A congregational "self-study" of Christ Church began during Epiphany 1998. On the Feast of our Lord's Baptism, LeDare Cox, Senior Warden of the parish and The Rev'd Brian Wilbert, Rector, invited the members of the congregation into a "Vision Quest...a time of reflection and discernment. Having elected a new rector in September 1996 and journeyed through a transitional year in 1997, the leadership of Christ Church began the work of shaping a shared ministry for the future.

In response to material gleaned from this "Vision Quest', the Vestry identified three areas around which there is much energy. These three areas include the desire to: 1) Celebrate Diversity, 2) Deepen Community and 3) Share Authentic Outreach. .

Celebrate Diversity: Our desire is to recognize and embrace the gift of our diversity and develop even more diversity. There is an emphasis on growing in racial diversity, particularly a desire for additional African-American members. Also desired is alternative worship opportunities and various styles of music in worship. There is also a yearning for alternate spiritualities and theologies to be explored. Several projects have been initiated.

Music: A baby grand piano has been placed into the Nave of the church. While the communication about this move was perceived by some persons to be a "stressor", no one disputes the value of having this instrument in the nave to compliment our fine Flentrop Organ. Additionally, the vestry has received a gift of the purchase of the Episcopal African-American Hymnal, Lift Every Voice and Sing, II, to assist in the diversification of music in worship.

Spirituality: A small ad-hoc committee is working with Dean Wolfe, Clerk of the Works for our Chapel Grove Project. Their mission has been to explore the possibility of developing a labyrinth for use on the Christ Church Campus. A temporary labyrinth was utilized for the prayer vigil before our October 1998 All Parish Weekend. This ancient form of prayer met with enthusiastic response and there is energy around establishing a permanent labyrinth for use by the parish and the Oberlin communities.

Art: Another ad-hoc committee worked with vestry member Jane Macarthy to look for icon art which represents more ethnic diversity and experience. This iconography will provide members of the parish with wonderful images of God, Christ, Spirit and Saints which go beyond our "Church School" images of the Holy. Learning to pray with Icons will also diversify our spiritual life.

Deepen Community: Members of the parish desire more--both a richer fellowship life and deeper faith commitment. Two major challenges are presented by this desire. The first challenge involves time. To deepen inner parish relationships means being together. This means a commitment of time which is becoming a rare commodity indeed! Are members of the parish willing to choose a parish gathering over some other event? Over and over members of the parish express an interest for small group experiences as described by Arlin Routhage in Making Small Groups Effective with an emphasis on "Discipleship-oriented groups" (for spiritual and personal relationships), "Content-oriented groups" (for Bible Study and discussion) "Support-oriented groups" (around issues of grief and reconciliation) and "Socially-oriented groups" (for food, fun and fellowship).

A second challenge to the desire for deepened community is building trust. One of the realities for being "in community" is the need to learn skills for living together--especially around issues of change or differences. Can the Christ Church Community be a safe place where old and new members can risk relationships and share vulnerability?

A bold step to learn the skills for living together occurred at the All Parish Weekend in October of 1998. The Rev'd Ted Vorhees and Caren Goldman were among us to introduce the language of Healthy Congregations deriving from the work of the Rev'd Dr. Peter Steinke and others. Part of this weekend was given over to discovering what Roy M. Oswald describes in his book Making Your Church More Inviting, as "Parish Norms" or "The Rules by which we Live".

Authentic Shared Outreach: It has been documented that at any one time over half of the members of Christ Church are involved in individual outreach ministries ranging from serving hot meals to building Habitat for Humanity houses. A majority of these persons go about their various outreach endeavors "quietly." No one will ever be able to make accusations about trumpets sounding in the congregations or streets! (Matthew 6.2). There is consensus between the bishop, the rector and the vestry that nothing unites a group like working together for a common cause beyond ourselves for the good of God's kingdom. The desire to risk more and reach out to the poor and outcast is real however there is no common theme or idea for how this is to be accomplished. Additionally, members of this parish have been extraordinary in the their individual and corporate "Checkbook Outreach." This primarily takes place in four forms. 1) The Mission Endowment Fund, 2) Oberlin Weekday Hot Meals, 3) Oberlin Community Services Center and 4)The Episcopal Community Services Foundation.