Since I became priest and rector of St James the. Apostle Church in Perth I have
appreciated the privilege of presiding in a spiritual home that is so beautifully.
St James the Apostle 12 Harvey St, Perth Ontario K7H 1W4 Telephone: (613) 267-1163 Email:
[email protected] Website: www.superaje.com/~stjamesperth
A Financial Stewardship Initiative of
St James the Apostle and the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa
Dear Parishoner, Since I became priest and rector of St James the Apostle Church in Perth I have appreciated the privilege of presiding in a spiritual home that is so beautifully bejewelled by its stained glass windows, each one speaking to the story of our faith. 2011 marks one hundred and fifty years of history and accomplishments at St James within this current church building. Through the many changes in our lives, our church is where we come to pray to God, to grow spiritually, to reach out to those in need, and to give and receive the support of our church family. What more fitting year could there be to launch St James’ Growing in Faith Together campaign (GIFT) as a part of the Diocesan-wide endeavour, launched by Synod in 2010; a five-year, $12 million fund-raising campaign inviting each of us to make a pledge to support initiatives in our Diocese and our parish. Because it is, surely, during a significant anniversary year, that important questions become raised such as “How are we meeting our responsibility to take care of our heritage building?” Or to put it another way, “How are we honouring the faith of our forefathers?” And yet there is the accompanying question of “What are we doing currently that will encourage present and future generations to worship here in this place, to come to know Jesus Christ, to grow with us and serve?” Fifty percent of your GIFT offering will support St James directly and fifty percent will support our Diocese. Each parish in the Diocese has been recommended a fund-raising campaign goal in keeping with their level of regular giving. St James’s goal is $320,000, to be raised over five years. What I find so encouraging about the Diocesan case for the campaign is that a high proportion of the funds that are raised will be used to assist parishes in their evangelism and outreach. Ministries in the North also have a part, as does the cause of Child Poverty which our Bishop wished to add. In our own parish, half of the funds raised will be used to support ministries we long to enhance like our music, our ministry towards children and youth, and pastoral care. We also hope to redress our organ’s long-term state of deterioration so the standard of our worship is not compromised. I commend this brochure to every reader asking you to peruse it prayerfully and with open hearts, trusting that you, with me, will be moved to give over and above your regular givings, as best you can, to support our attempt to offer pertinent and vital ministries here through this sacred place. And so that the church entrusted to us by God in Christ will continue to be a dynamic legacy bequeathed to future generations.
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Growing in Faith Together At the October 2010 Synod, it was agreed to hold a diocesan-wide fund-raising campaign, now known as GIFT – Growing in Faith Together. The goal is to raise $12 million over five years, with each of the Diocese’s 72 parishes contributing according to their means. In June, St James’ Parish Council unanimously agreed to be a pilot parish in GIFT so that we could benefit from support and training in stewardship campaigning. Our parish has been asked to raise $320,000. This brochure explains why we are doing this, what the ministry of St James will gain from it and how we can achieve our goal by 2016. The money we raise will be divided with 50% going to St James, and 50% to the Diocese to support programs and initiatives, many of which benefit the Parish as well. If we raise more than our target, we will keep all the extra funds for St James’ ministry. Many Anglicans dislike talking about money – we are even proud of this reticence. Jesus, however, had no such compunction – he realized that money is a very powerful force and had a special message for rich people, warning them that trusting in wealth and using it to gain power clogs our spiritual arteries and impedes our growth in the Spirit. (Luke 12, 13-21). God judges our wealth by the quality of our lives, and the generous giving of our wealth to bless others. “Just as you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us – see that you also excel in the grace of giving”. 2 Corinthians 8. Bishop John is passionate and committed to this campaign and is becoming optimistic about our future. There has been a downward spiral in church attendance and giving since 1964 but, as the Bishop has travelled around the Diocese, he has seen signs that we are poised for new growth – and statistics are supporting his impression. He points out this Diocese has not had a major fund-raising campaign since the early 1980s and believes it is time to get beyond maintenance budgeting – keeping the roof on the church – and expand our vision of how to be the Church in the 21st Century. Now is the time for “abundance thinking” and he asks us to prayerfully consider how we can contribute to the campaign. Messy Church
St James has indeed been growing in recent years with more families attending the Church, an increase in giving and several successful new programs, particularly those aimed at young people, including Messy Church and the Skateboard Group. It is time for us to embrace abundance thinking. 3
Who are we? What unites us? St James is the “one stop” in Perth for Anglicans and so is home to an amazing variety of people – parishioners whose ancestors worshipped here; new retirees who have recently moved to the area; the frail elderly; far too few young families; working people from teens to young seniors; and non-‘working’ but often ‘volunteering’ persons of all ages, many on fixed incomes.; and non-working people of all ages on fixed incomes. Our theological views cover a full range, as do our worship preferences reflected in our Eucharistic worship: a quiet morning contemplation, a traditional liturgy with classical church music, and a contemporary service featuring guitars and drums. Almost all of us would agree on a vision of a healthy, growing church based on: • a desire to praise ‘God in the highest heaven’, to spread God’s word, and to “do justice, Skateboarding Ministry love mercy and walk humbly with God” (Micah 6:8): • a love of Christ and a longing to be fed by him which enables us to grow in our faith – in numbers, diversity, ministry and service; • a strong desire to see more children and young families active in the congregation; and • an appreciation of the rich heritage of our 150-year old church and the need for stewardship of the buildings, and making them more inclusive. Funds raised during the GIFT campaign will focus our stewardship on all these areas and will bring us together as a Community in Faith – with more energy than we can imagine.
