STEWARDSHIP
Our stewardship committee is proud to announce that, to date, we have received 69 pledge commitments for 2024, and we have reached 101% of our goal, totaling $313,218!
Thank you for your loyalty…..supporting God’s love through our church community and leadership and through YOUR time, talents, and treasures. Stay tuned for our annual meeting on February 11th, where we will hear a full update on our budget, financial commitments, and hopes for the year ahead.
That being said, please be mindful that it is 2024, and your updated pledge amounts are so important to keep our finances flowing. If you have questions about your updated pledges, please contact Beckie at the church office.
Peace and Blessings, Janet van Hartesvelt and Linda Dugins
St. Luke’s is moving forward with the excited and very capable leadership of our vestry and Rev. Ashley. Our leadership is committed to our theme. “They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought, it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:8
THIS IS US………
We are proud of our church buildings as they are both comfortable, clean, and orderly inside and outside!
We continue to create a welcoming environment for our visitors and we are all comfortable in sharing our church culture with visitors!
St. Luke’s continues to do an excellent job caring for our members!
Volunteering at St. Luke’s and participating in our many missions are vibrant parts of our church life!
Our two church services and our music program meet the spiritual needs of our members and bring joy to so many!
Whether it is an inspirational sermon, sharing Eucharist at the table, or fellowship with members, Sunday morning…these are all rich traditions for our congregation!
Your pledge is your promise and we have had a successful pledge campaign to date for 2024. We are incredibly grateful for the 59 pledges we have received. Our membership is approximately 89 members, so we hope to hear from each household in the next few weeks. We have also reached 87% of our $310,000 goal. We hope to “fill in” the 13% to claim that our goal has been met. Wouldn’t it be great to have 100% participation from our households?!
It is important, if you have not completed your pledge for 2024, that you prayerfully consider your financial commitment to St. Luke’s. There are pledge cards at both churches, or you can contact Beckie at beckie@stlukespc.org.
In gratitude,
Linda and Janet
Linda Dugins & Janet Vanhartesvelt
The most important words to say in Church are “thank you.” Say it often, and mean it to everyone who makes our shared life possible, and in recognition of all we accomplish when we work together. My friends, thank you for the many gifts that you share with our community.
You have heard the familiar expression “can’t see the forest for the trees” before. We most often use it to describe that occasion in which we lose sight of the big picture while focusing on the details. From my position, I often experience the blessing of being able to see the big picture of our congregation – the ministry we bring to our fellow humans and the world, the impact we have on our local community, the ways that we come together week after week to celebrate our faith and praise God. This is the forest.
As rector, I get to wander amongst the trees. From the small shoot reaching out from its seed and finding the sunlight to the mightiest tree, standing tall, showing strength, offering sheltering love to those who need it - you are those trees, each drawing strength from our time together and showering the world with the love and grace you have come to know here. I am blessed that in my time with you, I can see both the forest and the trees!
When I walk through a forest, I am aware of the tangle of roots and how one tree is connected to another. Trees use these networks, secretly talking to each other through their roots and passing information along. Adult trees share their sugars with young saplings. A dying tree can send its remaining resources back out to help the community. These networks, these roots of abundance, keep trees in place just as much as they free them to grow and share.
The theme of our annual pledge campaign this year is Rooted in Abundance, and we are reminded that we are a mighty forest comprised of ancient trunks and sprightly saplings, each of us contributing our gifts to a world that needs us. As you hear the messages and stories of abundance this year, please take note of how generosity spreads and widens our root structures of faith and action. Prayerfully reflect on how you can make an impact for good in this complex, shared network we call “church.”
In gratitude,
The Rev. Ashley Gurling
As we started preparing this year’s Stewardship Campaign, it seemed important to reflect on our mission statement, which is from the Baptismal Covenant: “To restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.” The purpose of a Stewardship Campaign is to have each of us reflect on what the church means to us as members of our St. Luke’s Community and for each of us to determine how we can best support the Church and its mission. Many people are curious about what it takes to fund the operation of the Church and all its component parts. What follows is a narrative budget that addresses this question by telling our congregation’s story of mission and service and how the varying components of the budget contribute to St. Luke’s being able to live into its God-given vision. Our hope is that it will inspire, encourage, challenge, and inform you about why your gift matters. Every gift is vital to the continuing health of our community.
The goal for the 2024 campaign is $310,000, which is a 7.5% increase in pledges over our 2023 budget.
Our budget can be thought of in these broad categories, with the cost of the staff & buildings spread among these areas. Having a secure building and a dedicated staff allows us to move forward as a caring, involved community.
- Care for Our Church Family – Pastoral care is an integral part of St. Luke’s mission. Our clergy provide pastoral care for those who are ill, hospitalized, bereaved, preparing for marriage, going through divorce, or facing other crises. This care is offered to all who are in need, such as patients in nearby medical facilities, parishioners who are struggling, as well as people who are trying to discern their call in their faith journey. Our weekly Friday newsletters & the website are also ways of caring for our community by keeping us informed about current activities and ways we can help. The recent addition of the Care Guild and Fellowship Groups will further strengthen the support from our congregation to anyone who is in need. ~ $115,000
- Community Outreach – Our clergy & staff are actively involved in reaching out to newcomers, doing interviews with media outlets, and building relationships with other faith leaders, schools, and community organizations, all in support of our mission to provide care to the general community. We provide space for different community groups to meet—AA, Grief Support, Care Givers Support Group, and others. We also provide support to the Christian Center Food Pantry, Road Home, and Hope Alliance by being actively involved with their missions. ~ $58,500
- Preparing for Worship – Worship is central to our congregation’s work. Planning for Sunday morning worship, preparing sermons, and creating inspiring worship booklets all take part of our clergy’s time. Our Minister of Music consults with our clergy to select appropriate music for our services. This category includes costs for music, bulletins, communion supplies, seasonal decorations for the sanctuary, and supply priests when needed. ~$117,500
- Educating – Education takes many forms – education of our clergy through the diocese, weekly call with the Bishop, Title IV (clergy misconduct) and other diocesan training; education of our community through Bible Study, Beer & BS, Autumn Gospel, formation opportunities taught by clergy such as Faith Matters, licensing of Lay Ministers and Sunday School for our youth. ~$19,000
We hope that this narrative helps you understand how important your support is to the future of St. Luke’s. We are a vibrant and caring community that longs to provide hope and love to all that it touches. Please prayerfully consider this when completing your pledge card.
As our annual stewardship campaign gets underway, you have been hearing about the theme, Rooted in Abundance, and its reminder to us that we are inspired to give because so much has been given to us. This is not transactional – we do not give in proportion to how we feel we have benefitted or suffered – rather, we give because of the love we have experienced in the story of our faith. We have explored trees, roots, and flowers, all as metaphors for the way we dig deep into what nourishes us to transform that goodness into work, service, and joy in a world that needs us.
We are grateful that you have called us to lead this annual process of telling the story of our abundance and our gratitude. This fall, we feel particularly excited and blessed as we have welcomed Rev. Ashley to St. Luke's! We know that St. Luke's is an amazing body of folks, and with her leadership, many of our goals, hopes, and dreams will be manifested in the work we will do together. During our stewardship campaign, we know that every gift matters, and each gift will be accepted, brought to the altar, and blessed before God and our community.
Martin Luther King said there are three conversions necessary in the Christian life: the conversion of the heart, the mind, and the purse. God’s grace can transform our hearts and minds and create in us a desire to give according to what He has given us. It is up to us to prayerfully contemplate the conversion of the purse. As you fill out your pledge cards, you’ll notice that one side is about your financial promises for the year, your wealth. The other side is dedicated to how you might want to share your works and your wisdom.
This year, as you pray about your commitment to our church, please tap into that nourishing structure of faith and generosity shown to us by an extravagant God, a patient Shepherd, and a gathering Spirit who calls us to extend our networks and share our gifts with the world. When you are rooted in abundance, you realize that your giving can be as boundless as the Creation that gave birth to us all. Thank you for your generosity and your prayerful consideration of your pledge to St. Luke's.
In gratitude,
Linda Dugins & Janet van Hartesvelt, St. Luke's stewardship chairs
P.S. The last Sunday of our campaign is November 5th. Please send your pledge card by mail or by the offering plate by that date so that we may bless them as we gather them together.
I am so pleased this year to talk about the theme of our annual stewardship campaign, Rooted in Abundance. I am particularly excited about it because it describes the graceful state of our church community and how we share our gifts so lovingly with each other.
Our giving tradition at St. Luke’s has always been focused on how we share all our gifts – not just our financial gifts. A church needs new ideas, creative people to lead, individuals who know how to solve complex problems, and volunteers to keep our ministries focused on our community. We can think of this in a three-fold way: wealth, works, and wisdom. If any one of these areas is missing from our community, we are diminished.
Each of us has a gift, some have many. For some it is cooking and baking, others might have beautiful singing voices, we praise those who have an administrative gift of balancing books or counting the collection, we admire those who offer hospitality, who serve at the altar, who help us find a seat as the service begins. Whatever your ministries are, we couldn’t be who we are without you.
In Rev. Ashley’s recent letter to us, she talked about how trees are connected via their root structures, and how they share information and resources with each other through those underground networks. Over the past couple of years during our search for a new rector, I have witnessed the ways in which parish members have communicated with each other to get things done. Potlucks, community events, pastoral care, Sunday worship, it all happens so wonderfully because you are each deeply connected to one another through your roots of faith and service.
I thank you for the ways you have shared your gifts with us – your wealth, works, and your wisdom. In the coming days you will be receiving more information about this year’s campaign and an invitation to let us know what gifts you would like to share with us for next year’s ministry. Thank you for your generosity, once again.
In gratitude,
Ted Clayton