army Materiel complex.

I will refer you to the Jr. and Sr. Warden reports for more specifics on these developments. Rest assured, however, that, in order to make our interests known, we have been in conversation with all the principals overseeing these changes, including our state representatives, Senator Puller and Delegate Albo, the Commanders at Ft. Belvoir, the County Commissioner, and the VDOT Project Manager. All have been very receptive to our concerns and are incorporating them into their designs.

Generally, we welcome the changes coming our way, viewing them as opportunities to minister to the many new families moving into southern Fairfax County. At the same time, we have advocated phased and responsible growth, so as to maintain the many qualities that make this part of Northern Virginia such an attractive place to live and serve.

Looking Ahead

Because our Strategic Plan is so ambitious, we will be working through its objectives for many years to come. Each commission has a full docket, and the clergy and staff are laboring long hours to help our volunteer leaders, who themselves are investing much of their time for the building up of the body of Christ and the spread of God's kingdom at Pohick. Because so much is in the works, I would like to highlight just two upcoming initiatives and close with some general thoughts about the process of change.

Neighborhood Groups

First, along with many of you, I have been concerned that, as we grow in number, we do not lose the intimacy of fellowship that has always been such an important part of the Spirit of Pohick. In response to this concern, the Stewardship Commission has stepped up to the plate—though eventually they will be looking for support from the Pastoral Care and the Service and Fellowship Commissions as well.

I refer here to the Neighborhood Groups, about which I have previously written in the October Pohick Post. Since then, much of the leadership has been recruited, and the neighborhoods themselves defined (here, with nearly five hundred parishioner families, this itself was no small task!). Soon the Neighborhood Lay Ministers will receive their orientation so that the program can begin to get off the ground.

As a means of further presenting this concept to the congregation, we have scheduled a forum to be held in the Common Room on Sunday, January 19 at 10:15 am. Bruce Baird, who has been spearheading this initiative, will keynote this forum, along with myself and other neighborhood leaders. I hope that many of you will be able to attend to have a first look at what I think will be an important new dimension of our ministry together at Pohick.

Expanding the Parish House

Second, even a cursory glance at our Strategic Plan will reveal that much of it focuses on the need to enhance our meeting and office facilities—in other words, expanding the Parish House. Seeing that we were well on our way to having county utilities brought onto the property, at the October vestry meeting, I called for the creation of a Building Committee to begin to implement this part of the Plan. At this time, I would like to announce the appointment of Brook Voght as the chair of this committee. In overseeing this endeavor, I know that Brook will have the full support of the Planning and Policy Commission, as well as the entire vestry and congregation.

He will need it: this will be a complex undertaking that will challenge us all to give not only of our time and talent, but also a considerable amount of our treasure. The complexity of this project is magnified by the fact that our Plan calls for its integration with a Master Development Plan, where we lay-out segments of our property for future uses, including the eventual building of a new church and other possible ministry complexes.

While this may all seem daunting, I take heart from the fact that we possess at Pohick a level of devotion to our mission that is rarely seen. Moreover, with so many of our neighboring parishes successfully engaged in similar expansions, I know in my heart of hearts that we—the Mother Church of Northern Virginia—can do the same.

The Nature of Change: Thinking Outside the Box

This leads me to conclude with a few words about the nature of change as it applies to our current situation. During the January Forums, I challenged the congregation to prayerfully "think outside the box" when looking at the ministry possibilities for our parish. As a result, we now possess an ambitious, even courageous Strategic Plan.

Now that we are beginning the implementation process, I have challenged our staff, commissions and committees in a like manner. When looking for solutions, I have encouraged them to search widely, think boldly, and explore daringly those areas lying "outside the box." Yet when the innovative nature of their quest is combined with the growing complexities of our congregation, sometimes their proposed solution may involve a paradigm shift.

It is at this point that difficulties often arise because, by their very nature, paradigm shifts at first glance seem crazy. This is why Swiss watchmakers turned down the opportunity to produce the first quartz watches, because they didn't involve the use of springs—and everyone knew that watches needed to have springs. On the other hand, the Japanese, because they didn't have quite the tradition of watchmaking, were willing to give it a try—and the rest is history.

And so as our committees and commissions tackle problems and perhaps come up with creative solutions, I would simply ask that the congregation keep an open mind and give each of these a fair hearing, knowing that the members of these groups have been studying the problems under their purview for quite some time.

A Broken Budget Process

By the same token, because paradigm shifts often require careful explanation, as well as the opportunity to solicit wider feedback, it has become clear to me that we need to make a change in our budget process to better facilitate our ongoing mission.
As it currently stands, the Finance Committee receives requests in October, assembles them in a budget in November and early December, and submits this document to the Vestry so that it may take it up for consideration at its meeting later that month.

This process works fine during years when there are only minor program enhancements. However, that has not been the case in the past few years of our parish's history—nor do we expect it to be in the near future. Consequently, the congregation has not been afforded the chance to adequately consider and mull several new initiatives that have arisen, understandably leading to resentment on their part, and placing the vestry in the uncomfortable position of having to make budget decisions in a vacuum. Clearly, the system is broke.

Therefore, I will be proposing to the vestry that, beginning in 2003, we require those staff or commissions who envision new initiatives involving significant additional funds to submit their proposals to the Finance Committee in the late Spring so that presentations can be made before the vestry and, if deemed appropriate, before the larger congregation well in advance of December budget deliberations.

Such a schedule would also allow time for commissions to integrate into their proposals the constructive suggestions received at these hearings. In this way, I believe we will not only avoid placing our commission and vestry members in an untenable position, but also seize the opportunity to be respectful listeners of our congregation. In the end, not all may agree in the merits of each and every proposal, but the process itself will better nurture collaboration and harmony within the larger Body of Christ.

A Hopeful Future

This past year has truly been a time of blessing for our congregation. In this place, we have worshiped and prayed together, celebrated and mourned, studied and served. Together, we have laughed and we have cried, we have listened and we have spoken, we have given and we have received. This place we call Pohick Church is truly a sacred space—made so not by bricks and mortar, but by the gathering of God's people here in our day, as in centuries past.

Working together under the strengthening grace and guidance of the Holy Spirit, we will continue to make a difference in the lives of all those God sends to us. In so doing, may we find our own spirits renewed, relationships deepened, and consciences purified. May we truly find ourselves a mansion prepared for our Lord.

Faithfully,

Donald D. Binder+

||--Index-- Next Page-->