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Annual Meeting

January 31, 2017
31 Jan 2017

St. Timothy 2017 (and former senior wardens who prayed them into office)

 

Brothers and Sisters –

I’d like to take a minute today to reflect on Sunday’s Annual Meeting, which was very encouraging. The Lord is doing great things!

In days to come, we will have the full minutes of the meeting available, and you can access all of the written documents in a Google folder.  If you don’t have the link, I am happy to share it with members of our congregation.

After opening in prayer and the quick business of minutes approval, our Sr. Warden, Philip gave a report on the early portion of the last year.  In summary, 2016 was a year of sometimes-turbulent change for St. Tim’s. Philip especially expressed great thanks for the good work of the Priest Discovery Team, who watched the Lord lead them through a crisis of vision, but faithfully let Him lead on to the other side.

I had the opportunity to share as well.  Jen, the kids, and I are thankful to the Lord for our call to Burlington.  It is becoming a home for us in the best possible way.  The Lord’s timing is beautiful and perfect.  I am grateful for the chance to work with the leadership of this church, who have been a joy to work with from day 1.  I will miss the opportunity to see our departing vestry members at meetings, as their terms come to a close.

I am convinced that the Lord has exciting days ahead for us.  We will see Him deepen our faith and bring new life to the lost in our city and towns.  I believe that we will see Him do miraculous things as we invite people to enter into the life of faith with us.  So the vestry and I this year will be working to implement our mission statement into all aspects of our common life.  We will make every effort to ensure that our events (worship services, community, and missions) are worth inviting people to.  We will seek to not over-schedule the church calendar, giving us all freedom to keep involved in our local communities and missions.  We will seek to train those who desire in the capacity to meet people, engage in spiritual conversations, and invite people into a relationship with our Living Savior.

Our treasurer, Bob Campbell, gave a report on the 2016 finances, as well as the 2017 budget.  The second half of 2016 showed an increased health in our financial situation (with many thanks for your generosity!) With a conservative growth prediction, Bob anticipates that we will be fully self-funding in the next couple of years.  As it is now, we are using some of our “Reserve Funds” from time to time.  The 2017 budget was approved by the congregation.

We have new vestry members!  The congregation voted on the slate of candidates, and
– Arabella Hubbard, Kara Krikorian, and Ray Milhous began new 3 year terms
– Karen Kriger was permitted a 4th year
– Mark Denison and Bob Campbell had their appointments confirmed, with 2 years remaining in their terms

The Lord has good things ahead of us!
Let all the earth praise His name!

Blessings –
Fr. Micah

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Mission Statement

December 1, 2016
01 Dec 2016

After a weekend of prayer, reflection, listening, and discussion – the vestry of St. Timothy has adopted this mission statement:

We glorify God as we live and grow in authentic relationship with Jesus and our neighbors, by
– Experiencing God’s transforming presence in worship
– Pursuing spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, and relational wholeness
– Pursuing a culture of compassion, honesty, and vulnerability
– Equipping and supporting each other to go out into the world to do the work God has given us to do

 

 

Thank you all for your prayers for this process. I’ll be unpacking the statement a bit over the course of the Advent preaching series (click on the sermons link above to catch up on anything you missed!).

I am extremely happy with the result of our group discussions and prayers!  The statement moves us through a cycle of growth and change, as we encounter Christ, whose transforming power makes us whole as believers and welcoming as a community, then grows us in our ability to do His work in the world.  As we see Him move, we experience His transforming presence again, and go deeper still.

There are a few important things to know –

We tried to avoid the use of church or insider language. The church has always been good at creating words to distinguish ideas.  They’re great, because they are precise – but they don’t help outsiders understand us.  So we opted to use (and explain) “wholeness” – rather than “sanctification”, and to say “the work God has given us to do” rather than “proclaim the gospel”.  We want to be understood, and that means speaking the language around us.

This doesn’t replace our five values. It helps to focus and implement them – but you can see that Worship, Healing, Study, Community, and Mission are still central to what we do.

It’s a bit long.  We tried – we really did – to keep it short.  It could have been much longer.  If you need a short version that sticks a bit better – just take the first line.  Or – “We glorify God by authentic living”.

As we head together into the new year, these concepts will help us clarify how we worship, serve, and even budget. I am deeply grateful that the vestry gave their time and thoughtful care to the process. They were committed to making it happen and getting us off to a good start before this term is over at the Annual Meeting (January 29).

I’m finding it hard in the format of a blog to express my excitement – but I know that God is doing great things, and is preparing us for the great things He is doing!

 

– Micah+

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