Many Thanks

Personally, 2021 and 2022 were some of the most challenging times for JoEllen and me. She was diagnosed with Lymphoma in late 2021 and was under chemotherapy for four months and several months of recovery. I was given the grace to work remotely during that time as I cared for JoEllen. Thank you to the Vestry for their great care for JoEllen and me during those difficult days. Thank you to Fr. Joseph and Mtr Terri who shouldered a greater portion of my ministry responsibilities. Thank you to the staff who stepped into the gaps and made my time working remotely seamless. Thank you for the tech staff who set up our spare bedroom as a video studio. Thank you to the people of Christ Church for your prayers and support.

JoEllen is in remission, is back to work part time and has had her one-year consultation with her oncologist. Everything is clear. We are so thankful for your support and God’s gracious mercy.

Also, I want to thank Fr. Joseph and all those who conspired with him to celebrate my 30th anniversary to the priesthood on December 18th 2022 and also my 10-year anniversary as Rector of Christ Church on January 15th 2023. The anniversary videos were comic genius and I felt honored, seen, valued and appreciated by all of you. It has been a joy and privilege to serve God and His church as a priest for 30 years and Christ Church as your Rector for 10 years. You all are a blessing to me, my family, to our shared community and the world. Thank you, Christ Church.

LIFE BEYOND COVID

As we look toward 2023, I believe we can safely say we have survived what for all of us has been our first pandemic. COVID is now endemic and something we will have to live with for some time to come. Christ Church has emerged from these past three years stable, strong and positioned to flourish. In fact, I would say the flourishing has already commenced. Prior to COVID our average Sunday participation was about 330. As of the last six months our total participation on Sunday mornings is 550 to 600. We have nearly doubled our Sunday morning participation through our livestream offerings. On any given Sunday we have about 250-300 people worshipping in-person, and another 300 online. Our technology expansion has greatly increased our capacity to reach beyond our walls to bring the gospel and worship to the folks who call Christ Church their church home. We now have virtual members who regularly join us online through our livestream, and participate in small groups and teachings via ZOOM. Some of these folks are making an annual pledge of financial support to our ministry. We have learned a lot about technology in the past three years and are continuing to leverage the advantages which technology brings to our ministry.

NEW MEMBERS

We are adding new members to our parish at an astounding rate. In November we welcomed 60 new folks to the parish, and in January we welcomed another 12. In summary, Sunday participation and membership is growing. Christ Church is healthy and growing by the grace of God and the deep faithfulness of the people of Christ Church and the staff.

MINISTRY CHALLENGES

One of our chief challenges in 2023 will be to encourage our members to re-engage in offering their time and talent to ministry. In 2020 we were in lockdown and had to disband many of our lay ministries. As we begin to reconstitute these ministries, we are finding folks reticent to make a commitment to volunteer. We are having difficulty filling positions in Christian Formation, Community Life, Worship and Outreach. We want to encourage all those who stepped back to now step forward. We encourage folks who are new and those who have not been involved in ministry in the past to step forward. The life and ministry to which God is calling us is a call upon all our lives. Ministry involvement is the way we get to participate in God’s work in the world. I want to encourage all of us to reengage in ministry so Christ Church will be blessed and Christ Church will be a blessing to the world.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

I also want to acknowledge and thank all of you for your faithful and generous support of Christ Church. I am continually astounded by the results of our stewardship campaigns during this COVID crisis. In the face of great uncertainty and fear, the people of Christ Church have continually given generously toward the church and our common ministry. One of our goals was to keep our worship and programs accessible to all folks during COVID and also to keep our incredible staff employed. We accomplished those goals thanks to you. In 2022 we were facing financial uncertainty with a drop in the markets, inflation and global economic and political instability. In the face of such uncertainty the people of Christ Church continued to be faithful to our mission and ministry. You can read the financial statement in the Annual Report, but in summary we ended the year right on target. We used less reserves than we had planned. Our pledges and income for 2023 are above giving for 2022. Well done, faithful people of Christ Church.

STAFFING CHANGES

In 2022 we had several staffing changes which we are still working through into 2023. We are still looking for a Youth Ministry Coordinator. This is a position which has been open for a year. As we have spoken with other churches, we have come to realize there is a shortage of Youth Ministry Workers nationally. We will continue to do our best to attract qualified candidates. In the meantime, we will rely upon present staff members and adult volunteers to support the Youth Leadership Team as they organize and lead the program.

