The 2009 DOW Diocesan Assembly, meeting at Santa Rosa’s Protection of the Holy Virgin Church October 14-16, participated in the OCA’s strategic planing project.

The project is designed to formulate the Vision of the Church into the 21st century, determine specific plans and activities to reach that Vision and to align Church structures with the Vision. The initial steps in the project have been taken by the Holy Synod of Bishops and the Metropolitan Council. Each body has begun to formulate its thinking on the components of the plan. Input is now being sought from each Diocese and parish in the Church. The DOW was the first Diocese to take part.

The half-day session devoted to strategic planning began with an introduction by His Grace, Bishop Benjamin, who provided the ecclesiological background for the discussion. Dr. Dmitri Solodow, the lay delegate of the DOW to the Metropolitan Council and a member of the OCA Strategic Planning Committee, then gave a slide presentation to the Assembly. The presentation discussed the background of the project and its methodology. There were then posed a series of questions on aspects of Church life, which Assembly delegates dealt with in small groups. These individual sessions were then reported to the full Assembly.

With the blessing of Bishop Benjamin, each parish is encouraged to hold a similar workshop over the next few months. The input generated by these parish meetings will be collected and collated by the Diocese and passed on the the national Strategic Planning Committee.

Dr. Solodow’s presentation can be accessed here.

The individual working group reports are available here.