Parish Transition
News & Updates
Get news and updates about the Parish Transition and what has happened thus far.
November 21, 2024
VESTRY UPDATE
Your vestry met with a consultant this week to help us prepare for a search. This includes aligning our own vestry and the parish with a common identity, vision, and process timeline.
September 5, 2024
PARISH TRANSITION UPDATE
On Tuesday, August 27, the vestry met with Bishop John Taylor, Canon Melissa McCarthy, and Canon Thomas Quijada-Discavage of the Diocese of Los Angeles for a frank and prayerful conversation concerning the vestry’s recent rector discernment and outcome. Bishop Taylor opened the meeting with affirmation of the vestry’s canonical responsibility to elect our next rector, recognition of the vestry’s recent decision not to call Canon Andrea as our next rector, and acknowledgment of her acceptance of the decision. On August 29, Canon Andrea accepted Bishop Taylor’s offer to remain as Priest In Charge until the new rector is prepared to take up their duties.
Bishop Taylor tasked the vestry to work together in the pursuit of holy consensus as we prepare for the next rector search and encouraged new and caring conversations with members of the parish. Bishop Taylor will provide the vestry with guidance on the search process and will offer recommendations for a search consultant who will assist the vestry with the call process.
The vestry will gather for a retreat on September 28 to begin forging a path forward.
Understanding the need for cohesion and renewing trust with each other and the parish, each vestry member is committed to the work required to create a loving, supportive community, together as disciples in Christ.
The vestry is also committed to timely communications with the parish about the steps involved in the rector search as soon as those details are more fully known. We are grateful for the continued prayers offered by members of the All Saints’ family as we, too, pray for each parishioner and for the future of our church.
June 21, 2024
PARISH TRANSITION UPDATE
Dear All Saints’,
The vestry is deeply grateful for your ongoing prayers and heartfelt input regarding the direction and leadership of the parish over these past months. After thoughtful listening and reflective discussions, the vestry has made a decision. Today, June 21, 2024, the All Saints’ vestry met and, while acknowledging Canon Andrea's faithful, healing, and exceptional leadership, voted not to call her as All Saints’ next rector.
The vestry understands that this news will evoke a range of emotions. Some may feel excited about embarking on a new direction with new clergy leadership. Others may feel a sense of loss, wishing to continue along our current path. The task for the vestry ahead will be to find a way forward that continues our renewal and stability while also defining a new direction.
As a reminder, given the parish's recent past and current trajectory, the vestry voted in early December to discern with Canon Andrea as our potential next rector, someone we all know, vs. embarking on a national search. (See the letter that was sent to the bishop explaining the vestry’s decision here). With today’s decision, the vestry, under the guidance of the bishop’s office, will now seek a rector from the wider church.
Moving forward, the vestry will meet with Canon Tom Discavage from the bishop’s office to begin the rector call process. Canon Andrea will continue as Priest in Charge for at least six months per the church’s agreement with her. When she moves to another parish, the bishop will assign an interim priest for All Saints’. The vestry will keep you informed about each step in this new direction for the parish.
Thank you for your patience, prayers, and support.
God is good and guides us in all things.
The Vestry
May 30, 2024
A MESSAGE FROM THE VESTRY
Dear friends,
We are reaching out today to update you on the progress that is being made in our mutual discernment process with Canon Andrea.
As we reflected on the heartfelt, insightful, and illuminating information you provided during our two parish intake sessions, we were struck by the deep love and commitment our people have for each other and this place we call All Saints’ Beverly Hills. We are so thankful to be on this walk with each of you.
One of the things made vividly clear by many is the need for the vestry to continue to communicate clearly around the process of mutual discernment. Timelines and benchmarks are provided on the website for review, but there is an issue at the heart of discernment that we want to continue to discuss with you.
God is relentlessly relational. And because of that, we want to model God’s approach in all we do. The process of mutual discernment is heart work and because of that, it must be entered prayerfully and gently. Canon Andrea is a delightful person whom we love. We members of the vestry are also joyful, thoughtful, caring human beings. As we sit across the table from one another and imagine a future together, we very quickly found out that the process of mutual discernment is not a straight line to a predictable outcome. Transparency, vulnerability, humility, fear, and wisdom make their presence known in every meeting. To be frank, this is a wild and messy business. There are tears and laughter, deep listening, and the whispers of God in our ear. Just like every other loving relationship we are in.
Last December, when the vestry decided to discern with Canon Andrea, it was because she is a unique and loving individual that God has placed in our midst at this moment in time. We felt this opportunity was worthy of deep, thoughtful consideration. While leadership qualities, experience and aptitudes are all important, our primary area of exploration is to discern what God is doing with us and how to live more deeply into the With-God life.
Please hold Canon Andrea and the entire vestry up in prayer as we enter into the final weeks of this discerning. As always, vestry members are on the patio every Sunday for further discussion and can be reached via the Parish office if you so desire.
With deep appreciation,
Your Vestry
This message was published in the May 30, 2024 issue of our newsletter.
April 18, 2024
NEW VESTRY CHAPLAIN
The Vestry announced their new Vestry Chaplain, Quinton Peeples, earlier this week.
Quinton is a member of All Saints’ and has taught our Adult Faith formation classes ‘Renovation of the Heart’ and ‘The Life You’ve Always Wanted.’ He is a graduate of the Renovare Institute of Christian Spiritual Formation, where he studied under Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, John Ortberg and many others.
He has been a preacher, teacher, and guest lecturer in venues ranging from the Taylor County Coliseum in Abilene, Texas to the playground at 10th Street Preschool in Santa Monica, California, with numerous churches mixed in along the way.
He worked as the Communications Director at All Saints’ in 2003 before moving on to help establish Thad’s, a mission church in Culver City, California in 2006.
His writing has been published in Cut To The Chase published by Penguin USA, and Eternal Living: Reflections on Faith and Formation published by IVP. He is currently working on a book titled, Are You Sure? Spiritual Lessons Learned on Public Tennis Courts.
April 11, 2024
A VIDEO MESSAGE FROM SR. WARDEN JEFF SMITH
Please watch this video message from our Senior Warden, Jeff Smith.
Jeff reviews where we have been in the discernment process so far and invites the parish to upcoming listening sessions. We hope you will join in!
This message was published in the April 11, 2024 issue of our newsletter.
March 14, 2024
The 2024 ASBH Vestry invites the parish for
DREAMS + DIRECTIONS + DISCERNMENT
Sundays, April 14 and 28 following the 10 am services
All are invited for a parish gathering for conversation with the vestry about where God is calling All Saints’ Parish during this season.
Who are we called to be? What is our vision and mission?
Gather in Lower Sweetland after worship for table conversations with vestry members and fellow parishioners. Your input will be used by the vestry as they discern the vision, mission, and leadership for All Saints' future with special focus on the mutual discernment with Canon Andrea.
While they hope you will make every effort to attend in person, the Vestry plans to offer a Zoom option for those who cannot be present.
January 25, 2024
ANNOUNCEMENT OF MUTUAL DISCERNMENT
A series of meetings commenced in November during which the Vestry prayerfully discerned whether to enter into mutual discernment with Canon Andrea about the possibility of her becoming the next Rector of All Saints’ Beverly Hills. On December 5, a vote was taken and passed to convert Canon Andrea to Priest-in-Charge Under Special Circumstances (PIC-USC) and to engage in a period of mutual discernment with her about this possibility.
The Vestry is pleased to announce that The Rt. Rev. John Harvey Taylor, Bishop of Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, has recently granted our request to convert Canon Andrea to PIC-USC.
Per the search process outlined in meetings with Canon Tom Discavage of the Los Angeles Episcopal Diocese and outlined in the timeline found on the Parish Transition Tab on our website, the Vestry will now enter into a period of mutual discernment with Canon Andrea after which a vote will be taken on whether or not to call Canon Andrea as our next rector.
During this time, the Vestry will be called upon to think deeply and openly for the parish. The Vestry will be asking for input from the congregation in the form of feedback and fellowship. As the Vestry enters this period of mutual discernment with Canon Andrea, please pray for us, for Canon Andrea, for the church, and that God continues to guide us in the way and the light.
God Bless,
John Tan, Senior Warden
December 7, 2023
PARISH PROFILE
We’re pleased to announce that after completing Story Day, the Parish Survey, and much to-ing and fro-ing, our Parish Profile has been approved by Canon Melissa McCarthy and Canon Tom Quejada-Discavage of the Los Angeles Diocese and is ready for its close-up!
With special thanks to the Parish Profile committee (Marissa Flaxbart, Gerrie Maloof, Bonnie McClure, Kevin Shrum, Ranlyn Wrede, and Kevin Yoder) for their hard work and perseverance, we present to you the final Parish Profile!
