Whereas the Convention of 2007 overwhelmingly adopted the report of the Bishop’s Commission on Mission Strategy (BCMS) and recommended the appointment of a continuing task force to develop this report into a more detailed strategic plan;

Whereas a Mission Strategy Network (MSN) was appointed by the Council and Bishop in January 2008 to take up this work with a mandate to report by Convention 2009;

Whereas the structure of MSN included 61 persons who served on four (4) Task Teams around the four goals of the BCMS report with three (3) leaders for each Task Team serving as a Coordinators Committee with the Co-Chairs, Special Roles, Staff, and Consultants;

Whereas the MSN held monthly meetings of the Coordinators Committee, a full MSN meeting every third month, and the meeting of representatives of the Coordinators Committee three times with Council and three times with Bishop and staff;

Whereas the MSN Communications Strategy developed an open social networking web site on Ning, posted all MSN documents on this site which were publicly downloadable, and distributed a monthly news letter of updates electronically throughout the Diocese;

Whereas the MSN developed a Contact Persons Network (CPN) consisting of 69 volunteers who were recruited from their congregations to serve as liaisons in passing along MSN information to their congregations and inviting participation into the MSN process;

Whereas the MSN conducted Regional Meetings Jan-Mar 2009 with a total of 209 persons participating in eight (8) regional meetings with participants offering input into the MSN process and the development of specific action plans in the MSN report;

Whereas the MSN completed its report and presented it to Council in April 2009 with Council receiving this report as information for helping to guide its on-going work;

Whereas the Bishop convened a Convocation on May 2, 2009 where 238 participants gathered from across the Diocese to review the MSN report and provide feedback on it;

Whereas the intent of the MSN has been to conduct all its work between January 2008 and June 2009 in a manner where participants in the process could continue to live into and cultivate practices consistent with the BCMS vision for the Diocese—seeking to already become the diocese that was envisioned for the future and whereas the following attitudes and behaviors have come to characterize the work of the MSN:

• Significant decrease in culture of critique with shift to culture of seeking solutions and collaboratively working together to find and develop these
• Increased awareness of and desire to be more intentionally develop healthy relationships and networks that are based around mutual ministry and challenges beyond congregational/agency groupings
• Increased trust and transparency between people in established and new relationships around difficult issues like money and racism
• Deepened belief in and trust of idea that we have all the resources and gifts we need among ourselves and a willingness to exchange them
• Presence of younger and different people assuming leadership in non-elected/appointed roles
• Willingness to engage in risk and to try new things
• Increased collaboration within and between working groups, i.e. asking who has the best gifts/interest in implementing tasks, policies
• Deepening commitment to spiritual transformation through increased awareness of and experience in spiritual practices (e.g. Gospel-Based Discipleship) as congregations and individuals

Therefore Be It Resolved

That Convention direct the Council during 2009-10, in consultation with the Bishop and the Bishop-Elect:

1. To continue to utilize the full MSN report that it received in April 2009 as a guiding document for its on-going discernment and decision-making;

2. To continue to pursue the full implementation of the recommendations proposed in that report, contingent upon adjustments being made as needed;

3. To appoint a continuing MSN leadership team during 2009-10 to assist with this work in partnership with Council; and

4. To work in partnership with the appointed MSN leadership team to pursue the implementation of the following specific action steps during 2009-10*:

   Goal 1: Spiritual Transformation and Fuller Participation in God’s Mission Convene no less than four day-long gatherings of clergy and lay leaders across the diocese to engage topics of spiritual growth and congregational renewal. The focus of these gatherings will be the spiritual renewal of our congregations, building relationships, the sharing of best practices, and how we, as leaders need to change for our congregations to change.

   Goal 2: Renew Congregations in Context Conduct MSN team visits with all congregations, individually and/or in clusters, to facilitate a conversation around four leading questions (see MSN report), pursuing this work prayerfully in the Spirit’s power and along with the practice of Gospel-Based Discipleship.

   Goal 3: Recreate the Diocese as a Network Provide diocesan-wide leadership training and support for the further development and promotion of networks of congregations and ministries; and review and realign the regions, the process for naming Regional Deans, and the compensation of Deans as outlined in the MSN report by July 1 2010, with budget implications being identified and proposed for the 2010-11 budget.

   Goal 4: Develop Effective Stewardship of Financial Resources

   1. Establish an Alleluia Fund for the purpose of seeding the development of new congregations in the Diocese of Minnesota;

   2. Implement a procedure with an established time line, in conjunction with Regional Meetings for creating the Diocesan budget, that involves a Finance Committee representative, the Regional Dean, Regional Council Members, and a member of the appointed MSN leadership team meeting at least once a year, prior to final budget time, with each congregation in a Region to discuss the relationship between mission and the budgeting process.  

   3. Establish a special Task Force following Convention 2009 to continue the work of reviewing the health of stewardship and finances in our Diocese with a report of their work and findings being presented at Convention 2010.

*Explanation—for more details on the specifics related to these action steps, see MSN report.