St. Theresa Mission and Ministry Strategic Plan 2020-2025

During the first quarter of 2021, St. Theresa Mission and Ministry Implementation Committee was entrusted with the task of selecting goals to implement in the near term (2025) from among 22 goals promulgated by the Strategic Plan Task Teams. See our Plan Summary here.

Our vision statement: “Solidarity in Christ: Let no one walk alone” which is about love, connection, relationship, and belonging, is a way to reflect on the nature of the Holy Trinity and who we are being called to be as disciples of Christ who chose to live in solidarity with us.

The Goals
The Committee chose five goals and assigned each goal a title:

• Spirituality and Adult Formation (Goal #1 from the Adult Formation Task Team)
• Dedicated Welcoming Ministry (Goal #7 from the Community Outreach Task Team)
• Social Justice in Action (Goal #12 from the Charity & Social Services Task Team and Goal #15 from the Social Justice Advocacy Task Team)
• Interpersonal Communications Connection (Goal #16 from the Communication, Technology, & Digital Presence Task Team)
• Embracing Young Adults Ministry (Goal #20 from the Young Adults Task Team)

The description of the five goals can be found below:

Spirituality and Adult Formation

St. Theresa Parish will consistently offer faith and spiritual formation programs, resulting in parishioners having an increased desire to serve God by enriching their relationship with Him and enhancing their connection to the community.

Metrics:

1. Programs are offered from 2-3 per year with annual increases.          
2. 10% parishioner participation with annual participation increases.  
3. Each program involves 25-30% young adults (The aged defined for young adults in this process is age 18 – 35.

Dedicated Welcoming Ministry

St. Theresa Catholic Church will have a formal "Welcoming Ministry” to identify, recognize, and welcome visitors and new parish members.

Metrics:

1. Develop a process to identify visitors.
2. Plan four visitor outreach events each year.
3. Create welcoming protocols for all Masses.

Social Justice in Action

St. Theresa will have a dedicated ministry team to generate and implement opportunities to volunteer in charitable and social service organizations by understanding the Church's teachings and supporting the work of social justice.

Metrics:

1. A number of volunteers recruited to serve on the team.
2. 50% responses to parishioner involvement survey.

If you need more information about this ministry, please send an email to [email protected]

Interpersonal Communication Connection

St. Theresa Parish will form relationships with parishioners using technology that is easy and accessible, allows for two-way communication, and grows the participation of those opting in.

Metrics:

1. The number of people and percentage of the parish reached through overall communication efforts each quarter.
2. The number of new people who find St. Theresa Parish in a quarter.    
3. Rolling 3-month average of provable, two-way interactions with registered parishioners.
4. Percentage of parishioners who self-identify as “feeling connected to their parish.” 
5. Using the existing database, track usage by each communication method used by the parish.  
6. Track usage of technology through annual surveys. Define Success by a percentage of parishioners replying to the survey of parishioners.
7. A number of queries received a rating of successful replies and speed of reply for each type of platform.

Please get in touch with Veronica Benitez at [email protected] for further information about this ministry.

Embracing Young Adult Ministry

St. Theresa will have a recognizable and sustainable parish-led young adult ministry, complete with a variety of small groups, social activities, service projects, and opportunities for real community and fellowship.

Metrics:

1. A number of young adults signed up and attended programs/events regularly.
2. Total number and variety of events available: small group, social activities, retreats, and service projects throughout the year.
3. First-time attendees, establishing follow-up with newcomers.
4. Retention: how many attend an event for the first time and come back.
5. Attrition: new young adult parishioners each year versus those who register elsewhere.
6. A number of attendees at each program/event is used to help identify the most popular and successful activities.

Next step
Communicating the goals to the Parish and recruiting members to the goal-focused committees.

Mission and Ministry Strategic Plan Survey

Our deepest gratitude to all who took the time to complete the Strategic Plan Survey. Your feedback is an invaluable tool for our parish growth. Overall, we received a wealth of great feedback from our parishioners. We will continue to review the results and discuss steps to increase engagement and implement solutions in key areas to continue providing a good service for all.  

For now, we wanted to showcase the results of the survey: