Dear Friends,

 

Our annual stewardship campaign is a chance to reflect on the many ways that we are connected to each other. Our theme this year focuses on the stories we tell and the ways we are called to share our words, our actions, our love, and our joy with the world. This year, with all that has been going on in the news, in our homes, schools and offices, and the ever-shifting economic forecasts, one constant has been the connections we have formed here in our church.

 

Our stories bring us together. Each of us has a story to tell, a reason why we found this congregation and continue to participate. Each of us has dreams, ambitions, and great ideas, just as each of us has struggles and moments of difficulty. One of the parts of our Good News is that we can bring our whole selves – all of our story – to this place and to these people, receiving the love, support, and encouragement, we need.

 

Each of us has stories to tell of how God has worked in us and through the ministry of this parish. Likewise, each of us have been blessed with gifts from God that transform the world. We have wisdom, skills, inspiration, and treasures – all gifts from God, shared with us, as we proclaim God’s Good News with each other, in our community, and for the sake of the whole world. 

 

Below this letter, you will find campaign materials for you to use in your discernment of how you will share the Good News of your transformative gifts and abundance with us and with our neighbors. Each hour spent volunteering, each good idea you have, and each dollar you donate is transformed through prayer and grace into ministry and mission. We could shine the light of Christ’s love for all people without your many and various gifts. 

 

I hope you will join me in using this year’s stewardship campaign as an opportunity to reflect on the Good News your soul wants to tell in and through our parish, and I ask you to submit your pledge by Sunday, November 23, so we may include them in our ingathering and bless them. 

 

Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord!

 

Dr. Brett Durbin

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