The Campaign of Congregational Development was officially announced at the Diocesan Convention in February of 2012. Since then, we have worked to educate the Diocese, raise awareness of the Campaign’s needs, and establish the Campaign infrastructure. The Bishop has discussed the Campaign’s goals with almost every vestry, and has met with many clergy and lay leaders across the Diocese at Campaign focused events. Videos, printed materials, and general information is on the Campaign website and readily available for those who wish to know more. A dedicated group of volunteers from across the Diocese who lead the Campaign, are identifying potential Campaign supporters, helping to assess their interests, and beginning to facilitate introductions to the Bishop. Our Convocation Deans have established Mission Development Teams to assist with the grant application process. Steadily, Campaign awareness is increasing around the Diocese and we are creating enthusiasm around the opportunities the Campaign presents to grow each congregation’s mission. It is a very exciting time to be a part of the Diocese of Georgia!
To date, campaign gifts total over $1.2M. Transformational work is already happening with a portion of these funds. Specifically, they have enabled us to initiate a peer-coaching program that provides our clergy with a readily available, on-going support system. Interested clergy have completed two of the three training requirements with the third and final session taking place in 2013. At that point, we hope to have approximately ten trained, certified, in-house, peer coaches. These coaches will be available to help clergy, as well as lay leaders, energize their sense of vision, develop goals, and remain accountable for those goals. This will help leaders have a clearer sense of direction and be stronger, more stable leaders.
Last May, we graduated our first class from the Church Development Institute (CDI), a two-year leadership training program for clergy and lay leaders. In CDI, leaders receive in-depth training on how church systems work, how to be effective parish leaders, and how to increase parish participation in God’s mission. Campaign funds have helped train and certify three local CDI trainers. We anticipate in about three years that almost half of the clergy and many lay leaders will have learned effective leadership skills through CDI.
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Over the next year, Bishop Benhase is encouraging each congregation in the Diocese to dream about how their own congregation can become involved in the Campaign mission objectives. This is intended to be a “bottom-up” process- the hope is for mission to percolate locally. We anticipate 2013 will be an extremely active year in the life of the Campaign. We look forward to hearing ideas from your parish and to sharing the great news with you as the Spirit leads us!