Thursday, March 04, 2021

Done at Marsh Chapel 2006--2019

Done at Marsh Chapel 2006-2019 New envisioned mission lived in weekly ‘heart and service’ New growth, doubling daily program (see below) and weekly average Sunday morning worship attendance (125 to 261) due in part to Christmas, Easter, Bach, Communion, and Special Sundays growth New ministry and music endowment ($300k) New use of existing decanal endowment ($800k) New staff, 4 new full time, 17 new part time, and new staff structure New ministry and program including: global stress day, study retreats, internships, Bach Experience, Thurman Choir, 2 musical commissions, website, national summer preacher series, added Christmas and Easter services, First Week, full week program, 3000 building users per week in school year New Development and Communications Groups (in place of staff) New Advisory Board, membership, meetings, other New future accessibility plan (2012) and current accessibility improvement (2019) New renewal, refurbishment of all 13 chapel rooms, one per year New emphasis on future deanship endowment ($5M goal) New attention to: sustainability, ‘lgbtgia’, health, diversity, denominational issues New expansion of memorial, funeral ministry New attention to BU religious life oversight (40 self funded chaplains and campus ministers, $3M annual value for BU), with new (2018) oversight process and policy (2019) New decanal publication (15 books, other), guest preaching and teaching (10 per year, other), Lenten sermon series, media presence, WBUR listenership, other New income streams (6), robust annual non-wedding income growth ($16k to $316k), and improved provostial support (2014) Marsh Chapel is now the leading University Chapel pulpit, program and presence, both in the country and around the globe. (Partly due as well to fall-off in these years at Harvard, Princeton, Emory, Syracuse, and other).