New Rector Search – July 2021 Update

Dear Bethesda Family,

Since May, your Vestry has been working through the steps to identify Bethesda’s next full time Rector. We are pleased to share with you our work to date and to ask for your continued support and participation.

First, we have been meeting regularly with Canon Licia Affer who manages transitions in the Diocese of Southeast Florida. We are also pleased that Rev Bob Dannals is aboard as our interim Rector to lend his wisdom and experience to ensure a successful transition.

The Vestry’s next critical task is gathering your input utilizing a parish survey known as the Congregational Assessment Tool (CAT). This confidential, online survey will help us collect your perspective and expectations of the church and a new Rector. Your consolidated responses inform our parish profile which is a key step in the search process. Please check your email or your mailbox with the instructions for taking the survey. Expect the survey to take about 20 minutes to complete and submit your responses before our August 15th deadline. Your responses are completely confidential.

If you have any questions, contact Tierra Harper in the church office at (561) 655-4554 or at harper@bbts.org. She can provide you with the link or with a paper survey. We hope to hear from all of you, so please, no matter where this note finds you, take a few minutes to share your views.

Concurrent with the administration of this survey, the Vestry will be calling the Discernment Committee, also known as the Rector Search Committee. We expect to announce the committee membership by the end of August. One of the committee’s first tasks will be to review the survey results. The committee will also schedule conversations with the parish in order to hear directly from you prior to writing the parish profile.

Below is brief timeline which will be explained in more detail in the coming weeks.

We are now in the “administer the parish survey” phase. You will notice that the calling of the new Rector will be taking place “In God’s Time”. We want to make sure the process is thorough, inclusive, and truly faithful to the calling for our church.

Please take the survey at your earliest convenience. Collection of responses will run from July 25th through August 15th.

Thank you for your active involvement in Bethesda’s transition process.

Warm regards,

The Bethesda Vestry