This site provides materials published from 2008 - 2019 concerning St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Seattle. The material comes from a broader site that addresses a host of parish development concerns; this is limited to material about or growing directly out of issues observed at St. Paul’s. Most of the individual posts were written by Robert Gallagher, OA, and are signed “rag” at the end. Others were written by Robert and me together, as indicated.

I am a lay woman, a parish development consultant, a secular consultant to financial services companies, and the Presiding Sister of the Order of the Ascension. The Order of the Ascension is a dispersed Benedictine community with a charism for parish development and revitalization. My own background includes significant training in organization development and parish development. I have a strong commitment to working with the “Benedictine DNA” present in Episcopal churches. That includes learning how to incarnate the Benedictine Promise of Stability, Obedience (or prayerful listening) and Conversion of Life in the parish setting.

I was a member of St. Paul’s at various points from 1996 through 2019 and served a couple of times on the vestry and for a year as the parish’s treasurer. I attended the parish under four different rectors and several different interims so I have a long view. The parish provides a valuable resource for thinking through the complex dynamics of parish life and, especially, for grounding a parish in prayer, not program. It also provides a rich example of the use of group development theory and community listening processes over an extended period and under a range of leaders.

Michelle Heyne, OA