December 5, 2023
VESTRY DISCERNMENT PROCESS
Vestry met without clergy to continue prayerful discernment about the call process.
November 2023
RECTOR SEARCH UPDATE
As posted in the November 30 issue of the All Things All Saints newsletter, the Vestry met without clergy on both November 7 and 14 to discuss next steps in our Rector search process. We are discerning two possible processes: mutual discernment with Canon Andrea as Priest in Charge Under Special Circumstances, or to move directly to a national search. We are deliberating prayerfully, and ask you to join us in prayer during this time.
July 2023
PARISH TRANSITION CONVERSATION
Jeff Smith and John Tan, parish wardens, presented the call process as guided by the bishop’s office of transition ministry and Canon Tom Discavage. Over 60 people were in attendance at this event.
June 25 - July 7, 2023
PARISH SURVEY OPENED
As our church plans for the future, the Parish Profile Committee and the Vestry invite ALL members of All Saints' Beverly Hills to share their expectations for our mutual ministry and their perceptions on how these expectations can best be carried out by our next rector. In a few days, you'll receive a link to the survey. Simply click on the link and contribute your thoughts! The survey should take about 15 minutes to complete. The results of the survey will be used in the Parish Profile as we discern what we are looking for in our next rector.
The survey is an updated version of the parish survey we used in 2018. The design allows us to trend and compare not only the data, but also the demographics of our parish community. We've given the survey some nips and tucks to make it more streamlined, and added just one new question. The questions are divided into four, clearly labeled sections. As in the prior survey, we have provided space for open-ended comments, which we welcome.
You'll see that this time we're using Google Forms instead of Survey Monkey for the survey. It will feel very familiar to any who've done surveys in the past. Multiple members of the same household may complete this questionnaire by following the link and changing the email as to who is responding.
Know that your responses are completely confidential. No one will be able to connect the data to individual respondents.
The survey will go live on Sunday, June 25, 2023, in the afternoon, once services are completed. It will remain open until end-of-day on Friday, July 7, 2023. If you have questions while completing the questionnaire, please feel free to contact your wardens or a member of the Profile Committee.
We realize that completing the survey is an investment of time, and we thank you. Know that each individual's participation helps make the survey a meaningful part of the journey toward our next Rector. We are on this journey together. We greatly appreciate your time, care and attention to this work.
Lastly, if you are unable to complete an online response, please reach out to Hallie Foote in the parish office, who will be happy to assist in getting a paper version to you, which will then be input into the dataset.
April 30, 2023
STORY DAY
One of our chief goals with Story Day was to do the deep work of listening to as broad a swath of our community as possible about what their experience is of All Saints'. On Sunday April 30, we achieved that, when over 100 parishioners gathered in lower Sweetland Hall for a discussion of what All Saints' means to them. Story Day was moderated by the Rev. Canon Tom Quijada-Discavage, who expertly helped us celebrate our rich and amazing history, and guided us as we shared our great dreams about the next chapter in our story.
The stories we shared were open, heartfelt, and personal. The spirit in the room was amazing. And on top of that—we had a wonderful lunch!
For those in the congregation who were unable to join us in person at Story Day, we're pleased to announce plans to hold a virtual session on Zoom so all have the opportunity to participate. We'll have more information on the date and time in the near future!
Thank you for your contributions Story Day!
April 21, 2023
PARISH TIMELINE
In connection with Story Day (April 30), we’ve set up a parish timeline in Lower Sweetland Hall. The goal of Story Day is to share our stories of the All Saints’ experience. Please add your recollections and stories to the timeline! There’s pens and stickers and markers and Post-Its for you to use. Consider sharing your experiences of a moment of joy, or of blessing, a moment of great emotion, joyful or sad. Think about the special events you marked at All Saints’ or what brought you here the first time. Or even what brought you back after the pandemic. There’s an excerpt of our last timeline posted on the wall to inspire you. The goal is to focus less on history and more on what our experiences have been through the years. Join us in telling our stories!
April 18, 2023
TRANSITION UPDATE
Often on trips, it helps to have a map that points out the milestones and markers to be passed along the way. It's true of most road trips, and applies also as a metaphor to other types of journeys, such as the one we've embarked on in search of our next rector.
The first milestone that we have to cross as a parish is the completion of the revised Parish Profile. The profile, the story of who we are as a community, is the first important step or milestone we need to complete before we can begin a search of any sort…
Read the complete email here.