The Road to Finding a Christian Life at St. Luke’s on the Lake:

A Summary of Our Strategic Goals

 Click here to read the full strategic goals document

The Vestry and Staff of St. Luke's on the Lake are committed to our mission statement - God calls us to be a community in Christ and to be Christ to the world. We invite the congregation to join us. As leaders, we have identified five specific goals that will enable us to fulfill our mission statement. These goals - Communicating, Evangelizing, Forming, Participating, and Welcoming – each represent a different facet of our parish life, and yet, they relate closely to each other. Our hope is that you will read carefully, pray about how God may be calling you, and then, contact us with your thoughts and interests.

 Communicating By improving communication within our community in Christ (in the parish) and with the world (outside ourselves), we can better target the various audiences that make up our congregation. Within the parish, a newly formed communications committee will strengthen the sharing of information among the Vestry, the Staff, and the membership. Beyond the parish, greater partnerships between St. Luke's and the community will lead to identifying the unique spiritual and material needs of our neighbors. We aim to do more in publicizing our events and raising awareness. Central to this goal will a look at "rebranding" St. Luke's to better communicate who we are and what we do.

 Evangelizing At the core of our Christian practice is the call to share the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We endeavor to do this work in an increasingly secular world where Christian beliefs and values are not the societal norms. This reality causes us to be urgent in fulfilling this goal. Consequently, we will continue our commitments to outreach and missionary work through ministries that reach populations of the un-churched. We invite more of our members to join us in these activities and events. Eventually, we hope to equip our members in the development of evangelical skills, as this is an important part of the spiritual growth of all disciples of Jesus Christ.

 Forming In order to develop the spiritual maturity of our parish, we will support the lifelong conversion and formation in body, mind, and spirit of all members of the congregation. Already a strength in our parish, we desire an increase in the number of participants who staff the formation ministries at St. Luke's. In addition to our adult and youth programs, we plan to evaluate new ideas and approaches specifically oriented towards the formation of college students and other young adults. We will need to be creative in developing these ministries on days other than Sunday, or even on our current campus.

Participating The need to enhance participation at all levels of the congregation is focused on three areas: the desire to have all members play an active role in life of our parish; to bring more of our members into leadership roles; and to establish an expectation of Christian stewardship through an increasing number of pledging families. Here, a re-emphasis on participation through small groups and a re-organization of our ministry structures will assist us. We also feel that through a parish leadership network, we will equip leaders to meet the current and future needs of the ministries at St. Luke's. In terms of stewardship participation, we will teach the tithing principle (10% of income) through classes, the sharing of best practices, small groups and improved communications.

 Welcoming Our desire to attract and keep newcomers involved in the life of St. Luke's revolves around our ability to draw them into the ministries of the Church. We will enhance our current system of welcoming and incorporating newcomers by expanding participation, hosting regular social events, and by developing a greater awareness that we are all involved in this opportunity. We will be looking at new programs  as well as other ways to integrate newcomers into the life of the parish.