Presbytery is asking congregations to work together– in small groups or “clusters” – with other congregations with whom they share some commonalities; to participate in a professionally facilitated conversation over the coming year.  The Cluster Conversations are about finding ways to make congregational ministries within this Presbytery, and Presbytery itself, sustainable and vital.  

INTRODUCTION:

We are not alone in this work. In 2009, General Council was tasked with reviewing the existing financial health of the United Church and projecting the sustainability of the Church into the future. What started out as a review of how the Church could reduce expenditures grew into a broader conversation about who we are as the United Church; what it means to be a church, and Christian, in Canada today; and what we need to do to begin Planning for a Future Grounded in Faith and Action. Presbyteries across the country were asked to reflect on these questions and to build a process that would aid in bringing about a new future.

Victoria Presbytery has chosen these Cluster Conversations as one way of bringing congregations together to explore their current strengths and challenges and to develop strategies that will make it possible for congregational ministries to be sustainable and vital