Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields

We, the Discernment Committee, are called by the Vestry and People of St. Martin-in-the-Fields to discern:

who we are in Christ
what God is calling us to now
which clergy has the gifts of skill and experience to join us in our response to God’s call

We covenant with God that we will pray, reflect, and listen, diligently and regularly, so as to be open to the presence of God’s Spirit.

We covenant with each other:

to respect each other’s thoughts and diverse opinions and treat our discussions as confidential
to work toward consensus in decision-making
to be honest, trusting, and vulnerable with each other, making constructive use of disagreement
to meet regularly and use our time and resources well, starting and ending meetings promptly, and practicing sustainability
to work hard, but also be patient with the process, and take the time needed to do our job well
and to be open to the possibility and probability of renewal and transformation.

We have faith that, as members of the Body of Christ, we are smarter, wiser and stronger collectively than we are individually.

We covenant with our congregation:

to seek input from the congregation and listen to and honor the wide diversity of visions at St. Martin’s
to communicate clearly and regularly, at the same time honoring confidentiality
to be present and engaged in the life of the parish during the process of discernment and during the transition to the leadership of the new rector
and to discern the candidate who will most ably lead us in our vision.

We count on our congregation to participate with honest input, trust in our process, and offer prayerful support of our work.

We covenant with the candidates for position of rector:

to treat them lovingly
to listen to them prayerfully
to respect all of their gifts
to communicate with them honestly and in a timely way
to protect their confidentiality
and to discern among many able candidates the person who is being called to lead us in our vision.

September 30, 2009