We had several staff members retire in 2022, beginning with Don Thornton our Church Administrator and Dave Prentice our Facilities Manager. Heidi Farr, a member of the parish, was hired as our new Facilities Manager and Brady TenBarge was hired as our new Director of Operations. Both have done an excellent job in their new positions and are a blessing to the staff. Fr. Joseph and his family moved to Seattle in November as Joseph’s wife took a new position.

Fr. Joseph will remain on staff until May 2023 as a part-time remote clergy staff person. He will be visiting Christ Church every other month to lead worship and Christian Formation events. Mtr Terri, our Associate for Pastoral Care, took a call to be a long-term supply priest at a smaller church in Denver. Our deepest thanks to both Terri and Joseph for their ministry and time among us. We are actively searching for a new full-time clergy person to add to our staff. Our hope is to have someone on board by the middle of 2023.

Fr. John Wengrovius, joined the staff in Jan 2023 as a part-time Associate for Parish Development. He will be overseeing Pastoral Care initially and then transitioning to Parish Development initiatives. John comes with 40 plus years of experience as a parish priest of large congregations. He will help us see the future and plan well for it.

Alice Bagley, a member of the parish, has filled the position of Pastoral Care Coordinator and began working in January 2023. She will oversee the administrative component of our Pastoral Care ministry. Also, Alice will be the voice you hear when you call Christ Church looking for support, assistance or sharing an event such as surgery or illness which needs the church’s attention. Our plan is to build a robust Pastoral Care ministry which is lay led and clergy/staff supported with the intent of empowering all the members of the parish to care for each other. The clergy and pastoral staff will support the parishioners in this ministry by attending to sacramental and acute needs.

Finally, we have added a full time Administrative Assistant to our staff. Lynda Hellman will be the point of contact in the church office. She started at the beginning of January 2023 and is getting up-to-speed. We are confident she will be a great addition to the team. Staffing is always a challenge in church ministry, but we are assured God is in charge and He will bring the right people at the right time. I covet your prayers as we continue to search for a Youth Ministry Coordinator and a full-time Clergy Associate.

visioning

As you may recall in March of 2022 at our Annual Meeting, the Vestry shared God’s vision for Christ Church which was a culmination of 18 months of discernment, prayer and broad participation by the parish. The Vision: “God desires Christ Church to form deeply committed whole life disciples of Jesus for the world by learning how to BE WITH Jesus, BECOME LIKE Jesus and LIVE LIKE Jesus.” We have spent the year familiarizing the parish with God’s vision through multiple preaching series, small group initiatives, Christian Formation classes and our branding and general communications platforms. We want the language of the vision to be embedded into the minds and hearts of our people and into the fabric of our community.

WE WILL BEGIN TO DREAM

In the late spring and summer of 2023, the Vestry will be leading an initiative for the members of the parish to begin to dream about what Christ Church will look like five years down the road as we live into God’s vision of Christ Church forming deeply committed whole-life disciples of Jesus for the world. There will be several exercises inviting parishioners to generate a picture of Christ Church as a church filled with whole-life disciples. We will gather the input and have it collated and organized.

WE WILL DEVELOP A STRATEGIC PLAN

These dreams and imaginings will be the basis of the development of a strategic plan which will systematically move us toward the fulfillment of God’s vision. In the fall the Vestry will report to the parish the substance of the collated material, and a strategic planning committee will be formed to develop the plan to move us toward God’s vision.

In the winter of 2024, the Vestry will initiate listening sessions in the parish to get input on the proposed strategic plan. Informed by your input, the plan will be modified and then presented to the parish at the Annual Meeting in March of 2024. Then we will begin working the plan and measuring our progress. I am confident this work of discernment, dreaming of the fulfillment of God’s vision, developing a strategic plan and then executing the plan will drive Christ Church to be a church which is living out God’s vision for us.

As I begin my 11th year as the sixth Rector of Christ Church, I am excited, thrilled and expectant. God has brought us through the storm. This ministry is poised and ready for the next chapter of God’s great story in this place. Let us all step forward in offering ourselves to God’s ministry in this place so others will join us in becoming deeply committed whole-life disciples of Jesus for the world, by learning to BE WITH, BECOME LIKE and LIVE LIKE Jesus.