2023 Vestry Report
2023 Report from outgoing Sr. Warden, Barb Pierce
Silence — be still and be aware of God’s presence within us and
our St. Paul’s community both internally and externally.
(paraphrased from Newell, J. P. 2002, Celtic Prayers from Iona, Paulist Press.)
Be aware and thanks be to God of our return from Covid-100% back which has presented us with forming and maintaining parish relationships in new, important, and different ways. We are heartened by the growth in new membership especially in our family ministry thanks to Laurie Pierce and her team and we welcome Beth Scriven to our community. We must also remember our members whom we serve at home by visiting them and taking communion to them. They are part of us and some even watch our livestream. Be still and be aware of God’s presence within our growing community.
As a growing community we must think differently about who we are and who we want to be as a community of Episcopalians within and without our church walls. What do we need as a community and how do we get there? This is why we have been working through these questions with a very faithful Reimagining Team to identify a mission and values statements that fit us for who we are now and who we want to be. Clearly, we have a desire to be an open, affirming, and diverse community living into our baptismal covenant to “strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being.” We heard this from you loudly and clearly in our listening sessions.
As we think to the future, we are beginning to lean into our racial justice work in multiple ways. We supported the startup of The Avenue Foundation so we could help a new foundation to begin to build and fuel new Black owned businesses in our community. Many of you have participated in Sacred Ground and have done your own internal and small group thinking about race, reconciliation, and the Episcopal Church nationally and locally. A major thanks to Larry Krauser who was instrumental in developing the film about the history of racism within our Diocese. Importantly, the Vestry adopted the Covenant to Root Out Racism in our Diocese. This is an important step in the right direction for our parish and the diocese. We are also discerning the beginning of a Latino ministry and many of you (the classes are full!) have signed up for Spanish language classes.
Internally, as a Vestry, we have reorganized how we look at the budget and it has now become a three-month long discernment process of how we allocate money based on where we want to go from a mission perspective. I expect that this will continue as we move into our new mission and vision using values-based budgeting. We are grateful to all our church staff and volunteers including Bruce Edelen who stepped up to be Treasurer and Ace Yakey who is now heading up the group overseeing the endowment. The Vestry also read and discerned a book by Samuel Wells called A Future That’s Bigger Than the Past which helped us to re-think multiple ideas about how we are church and can become the church God is calling us to be.
Be still and be aware of God’s presence within our growing connection to the external community. To respond to our community needs, we continue our relationships with School 43 and the MLK Center. We have volunteers in the school and MLK Center and have had MLK campers in our church hall learning to cook and making connections with others in their community. I even got to teach a bunch of campers how to make Yorkshire Pudding one afternoon. Also, our St. Paul’s youth have engaged in cooperative activities with MLK Center youth. Many of us participated in the Habitat for Humanity build this fall, and we have had a robust year of supporting artists in multiple ways of sharing faith and justice through their art. We continue to support Coburn Place and the Damian Center among other community agencies. Our Green Team grew fresh produce for our neighbors and have more plans for this spring.
An interesting and important undertaking this year was participating in the church building reimagining project with the Diocese and this has led us to think about new ways to use our building space for and with community partners. We now have other organizations using our facilities, bringing them into community with us and opening opportunities to share more than just space. We were fortunate to host the Diocesan Convention this year which allowed the rest of the Diocese to experience our community in a loving and faithful way and to experience its beauty.
Our endowment is strong, and our budget is way better than most churches in the United States. I am thankful for all our staff without whom our church community would not function as smoothly. Dan Thompson especially helps us understand budget and building issues and is innovative in his thinking about building space and programming. I am grateful to have experienced a thoughtful, justice oriented, and kind group of folks on the Vestry who helped make my job so much easier the past two years. I am grateful for each person who helps with worship from all the Altar Guild members, ushers, lectors, intercessors, Lay Eucharistic Ministers, Lay Eucharistic Visitors to our young and faithful acolytes and our tech experts helping with our livestream each week. I am grateful for the faithful and sacred ministry of our choir, and our choir leadership, Brad, and Jacob. I am grateful for clergy who are forward thinking, faithful, kind, and pastoral! It has been my honor to work with our very hard-working, smart, and innovative Rector, John, and especially Jr. Warden Jeff Kelsey, in whose capable hands I leave the Vestry in good order. Jeff is wise, smart, faithful, and caring and will be a wonderful Sr. Warden. Be still, my friends in our community, and be aware of God’s presence in our space, our interwoven lives, our St. Paul’s. Walk in the way of love and peace be with you all. Thanks.
Barb Pierce, Sr. Warden (Class of 2024)
