The Strategic Plan Working Group has been busy over the last few months, working across the Church in a process to re-examine the mission and structures of General Synod. Here is a short update on where we have been, where we are and where we are going.
Where we’ve been
- Review of Vision 2019 outcomes
- 11 Listening Groups, each having up to 3 sessions
- 3 listening sessions with Church House Management Team
- Identification of themes and strategic priorities
- Mandate review of General Synod Office
- Review of quantitative and qualitative research on the effects of the pandemic on churches in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K.
- An environmental scan (SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
- Multiple iterations of priority discernment and scenario building
Where we are now
- Emerging clarity that this will be a transitional plan:
a compass, not a roadmap (understanding our context) - Developing an ecclesiological understanding of the role and ministry of the National Church
- Designing the structural outline for the final document, including a first draft of pillars, priorities and goals
- Testing a departmental planning exercise for Church House
- Seeking to calibrate expectations for General Synod 2022
Where we’re going
- Preparing for Provincial Synods: test and improve our findings
- Returning to Listening Group participants for reflections, reactions, language and stories
- Seeking greater clarity about potential resource parameters
- June 2021 CoGS: 1st response to some preliminary draft language
- November 2021 CoGS: in-depth review of first draft of plan
- March 2022 CoGS: Final draft for amendment / ratification