St. Mark’s 2023
Visioning Process
Click the arrow to watch a clip of Jane & Haley inviting members to participate in the Visioning survey in church on March 19, 2023.
The past two years have prompted in all of our lives significant opportunities to reevaluate our priorities, and mindfully re-engage in our community and work with new intention. In the life of our church, we, too, have an opportunity to reexamine our purpose and prayerfully discern to where and what God is calling us now. Over the course of 2023, we will be led through a process by a committed Visioning Team to help us to faithfully hear and articulate God’s vision for St. Mark’s in the 3-5 years ahead. There will be several opportunities to participate and share your experience and feedback, which will be shared in the weeks and months to come. But, as we begin this journey together, we hope you will pray for our leaders, our church, and our community, that God will reveal God’s call for us, and we will have the courage to hear and follow.
The Vision Team has been meeting and is so excited to update you on what we’ve been working on! At our most recent gathering, we discussed the ways we saw our church body’s values crystallize at the Leadership Retreat in January and how we can best capture the heart of our congregation moving forward using those reflections as a catalyst. We also began working on a survey to receive the congregation’s heart as we move forward with the visioning process this year. Be on the lookout for an online survey from us in March, and reflect on the love you’ve received and given in your time at St. Mark’s in the meantime!
Hello, this is Scott Givens here to provide you with our latest Vision Team progress update. Our task is to help discern the current mission of St. Mark’s as a community in Christ with the objective to use our mission as a high-level guide in all we do. We have finite resources and must continue to focus on what is most important and meaningful to our church. Having a solid mission statement helps us keep our focus through changing times. We believe in deep collaboration with the entire congregation and your responses to the Vision Team Spring Survey are providing truly valuable and loving insight and feedback. We also received very thoughtful in-person feedback, survey responses, and memory board responses during the well attended ‘Celebrating St. Mark’s History’ potluck on April 23.
We have begun reviewing and compiling your thoughts and answers to get a clearer picture of where we are and where we want to go in the future. We will be reporting our findings and will continue asking for your input and thoughts as we get closer to completing this task. And please stay tuned for more ways you can contribute to the discernment of our future vision.
Hello, this is Jane from the Vision Team to announce the Spring Survey to get everyone’s thoughts about what it means to be and do church together here at St. Mark’s UMC. It has truly been a blessing to meet with the other members of the Vision Team and discern the mission of St. Mark’s as a community in Christ. As a part of that discernment process, the survey will help to get everyone’s perspective on their unique experience at our church, and your input on the survey will help draft the mission statement of St. Mark’s UMC. Your participation in the survey is really appreciated, and it will be available online and on paper. You can also provide your thoughts at the St. Mark’s History Potluck on Sunday, April 23rd.
Our VISIONING TEAM
Linnea Blair
Linnea brings a long history of faith, nurtured in the Lutheran tradition, to her leadership and membership at St. Mark’s. She recently became the chair of our Staff-Parish Relations Committee (SPRC), and offers the team vision and experience from her vocation in business-coach consulting.
Phyllis Drewett
Active member of St. Mark’s for several decades, Phyllis offers not just historical perspective to the team, but brings broad experience in partnership with local service organizations (New Entra Casa and CCSA), as a member and leader of the UWF (UMW), and active member of the choir.
Scott Givens
As a former St. Mark’s Nursery School parent, Scott began attending St. Mark’s during the pandemic, joined soon after, and has gotten involved with several ministries of the church. Scott works in product development, is a long-time Clairemont resident, and brings a helpful perspective as a new Methodist exploring faith deeply.
Jane Moon
Jane has attended St. Mark’s for a little over a year, and has plugged into the community through MXR, and volunteering for outreach events and the recent Tech Workshop, too. She is both the daughter and granddaughter of pastors in the Methodist tradition, and brings valuable insight as a young adult, committed to faith, seeking a church that shares her values.
Robin Nuspl
A member for close to two decades, Robin’s experience with St. Mark’s covers a broad range of involvement from the Nursery school to SPRC, and most recently became (with her son) half of the St. Mark’s video crew. Robin understands organizational operations from the small business to governmental level, and demonstrates a deep commitment to living her faith.
Haley Courtney Silvia
Haley has worked and served in ministry for all of her adult life. Raised in the evangelical tradition, she was seeking a faith community that would fully welcome and embrace any of her friends and family. Haley brings experience in marketing and design in addition to her ministry experience to both our church and our team.