Vestry Adopts Animal Policy for St. John's Buildings and Grounds

By Mother Tracy

Rector

After an incident this spring in which a dog belonging to a woman staying in her RV on St. John’s property allegedly bit one of the church’s neighbors, the vestry decided to take a look at how and when animals are present on St. John’s campus. We decided it would be wise to put in place clear guidelines and expectations for the behavior of animals and their owners while they are on our property.

A subcommittee was formed to look more closely at the issue, which consisted of vestry members Eileen Fernald, Suzanne Krakover-Nickel, and Gina Muller and members-at-large Nancy Shephard, Karen Greenleaf, and Janet Duncan. I also served on the committee. 

Our office manager, Chrys Sparks, very helpfully compiled a list of sample policies from other churches and universities and after reviewing and discussing those samples, the subcommittee drafted a policy for St. John’s that was approved by unanimous vote of the vestry at the August meeting.

The full text of the policy is printed below, and will be posted on the parish website, the parish bulletin board, and other areas around the campus. Please draw pet-owners' attention to this policy if they plan to bring their pet with them to St. John's.

Animal Policy

Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist, Aptos, CA

Approved by the Vestry on August 15, 2017

Our animal policy aims to take into consideration both the needs of animal owners and people who may be allergic to or fearful of those animals, in order to create a welcoming atmosphere for all people and creatures on our church grounds.

Animal owners are welcome to bring their dog, cat, or other pet to St. John’s grounds and in the church's facilities, under the following conditions:

1.      The animal must be on a six foot (or shorter) leash or crated, and it must be under the control of the owner at all times.

2.      Employees and volunteers may have a pet with them in their office while doing church work, but must have a sign on the door notifying others that an animal is present and must provide an alternative meeting space if someone prefers a pet-free zone.

3.      No animals are allowed in the kitchen or the nursery.

4.      If bringing an animal to a group meeting, the pet owner must ask the other members of the group ahead of time if they are okay with the animal being present.

5.      The animal should be well-behaved. This means that the animal can sit quietly and not distract the owner or the rest of the people present from the tasks at hand. If the owner has to constantly interact with the pet, or if the pet is interacting with others in the room such as to cause a distraction, others present may ask the owner to remove the animal.

6.      Owners must clean up after their animal. This includes disposing of pet waste (i.e., scoop the poop), cleaning up any other messes made by the animal while on St. John’s campus, and removing hair or dander from areas where the animal has been sitting (to try to keep the area as allergy-free as possible for the next people who use the space).

7.      All animals must be tagged, registered, and vaccinated in accordance with appropriate state and county regulations. This includes being up-to-date on anti-flea medications.

8. If you have a complaint or concern about an animal present at St. John's, please contact the rector.

This animal policy may be expanded or revised in the future as needs arise.

Selecting the Vestry Nominating Committee

By Mother Tracy
Rector

At the August meeting, the vestry appointed the following people to the vestry nominating committee for 2018:

Eileen Fernald, Chair

Debra Spencer

Brian Raney

Vicky Wilson

Ray Wolfe

I will serve as facilitator of the Nominating Committee. I will attend meetings, but my primary role will be to facilitate rather than participate in the discernment process used to guide the invitation of the nominees.

To give you some background on what the Nominating Committee is and the selection process:

Article 5, Section 6 of the parish by-laws states:

"No later than the August Vestry meeting, the Vestry shall appoint a Nominating Committee consisting of at least three members of the Vestry. The chairperson of the Nominating Committee, who is one of the three members, shall be designated by the Vestry. The Nominating Committee may choose one or two additional members from the Parish at large. At least 21 days prior to the date of the APM [Annual Parish Meeting] Session 1, the Nominating Committee shall select nominees of no less than one person for each vacancy on the Vestry. Written notice of the names of the nominees shall be given to the Clerk of the Vestry."

Traditionally, the vestry members who serve on the Nominating Committee are those who are about to rotate off the vestry that year. The vestry decided to continue that tradition this year. (The three vestry members on the committee, Eileen, Debra, and Vicky, are rotating off the vestry at the end of this year.)

