Dear Incarnation Family, Greetings from your vestry wardens! We write to provide a year-end update. In October, Ben and Cory finished their vestry terms — we are so grateful for their wise and faithful service. The new vestry has met twice, and as part of our on-boarding of newly-elected members Kim and Jared, we reflected on the many things that have changed over the last year: we moved to a different worship location, we said goodbye to our beloved founding rector Liz almost eight months ago, and welcomed Amy to the rector role. We have several new staff (Emily, Katie, Cory), and we are solidly emerging from the pandemic. This is a LOT of change!
As a vestry we’ve also recognized that we are a HEALTHY community: beyond the solidarity of purpose and warm respect for one another that we enjoy as a vestry, we see broad, joyful participation by so many people in the work of our church- and our church is growing! Expanding on the point Amy made at our last parish meeting, our community is built by serving alongside one another, bringing all of our gifts; indeed this is a vital part of discipleship.
So as you look to the start of a new calendar year, are there new ways you can contribute your unique skills to the life of our church? With everything that has changed, perhaps you see a missing piece and know exactly how to fill it. Or maybe you’re already serving, and could invite someone new to serve alongside you.
If you’re looking for ideas, here are a few specific things to consider:
Please keep up to date on the Church Planning Center by blocking out dates you cannot serve- this means the staff need to make fewer re-assignments. For more details about signing up to volunteer, please visit the Volunteer page on the Incarnation website.
In particular, we are in need of a few intrepid souls who would be willing to occasionally help unload the van and serve as vergers on Sundays. This requires coming early at 8:15, unloading the van with the staff, and ensuring that volunteers are in place. It’s a great way to understand how everything works.
Help with facilities: Beyond set-up and set-down every week, there are a number of other ways you might serve the community practically, particularly now we have a van, and an office as well as a Sunday space. We are looking to assemble a roster of people willing and able to help from time to time on tasks like trimming bushes by the church office, moving equipment, taking the van for its inspection or maintenance, or other jobs as they come up. Please let Tom know if you would like to be on a distribution list for this type of activity. Better yet, sign up and invite someone to serve together with you!
We also hope that you read the recent letter from our Treasurer about our finances, and the adjustments we are making in our budget. Please reach out if you have any questions about this — the vestry discussed it in depth at our last meeting. Our congregation is exceedingly generous, which means that although we have budgeted a deficit every year thus far, we still have a significant operating surplus, and we’ve been able to commit 15% of our budget to outreach.
That said, to sustain us strongly into the future, giving will need to increase over the next couple of years. Like service, giving is also a vital part of discipleship, and we welcome any questions or conversation you’d like to have about how we can all ‘excel in this grace of giving’ (2 Corinthians 8:7).
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us about this or any other questions you might have about the ‘temporal matters’ of Incarnation — we are so honored to serve as your wardens.
Faithfully, Nancy and Tom