Pentecost 2005 Letter
Saint John's Church

Pentecost-tide 2005

Dear Members and Friends,

Whitsunday ushers in the long Pentecost Season, which in most parishes means a slow-down of activity as people vacation and choose to sleep in. Not so for us this year! There is a whole agenda of work to be done over the summer as the Strategic Growth Initiative gets underway in our parish.

Well over a year ago, with an eye towards church growth, the Vestry undertook a serious examination of our strengths and weaknesses as a congregation with Fr Roy Cole from the Diocese of New York. Our work with him concluded in January, and since then a large Strategic Growth Committee has worked to evaluate and tackle the work into which Fr Cole guided us. That large group has now broken into several smaller committees charged with specific tasks to enable us to grow as a congregation. A Steering Committee has been appointed to guide, oversee, and prod along the other committee efforts. The Steering Committee will report directly to the Rector and Vestry.

More about all this will be forthcoming, but here it is sufficient to say that this summer will be busy indeed with planning and recruiting Members and Friends to do the serious work of gathering in more souls who might find the offerings at Saint John's spiritually rewarding. When you are called upon to help, consider it the voice of the Spirit prompting you to consider how best you can serve as an instrument of the Lord Jesus with who and what you are, and what you have been given.

This is an exciting time in our congregational life, and the dual commemoration on Whitsunday of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church seems a good time for us re-commit ourselves to holy lives characterised by reaching out to others. That is a sure-fire plan for growth.

With every prayer for a truly blessed Pentecost-tide, I am

Yours faithfully in Christ Jesus,

(The Rev'd) Jesse L. A. Parker
Rector of Saint John's Church