In consulting with Eileen, Debra, and Vicky, we felt it was important to follow the by-laws' invitation to choose "one or two additional members from the Parish at large" because in doing so, the voice of non-vestry members would be heard in the nomination process. This way, it won't be just vestry members selecting who the next vestry nominees are going to be.

We intentional chose two men, to add gender balance to the group. We selected one person who has been a member here for many years (Ray) and one person who is a newer member of the congregation (Brian, who joined St. John's when he was baptized as an adult a few years ago).

The Nominating Committee uses the standard, structured discernment process that has been used at St. John's for many years for making important decisions in the life of the parish. First, the committee discerns what characteristics are needed in new vestry members -- what qualities or skills are missing on the vestry, or will be missing after the current class rotates off, that we need on our board right now?

After praying and listening for God's guidance on that question, the group brings the list of characteristics they have come up with to the rest of the Nominating Committee. The committee as a whole then decides upon one list of characteristics, drawn from each committee member's input, taking special notice of characteristics that appear on more than one person's list.

Then, each member of the committee looks through the parish directory with those characteristics in mind and prays that God would reveal to them who might have these needed characteristics. Each individual creates a list, and then shares that list with the rest of the Nominating Committee. Anyone whose name shows up on more than one person's list is sent a formal letter from the Nominating Committee inviting them to prayerfully consider running for vestry next year.

This thoughtful, prayerful process for inviting people to serve on the vestry was one of the most exciting things about St. John's to me when I was learning about you all from conversations with the Search Committee and Vestry in my application process to become Rector here. I'm very impressed with the level of prayerful consideration you as a community put into this process, and I'm looking forward to getting to facilitate it myself this time around.

If you have questions about the Nominating Committee and our work over the next few months, please contact Eileen Fernald, who the vestry has appointed as chair of the committee.

Rector sets performance goals for 2017-18 program year

By Andrea Seitz
Junior Warden

Every year the Vestry goes through an evaluation of the year called a Mutual Ministry Review (MMR). The purpose of the MMR is to look carefully at the work that has been carried out on behalf of the parish’s mission to see how well goals have been met and where the Holy Spirit may be leading in the future. It is an honest, prayerful appraisal that can provide much cause for both celebration and a revisioning of the future. The process leads directly into another planning process that takes place each year: the Rector’s personal goal-setting for the purpose of her annual performance evaluation.

During the planning process for our new Rector, the Rector’s evaluation procedure was reviewed. The former process was vague and lacking in specificity. So, the Executive Committee rewrote that section of the contract to create an evaluation process that would encourage self-reflection and improved planning and coordination.

When Mother Tracy was hired, the process was collaboratively refined and finalized with her. The current contract asks the Rector to write five goals with accompanying measureable objectives. One goal is specifically for the parish, one for the Vestry, one is a personal goal and two others are her choice.

The goals are to be developed with the MMR in mind (where the Vestry has had input), any strategic planning document in place, input from the evaluation given that year, and for this year Mtr. Tracy also referred to our Parish Profile. The goals are then reviewed with the Executive Committee and the entire document is shared in closed session with the Vestry. It should be stressed that this is a collaborative process, covered with prayer and careful thought and completely undertaken for the good of the parish.

Mtr. Tracy's goals for the 2017-18 program year are as follows:

1. Curate a Sunday worship experience that is accessible to all ages, welcomes newcomers, and joyfully proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that is relevant to people’s daily lives. (Goal for the Parish)
2. Expand and develop my public speaking skills. (Personal Development Goal)
3. Encourage and promote reconciliation and healing throughout the congregation.
4. Develop efficient and clear procedures and practices for vestry meetings that encourage transparency and reduce conflict. (Goal for Support of the Vestry)
5. Support strategic planning for the next 5-10 years of St. John’s future.

Mtr. Tracy was intentional about formulating her goals based on information from parish-wide reflection and input led by the Vestry. This past year the reflection process was led by the Search Committee during our Lenten Study and resulted in our Parish Profile. The Rector’s evaluation is tied directly to this shared search for what we are being called to do, which leads to goals and objectives to accomplish and then assessment of how well they were accomplished.