Care and Share
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Our Vision Our Parish Vision is “St James making Christ known through Inviting, Equipping and Sending Disciples” . Through our ministry of evangelism, we INVITE all people into a loving community of faith with Jesus Christ at the centre through Sunday morning and weekday services; a strong Sunday School musical tradition, including a Liturgical Choir and a Spirit Band; Sunday School; Summer Bible School; Messy Church; and the Skater Program. We rely on strong lay leadership for many of these endeavours. Through our ministry of congregational development we EQUIP our congregation to live a life of faith through bible study, house groups, the intercessory prayer team, Advent and Lenten programs, Cursillo, the parish library, choral training, Alpha courses, and preparation for baptism, first communion, confirmation and marriage. We also provide space, free of charge to non-profit organizations, including Dads and Kids, AA and Scouts. Through our ministry of outreach we SEND our people into the wider community to serve, that all may know God’s love locally through pastoral care, community dinners, the Parish Guild and the Altar Guild, Care and Share for Seniors, concerts and special events by the choir, and across Canada and internationally through our support for the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund, and projects such as the Malawi Orphanage and the Guatemala Stove Project.
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How we will grow in faith The funds raised through GIFT will be used to enhance our regular ministries, including congregational development, youth and child ministry, and musical and pastoral assistance. The extra funds for both Christian education and evangelism will allow us to plan exciting new ventures, such as a facilitated parish daythe Spirit Band long retreat, inviting inspirational speakers to reach out to the secular world, and local ecumenical events. We may also be able to access Diocesan GIFT funds for some of these initiatives. This will help us to “grow” our congregation, inspire our existing parishioners and welcome new ones, encouraging them to become active in the parish -- especially recent retirees who have much expertise and experience to offer. We are allocating considerable resources to our ministry to parents, children and youth through establishing a youth coordinator position and enhancing the children’s programs. With our emphasis on a variety of musical expression we will need more resources to support our Director of Music, and will establish a position of Musical Assistant – one of whose responsibilities will be to form a children’s and parents’ choir. We also have a ministry to the frail elderly and the dying, and resources for pastoral assistance will enhance this. With prayerful hope and abundance thinking, we trust that our regular budget will increasingly be able to include these ministries, with support from GIFT being gradually phased out over the five years. We will also support outreach ministry through a 10% tithe of all we give through GIFT. The Outreach Committee will be asked to make recommendations on how to allocate this money each year, according to need – locally, across Canada and internationally.
How we will be good stewards
We are celebrating the 150th anniversary of our present church building this year but the parish itself is almost 200 years old. We have a responsibility to keep our heritage building in good order for future generations and to improve it so that more people can accept our invitation to worship with us. While we have made many improvements over the years, including conserving and protecting our beautiful stained glass, we have put off repairing our heritage pipe organ, which is in such grave need of repair that the musical notes are no longer reliable. Our location on a hill causes accessibility issues for people with mobility difficulties, and our Good Shepherd Hall has dreadful acoustics. These are one-time expenses and we have allocated $65,000 to replace the Peter Woodwark at the Console of organ console, and $15,000 to improve the Pipe Organ accessibility and acoustics.
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Our Needs GIFT will enable us to meet the challenges of tomorrow with the necessary financial resources. Your gift will support our ministry needs today and in the future. Here are our parish’s priorities for GIFT fund-raising efforts over the next five years: Expand our Christian Education; including a day-long retreat; focus on Evangelism—by inspirational speakers, for example; increase our giving to Outreach projects; engage a Musical Assistant to establish a children’s & parents’ choir; allocate increased funding to support Child and Youth Ministries; meet the need for Pastoral Ministry to our increasing population of elderly, sick and dying parishioners; replace our Organ Console; improve Access by gravelling our parking lot; and improve the Acoustics in Good Shepherd Hall.
Our Needs
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
Total
Christian Education
2,000
2,000
2,000
2,000
2,000
$10,000
Evangelism
2,000
2,000
2,000
2,000
2,000
$10,000
Outreach
3,000
3,000
3,000
3,000
3,000
$15,000
Musical Assistant
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
$20,000
Child & Youth Ministries
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
$15,000
Pastoral Ministry
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
$10,000
65,000
$65,000
Organ Console Access & Acoustics
15,000
St. James 50%
36,000
18,500
16,000
13,500
76,000
$160,000
Diocese 50%
36,000
18,500
16,000
13,500
76,000
$160,000
Total Funds
72,000
37,000
32,000
27,000
152,000
$320,000
$15,000
50% of all funds raised stay with St James 7
TOGETHER Anything’s possible Each of us is called to respond faithfully to the needs of our church and of our community. Your participation in the campaign, by making a sacrificial, meaningful and proportionate gift, over a five year pledge period is gratefully appreciated. “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” Hebrews 13:16
Prayerfully consider your GIFT five year pledge.
Complete your faithful commitment in the enclosed pledge card.
Encourage others to share in the GIFT campaign challenge.
Wondering what to give? We understand the financial demands facing us today. The following proportionate gift guideline may help you to make your pledge decision.
For more information, please call (613) 267-1163
Thank you for your generosity!
