Assessing with the Benedictine Promise
Stability, obedience and conversion of life.
Sister Michelle and I have used assessment processes base on the Benedictine Promise [1] with both parish and diocesan groups.
In 2014 we used it in the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania as part of their process prior to electing a bishop. This is the handout we used. The assessment is on the second page. Here’s a broader take on that consultation. And here’s the same assessment with language for parish use. I’ve used that in a number of churches over the years.
Recently a rector participating in Shaping the Parish asked if we had a Benedictine assessment that could be used in a Mutual Ministry review. Brother Scott offered him one that he created based on the Christian Life Model - MUTUAL MINISTRY REVIEW
I think you could also use the “The Benedictine Promise: Overall Parish Assessment” mentioned above and add a section if you wanted it to serve a mutual ministry review. In that case the rector and vestry would complete the general assessment together, have a discussion about the results, separate to reflect on what each party could do to maintain and/or improve parish’s life, and come back together to share what they were willing and able to do.
I thought I’d give a try at designing another form and process based on the Promise. I wondered about how to capture and focus elements of the Promise. For example in regard to Stability we might assess on a couple of scales.” One on static stability versus healthy stability (I have the maturity stages of the Parish Life Cycle in mind). Two, maybe around deWaal’s thinking in Seeking God, “Stability means that I must not run away from where my battles are being fought, that I have to stand still where the real issues have to be faced.” Anyhow, here’s my first draft. As you read more on the Benedictine Promise you may identify other areas of assessment that have particular relevance to your parish church.
There are additional considerations when we use assessment forms, e.g., the readiness [2] of the group and the proper use of survey feedback methods [3].
The group needs to be somewhat familiar with the Benedictine Promise. There are groups where a 15 minute presentation on the Promise will be adequate. And others where it would help to have engaged members in a variety of ways, e.g., a book reading of de Waal’s Seeking God, a few teaching sermons, the use of the Promise as a self-assessment and reflection resource in adult formation. Is your group willing and able to make use of this approach? Some people find the Promise elusive and not comprehensible. We need to be patient with them and ask them to be patient as they learn to use it. This kind of assessment also doesn’t lend itself to the purposes of offering feedback on the quality of the rector’s preaching or the depth of the vestry’s spiritual life.
This abides,
Brother Robert, OA
Feast of C. S. Lewis, Apologist and Spiritual Writer, 1963
Notes
[1] The Promise as used in the Order of the Ascension -To seek the presence of Jesus Christ in the people, things and circumstances of life through stability, obedience and conversion of life.
[2] On Readiness see Chapter 2 of Finding God in All Things: Contemplation, Intercession, and Intervention and Chapter 1 in Nothing so contagious as holiness: Developmental Initiatives for Increased Parish Vitality Grounded in Spiritual Practice
[3] On survey feedback see Chapter 2 of Finding God in All Things: Contemplation, Intercession, and Intervention