If the process works as intended, the Vestry as a whole will be taking this information back to their ministry areas and collaboratively, seeking the Holy Spirit’s guidance, will develop yearly goals during the Mutual Ministry Review. These goals and objectives will be shared at Vestry meetings and will form the major work of the Vestry for the year. The process is dynamic, lively, focused on our mission as disciples and should provide for opportunities for celebration as we see our plans to serve Christ in ever more meaningful ways come to fruition. We can all be a part of this yearly journey.

Office and Godly Play Room to Switch Spaces

By Mother Tracy
Rector

During the last week of August, the main office in the church building and the Godly Play room in the trailer annex building will switch spaces.

This change will make the annex building the center for all office operations at St. John’s, creating more collaboration and community amongst a staff that is currently disconnected from one another by physical location. Having the Godly Play Sunday School room in the church building instead of across the parking lot will be more convenient and safer for parents and children on Sunday mornings.

The tentative plan is:

• Move furniture Monday, Aug. 28 (Can you help?)
• Deal with all IT issues on Tuesday, Aug. 29 (computer hook ups, printer set up, networking, etc)

Whose idea was this? Why is this happening?
The idea to switch the spaces emerged from conversations I had with some office staff and Sunday School teachers. I then consulted with the rest of St. John’s employees, the regular office volunteers, the Sunday School teachers, and the vestry liaisons for Children and Youth and Building and Grounds, keeping the entire vestry informed about the process along the way. I received a lot of positive feedback from the majority of the people consulted about how this space use change would be beneficial to both the office staff and the Sunday School, so I made the decision last week that we would go ahead with the move.

So if you’re reading between the lines here, yes, I was ultimately the one to make the decision to move, but it was a decision made in consultation with those it would affect most and after an overall consensus emerged that this would be a positive change.

Why now?
The timing of the move allows Sunday School volunteers to set up the new space with plenty of time before Sunday School resumes on Sept. 10.

What all will be moved?
Chrys’s desk and the office volunteer desk will move to the largest room in the Annex, the room that is currently the Godly Play room.

The office copier and printers and the Riso duplicator machine used to copy the bulletins (now in the hall closet) will also move to the annex, along with other needed equipment and furniture.

Godly Play will move into the present office space.

The large mailbox center across from the bathroom near the current office will stay where it is, since that mailbox serves more than just the staff (it includes mailboxes for all vestry members, supporting clergy of the parish, and other key volunteers).

Adult library books will move to upper shelves in the current office (soon to be the new Godly Play Room), making room for Sunday School supplies on lower shelves, and the possibility of a collection of children’s books near those lower shelves. There will also be the possibility of using the Godly Play Room during the week for small meetings.

How will this change benefit the office staff and volunteers?
Currently, the staff is spread out between the trailer annex and the main building. Chrys and the office volunteers are in the main building while the bookkeeper and I are in the trailer annex. What this means for the daily operation of the parish office is a lot of running back and forth between the annex and the building and a lack of connection between the staff and volunteers. There is also no permanent, reliable office space for our other employees, organist Nico Canzano and Helpful Shop Manager Jil Anderson, to use. Though they are both part-time and need minimal office use, if they ever come in and need access to a computer, there is no guarantee they will have a place to sit and work.

Wilma Staver, our office volunteer extraordinaire who prints the bulletins for us each week, has to pull the Riso machine out from one of the storage areas into the hallway near the nursery every time she wants to use it. And since the Riso machine is very loud, there can be nothing else going on in the sanctuary or café space while she’s printing because of the noise it generates.

In the new configuration, the plan is to create several work stations and make sure there is always one available for Nico or Jil to use when they have need of it. Everyone will be in the same space and able to collaborate more closely. Wilma will not have to plan her schedule of printing bulletins around when groups are using the sanctuary and café space.

Won’t we lose the sense of community we have in the office now if we take it outside of the church building?
We have a sense of community created in the office by people dropping by when they’re at church for other things and we don’t want to lose that. The hope is that people will continue to “drop in” to the office as they always have, with a need for copies, to talk to Chrys, drop off donations to the Helpful Shop and library, since all those things will now be in the trailer. We'll leave the door to the trailer propped open when the office is open (as it usually is on Tuesdays already). (Ed Note: Chrys and volunteers are in office Tues-Thurs 9-2, Fri, 10-12:30).

