FIND A CHURCH

STRATEGIC PLAN

Our Mission

To draw people to Jesus and embody his love for the world by equipping faith communities, promoting spiritual growth, and striving for justice.

Vision 2025

To be a Diocese that draws on the gifts of all God’s people to serve Christ together and live Jesus’ Way of Love.

Revitalize our churches to grow the Jesus Movement

  • We will implement a church revitalization strategy that leads to healthy, thriving congregations throughout the diocese, reversing the trends of decline
  • Our leadership and congregations will reflect the demographics of our surrounding communities
  • We will develop a stewardship strategy for our facilities and finances so that parishes are not constrained by building concerns
  • We will launch or relaunch three worshiping communities focused on rising generations so that we become a spiritual home for our children and grandchildren

Inspire every person to grow in faith & equip our leaders to lead well

  • We will establish a school for Christian leadership for clergy and laity
  • We will develop and implement a collaborative strategy for spiritual growth and discipleship
  • We will strive for a 10% increase in baptisms, confirmations, and receptions across the diocese year over year

Partner in ministries of equity & justice for greater impact in our communities

  • We will strengthen our collective witness in equity and justice through partnerships and shared resources to meet the needs of our regions
  • We will promote Creation Care practices in all our faith communities
  • We will engage issues such as racial justice, gun violence prevention, LGBTQ equal rights, and immigration reform through on-going trainings, workshops, pilgrimages, and public witness

Year Four Priorities

Measurable Objectives

Church Revitalization
We will continue to engage congregations with revitalization strategies, including the start of a third cohort of up to 12 congregations in Tending Our Soil, all congregations experiencing clergy leadership transition, and those seeking diocesan support.

We will take the next steps toward launching or relaunching three new worshiping communities by identifying the first two geographical areas in which to start and determining the staff, teams, finances, and other resources needed to begin.

We will establish a Committee on Black Church Ministries whose purpose is to implement revitalization strategies specifically designed for historically Black or majority Black congregations, assign a senior staff member and support the Committee in providing resources to congregations.

We will take the initial steps to develop a stewardship strategy for our facilities and finances by identifying partners who can help us assess the burden facing parishes and think of ways to alleviate the constraints of building concerns.

Faith & Leadership
We will continue to expand the School for Christian Faith and Leadership as we live into the realities of the post-pandemic church, providing up-to-date and well-curated offerings that support spiritual growth, parish vitality, leadership skills, and work for equity and justice.

We will clarify and take the next steps in developing the Path of Discipleship to ensure that it is user friendly, easily adaptable and accessible for individuals and worshiping communities.

We will establish a new vision and goals for Episcopal campus ministry and work toward the implementation phase by the fall of 2023.

We will establish a vision for active youth ministry in the diocese that will be supported and guided by a Youth Committee.

Equity & Justice
We will continue to support diocesan-wide engagement on the work of reparations, including the formation of a Committee on Reparations as approved by Convention, and encourage parishes to participate in education and conversation, particularly around their own history.

We will support and amplify congregational initiatives to care for creation, and identify two diocesan-wide goals, including tree planting and preservation, so as to encourage broad engagement and collective impact.

We will work with the regional deans and diocesan deacons to foster collaborative efforts in the work of equity and justice, according to the concerns and issues of the different regions, and measure our success in areas of common concern, including food insecurity, long-term support of migrants and refugees, the need for affordable housing, and gun violence prevention.

We will collaborate with diocesan leaders to identify 3 courses related to equity and justice initiatives in the diocese, and offer them through the School for Christian Faith and Leadership.

Resources

Year Four Priorities | Prioridades del Cuarto Año

Diocesan Strategic Plan – Year Four Priorities [PDF]
Plan Estratégico Diocesano – Prioridades del Cuarto Año [PDF]

Year Three Priorities | Prioridades del Tercer Año


Year Two Priorities | Prioridades del Segundo Año


Year One Priorities | Prioridades del Primero Año

 

Questions

Please contact us with any questions on the Diocese of Washington strategic plan.