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Hello Fellow St. Franciscans:
The Bishop’s Committee has appointed three Junior Wardens—Wink Cushman, Russell Dills and Marti Riley. Why so many? We have much to accomplish and many hands make light work. We also believe that it’s important to have a Jr. Warden who regularly attends each of our Sunday services, to answer your questions and take your feedback to the Committee.
Andrea Riseden-Perry has also been appointed as clerk of the Bishop’s Committee.
Please note, anyone can send an email to all members of the Bishop’s Committee at the same time by addressing it to bishopscommittee@stfrancismillcreek.org.
The Steering Committee meets tomorrow, Monday, June 9, at the Church. The Steering Committee will be re-chartered by the Bishop’s Committee as our Transition Team, to report directly to the Bishop’s Committee and to aid with the task of arranging a transitional home for our congregation. Others interested in serving on the Transition Team can contact Shelby at sbrambach@stfrancismillcreek.org.
The next Bishop's Committee meeting is schedule for this Wednesday, June 11. If you would like to address the Committee, or have an item for the agenda, please contact Shelby no later than Tuesday, June 10 at noon.
***********State of the Mission Update***********
At both the 8AM and 10AM services today, Russell Dills shared a PowerPoint presentation regarding the financial situation of the mission and outlining what our immediate next steps are.
In summary:
Our Bishop’s Committee’s goals are:
- Keep this congregation together
- Preserve pastoral care
- Work toward our redevelopment
Based on our financial reality, there is really only one feasible option at this time:
- If we are to continue as a congregation, we must vacate our current property. This will allow the Diocese to temporarily relieve our financial obligations (mortgage and assessment).
- The resulting reduction in overhead will allow us to maximize our remaining financial resources, potentially into 2011, as long as we receive pledges at the same rate.
- Your pledges will still be needed during the interim time, in order to allow us to rent a space for services, pay for pastoral care (supply priest) and store our inventory until we have a new facility.
We must move quickly to divert our outlay from maintaining our current property to reaching our future redevelopment goal.
While Bishop Rickel and the various Diocesan bodies to whom he is accountable have the final say, our Bishop’s Committee are confident that we are moving in a shared vision with the Diocese and look forward to working together to rebuild the wonderful, loving community that is St. Francis.
Our Bishop’s Committee will be asking everyone for help in this process—there will be opportunities for everyone to serve, and we hope you will.
You will have a voice! Please plan to be at services next Sunday, June 15, to complete a survey regarding our interim meeting options. The survey will also be available online.
If you have questions, please let us know. Email addresses for all BC members are in the sidebar to the right.
In Christ,
Andrea Riseden-Perry
Bishop's Committee Clerk