Remember: This is all temporary!
Is this an ideal situation? No. It means the office will be more disconnected from the church building, even as the people working in the office are more connected to each other. But remember that the trailer annex is not a permanent location for the church office. The office’s final home will be in the office wing of the church when it is built. Moving all the offices into the trailer begins to create an “office wing” feel that is what the designers of the church were aiming for when they planned for an office wing in the building. Think of the office trailer as a placeholder for what is to come, and let it remind you of the vision of the completed building that we’re working towards.

Parish membership, being "invested" in the community, and the historic succession of the apostles

By Mother Tracy

I understand that last fall, some issues and questions arose around who was and wasn't qualified to run for vestry. This prompted the vestry to take a closer look at the parish by-laws, the diocesan canons, and the denominational canons on membership. I am grateful that the vestry leadership decided to postpone a vote on this matter until after I arrived, as your new rector. This allowed me to provide some commentary and interpretation on the canons and some of the theological intent behind them.

At the July vestry meeting, the seven members of the vestry present unanimously passed a revision to our by-laws on membership and qualifications of vestry members (the four members who were absent had seen the revisions ahead of time and had ample opportunity to give input).

The full text of what our by-laws on membership and qualifications of vestry members now state are as follows:

ARTICLE 2 

Members of the Parish 

Members of the Parish are those whose baptisms have been recorded in the parish’s Canonical Register of Baptized Persons, who have received Holy Communion in this Parish at least three times during the preceding year, and who participate in Parish life. Members of the Parish are entitled to participate fully in the life of the Parish, including speaking - but not voting - in Parish meetings and elections. 

Voting Members of the Parish are those members who, additionally, have made a mature public affirmation of their faith (either through being baptized as an adult, or being confirmed or received as an adult if baptized as a child), who have been faithful in corporate worship (unless for good cause prevented) and in working, praying, and giving for the spread of the Kingdom of God, and who are at least 16 years old. They must, also, be listed in the Treasurer’s books as a contributor within the previous 12 months, and have been a member of the Parish for at least six months.

ARTICLE 4  

Qualifications of Vestry Members

Vestry members and candidates other than the Rector shall be lay persons who are voting members of the Parish. Additionally, during the 12 month period before the announcement of election (60 days prior to the second Sunday in Advent), vestry candidates and members must have contributed to the undesignated fund or building fund of the parish.

There are two areas of membership by-laws that often cause consternation -- in all Episcopal churches, not just St. John's. These are financial giving requirements and what is involved in officially becoming an Episcopalian. Allow me to speak on these two topics in St. John's current context, given the wording of the new by-laws.

Financial Giving Requirements

One of the things these revisions attempt to address is the concern over the requirement about making financial contributions in order to be a voting member and to run for the vestry.

While the by-laws still say that you must be a contributor of record to be a voting member of the parish or to serve on the vestry, we expanded the time period in which the person must have contributed from six (6) months to twelve (12) months, to ensure that those who pay their pledge in one lump sum were not inadvertently disqualified from running for vestry if they happened to have made their contribution more than six months before the election.

We also changed the requirement that to be a voting member, the person must have contributed to the undesignated fund of the parish. Instead, the by-laws now state more generally that a voting member must be listed as “a contributor” on the treasurer’s books. This means they must have given some amount of money to the church, in any area of the church’s ministry. If someone has given to the flower fund or to the shelter ministry or to the music fund, that qualifies them to be a voting member, even if they have not been giving to the undesignated or general fund of the parish.

However, the assumption behind the revisions in these by-laws is that serving on the vestry requires a higher level of commitment. Thus, there is an additional requirement that in order to qualify to serve on the vestry, the person must meet all the qualifications to be a voting member AND have contributed to the undesignated fund or to the building fund within the past 12 months. Making a pledge to either of these funds is considered a higher level of commitment than giving to a specific ministry because it shows a commitment to the wider work of the parish, not just to one specific area. It shows a willingness to trust the leadership to allocate funds as necessary for the functioning of the church’s ministries rather than saying, “I only want my money to go to the music ministry.”

