Catching A Spark
Due to the incoming winter storm, the Annual Meeting has been rescheduled for Sunday, February 15. Please make plans to join us at 10:00 a.m. in the parish hall that morning. We will still have church this Sunday, but please stay safe and warm this weekend!
Do you have a hobby that you love? Do you take delight in your career? Do you have an exercise routine or a spiritual practice that you return to joyfully each day? If so, can you remember the thing that sparked your interest—the moment or encounter that began your love affair with that particular pursuit?
On Sunday, February 15, our church will hold its Annual Parish Meeting at 10:00 a.m. in the Parish Hall, and you are invited. This is the one time during the year when the whole congregation is encouraged to gather and conduct the business of the church. We will officially ratify the election of the four new vestry members you selected back in December. We will hear reports from the Rector and the Treasurer. And will we receive written reports from the leaders of the programs and ministries of the parish. That may sound dry and perfunctory, but I think something really important happens at the Annual Meeting, and you have to be present to see it.
More than anything else, I think the Annual Meeting is a chance for you to catch a spark of enthusiasm for your own participation in the life of our church. By its very nature, this gathering is an opportunity for you to lend your voice and your vote to the leadership of our congregation. Even if the vote to ratify the vestry election feels like a formality, the Annual Meeting is the time when every member of our church is encouraged to show up and take part, and I think that this one, specific instance of embodying that role can spark an eagerness to take part in the leadership of our parish in other ways.
Normally, the business of the church is carried out by the vestry at its monthly meetings. Even the most significant decisions of the parish—adopting a budget, electing delegates to diocesan convention, and choosing a rector—belong exclusively to the vestry. Anyone is welcome to attend a vestry meeting, but only the elected members of the vestry participate in the discussion and decision making process. At the Annual Meeting, however, all the members of St. Paul’s get to take part. And the truth is that there are many more though largely unseen ways for you to take part in the leadership of our church, and I hope that this week’s Annual Meeting will spark that for you.
Here are some ways I think the Annual Meeting might lead to your deeper participation in the life and leadership of St. Paul’s.
First, will you consider serving on the vestry in the future? The members of our church effectively get one, very important vote, and it is to elect the members of the vestry. After that, we trust that those who have been elected will lead us in good and right ways. Perhaps exercising your authority as a voting member at the Annual Meeting will awaken for you a willingness to accept a larger role and offer yourself for next year’s vestry election.
Second, will you pay more attention to the financial health of our congregation? We post our full budget as well as periodic financial updates on the church’s website. We share weekly financial summaries in the newsletter. Full financial reports are available in the folders outside Leslie Alexander’s office. I wonder whether hearing the Treasurer’s Report will help you recognize how fully transparent St. Paul’s seeks to be and inspire you to make the financial wellbeing of our church a personal priority.
Third, will you pray for the mission and ministry of St. Paul’s in a new way? At our capital campaign small group gatherings, I have consistently heard parishioners say that they love how many different, vibrant, and important ministries we offer at our church. I agree. I love that our church does so much for so many people. Hearing the Rector’s Report and reading reports from many of our ministries may deepen your appreciation for all that St. Paul’s does in God’s name and renew your commitment to lift up the clergy, staff, and volunteers who lead those ministries. Maybe it will spark in you a desire to get involved in something new.
Historically, The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Arkansas have adopted very specific rules to ensure that the members of a parish are able to take part in the Annual Meeting. For example, our diocesan canons require the Rector to announce the scheduled meeting “from the chancel on a Sunday at least two weeks prior to the appointed date” (Canon 25.1). Official participation in the business of the church by the members of the congregation may only happen once a year, but that moment in the life of our church is significant enough to make sure that people take part.
I hope you will join us on February 15 for the Annual Meeting, and I hope you will be inspired to rededicate yourself to the work that God is accomplishing in and through St. Paul’s. We are a wonderful church, and you are an important part of it.
Yours faithfully,
Evan D. Garner