Notice what the new by-laws do NOT say:

1. They do not say that you have to be a “regular” or “consistent” giver, just that you must have contributed at some time in the past year.

2. They do not specify the amount that you have to give. Technically, giving one dollar per year would meet this requirement. (Of course, the stewardship team would encourage everyone to give more than one dollar per year, but the idea is that we don’t want to disqualify anyone based on financial means: even a homeless person could spare one dollar to show a commitment to the church.)

I understand that requiring a financial contribution to be a voting member or a vestry candidate has been a point of contention for some. If this is true for you, you are not alone.

Because of language in the denominational canons that “communicants in good standing” – which is essentially the category from the denominational canons we’re using to define a “voting member” at St. John’s – must be “faithful in corporate worship, unless for good cause prevented, and… in working, praying, and giving for the spread of the Kingdom of God” (Canon 1.17.3, emphasis added), it is common across The Episcopal Church for there to be a requirement that one must be giving financially to the church in order to serve in a leadership capacity, since “giving” in this canon is widely interpreted to mean giving financially.

This requirement causes many people to bristle, as it did me when I first learned of it in another congregation. You’re requiring that I give money in order to participate? Would Jesus have placed such a restriction on his followers? This can come across as smacking of precisely the kind of exclusivism and elitism in organized religion that Jesus spoke against. Didn’t Jesus preach an open acceptance of all, no matter what their financial situation might be?

Yes, of course he did. But remember the story of the widow’s mite in Luke 21:1-4: he also praised a poor woman for giving money to the temple. There is an assumption in Jesus’s teachings that giving one’s money to support the work of God in the world is a given. Yes, he’s outraged when he comes across the misuse of money within the religious institution, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t advocate financially supporting one’s religious community. Indeed, Jesus himself was able to live the itinerant lifestyle he did because of the financial support of his followers! Luke 8:1-3 tells us:

“Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.” (emphasis added)

The story of the widow’s mite shows us that Jesus was more interested in the internal level of commitment than the outward sum of money given, but the fact remains that he does see financial giving as a measure of commitment. In Matthew 6:21, he says:

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

A more accurate translation of the Greek would be:

“Where your money is, there your heart will be also.”

The Greek really is that blunt. The translators sugar-coated it a bit by using the more generic English word “treasure,” but Jesus is specifically talking about money in this passage. He’s saying that your heart, what you care about, will follow what you give your money to, not the other way around.

Think about the ways you’ve seen this play out in the world. If your money goes toward an expensive new computer, your heart breaks when the computer breaks. If you give a lot of money to your alma mater, you’re suddenly a lot more interested in improvements to campus, or the success of the football team. When you invest your money in something, you become emotionally attached to it. In common parlance, we even use the financial word “investment” to describe things we care about: “I’m invested in the success of this new community initiative.” We may or may not be contributing financially to the thing we're talking about, but we use a financial term to describe our interest, our concern, the fact that we care about it. This is an indicator of the inherent link Jesus points out between our financial giving and our emotional attachments.

So, requiring that voting members and vestry candidates be giving financially to the parish is a way of ensuring that they are invested – both literally and emotionally – in the well-being of this community, that they have a “dog in the fight,” so to speak. We want to ensure that the people who are making decisions about the way our congregation spends money feel a sense of ownership and connection to that money, because it will make them better stewards. (It’s a lot easier to be loose with other people’s money than with your own!)

Finally, why does the giving need to be documented and identifiable? It is certainly true that people who attend regularly and put cash in the offering plate that is not traceable back to them have contributed to the finances of the church just as much as someone who wrote a check. But accountability in our common life is important. It’s why we have internal controls on the handling of money within the congregation – because although we wouldn’t want to think someone would intentionally steal money from the church, just as we wouldn’t want to think someone would intentionally lie about giving money to the church in order to qualify for the vestry – it could happen. We are not being good stewards of the money entrusted to us if we do not take proper safeguards to protect it. Think of the requirement that the giving be identifiable to you as a safeguard against dishonesty, in the way that financial internal controls are a safeguard against theft. Ideally, you wouldn’t need either, but because we live in a fallen world, we use both.

As a community of disciples of Jesus Christ, we remain committed to welcoming every person who walks in our doors as we would welcome Christ himself, and to creating an atmosphere where every person feels they are a part of our community, regardless of whether they are giving financially or not. But the by-laws -- guided by precedent at the denominational level, which takes priority over any local parish by-laws -- stipulate that the people who participate in the decision-making process about the way the congregation is run and funds are spent should be people who are “invested” both literally and emotionally in this congregation.

Officially Joining the Episcopal Church

The canons of our denomination state that

“It is expected that all adult members of this Church, after appropriate instruction, will have made a mature public affirmation of their faith and commitment to the responsibilities of their Baptism and will have been confirmed or received by the laying on of hands by a Bishop of this Church or by a Bishop of a Church in communion with this Church. Those who have previously made a mature public commitment in another Church may be received by the laying on of hands by a Bishop of this Church, rather than confirmed” (Canon 1.17.1c).

The language in our by-laws that requires voting members (and vestry candidates) to have made “a mature public affirmation of their faith” comes from this canon at the denominational level.

Basically, having made “a mature public affirmation of your faith” means that you have made an informed, adult decision to be a Christian and you have sealed that commitment through participating in a public liturgy in front of your church community. You do this through baptism if you choose the faith for yourself and are baptized as an adult, or, if you were baptized as a child, you do this when you come to “own” the faith for yourself through the rite of confirmation.

So, what if you were baptized as an adult in another denomination (for example, Baptist), or you were baptized as a child and confirmed in another denomination (for example, Presbyterian)?

The Episcopal Church is actually the only denomination of Christianity that requires the “laying on of hands by a Bishop” for confirmation. Since some other Protestant denominations don’t have bishops, and some denominations that do have bishops don’t require that the bishop participate in the confirmation service, but allow the local priest or pastor to confirm, we bring everyone into compliance with this canon of our denomination by having the bishop lay hands on everyone who joins the Episcopal Church.

This does mean that everyone who wants to join the Episcopal Church, regardless of whether they have been previously baptized or confirmed in another denomination, needs to go through a ritual where a bishop lays hands on them. This may seem like an unnecessary a liturgical hoop to jump through, but the symbolism of it is actually quite profound.

Laying on of hands by a bishop symbolizes a connection back to the earliest apostles. We believe that our church has maintained the historic episcopate, which means that our bishops can trace their lineage all the way back to the first apostles. Jesus commissioned Peter and the other disciples to continue his ministry in his name. After the first Resurrection appearances, he breathed on them to give them the Holy Spirit. From there, the Bible speaks of Peter and the other disciples laying hands on others to commission them. We believe that those leaders then laid hands on other leaders, who then laid hands on other leaders, and so on and so on throughout the centuries, all the way up to today, so that when Bishop Mary touches your head at your baptism, confirmation or reception into the Episcopal Church, you are being linked all the way back to the first apostles.

Some denominations require only the ordained clergy to be joined into this line of “historic succession” of the apostles. But in our church, ALL members are connected to the apostolic succession by the laying on of hands by a bishop. This affirms our theology that although we function according to the four orders of ministry (lay, decaon, priest, and bishop), we are all equally commissioned by God to serve him.

My understanding of the line about voting members and vestry candidates having made a “mature public affirmation of faith” in the new by-laws, and I discussed this with the vestry before the vote, is that in order to fulfill that requirement, one must be in compliance with our denominational Canon 1.17.1c.

So, if you haven’t yet received the laying on of hands by a bishop and officially joined the Episcopal Church and are interested in serving in parish leadership as a voting member or candidate for the vestry, please speak with me. I will be offering an adult education class this fall to prepare adults for baptism, confirmation, or reception the next time Bishop Mary visits St. John’s. I promise you that the class will be an enlightening and spiritually enriching experience for all participants, no matter how much you already know about the Episcopal Church or how long you've been at St. John's.