Wardens Report: January 2017

The Wardens’ Report: a brief summary of highlights from monthly Vestry meetings, designed to provide information about our growth, finances, priorities and progress towards our strategic plan.

The new Vestry gathered on Tuesday for our first official meeting of 2017.  Each month we aim to begin with prayer at the rail, submitting ourselves to God in humility and with thanksgiving.  This month we gave thanks for the good work in our church, including our church planting initiatives, RILA, Restoration staff and various ministries, and remembering our team traveling in Cambodia. 

Following our Vestry orientation earlier this month, we continued to acclimate new members Chris Belen, Sean Burke, Leigh McAfee and Susie Wallin, and voted in our new officers.  Dietrich Kuhlmann and Hannah Royal will serve as Wardens, Sean Burke as Secretary, and Meredith Lloyd as Treasurer.  In addition, we worked to finalize advisory team and Vestry liaisons to those teams.  We continue to be grateful for members of our church who spend time each month thinking and praying about our facility, our finances, our outreach initiatives, our church planting vision, and our personnel and human resources. 

We considered a grant request from the Outreach Steering Team for RiLA (Restoration Immigration Legal Aid) as they work to expand their ministry of providing legal services to our immigrant neighbors.  We also considered an ordination report.  As stated in previous Wardens’ Reports, one of the roles of Vestry is to recommend members of our congregation seeking ordination to the Ordination Committee of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.  We are grateful for the individuals seeking care and guidance under our Bishop and for the discernment teams who are praying alongside our postulants. 

We were pleased to receive our first Financial Report from our new Treasurer.  While average Sunday attendance in December remained flat from the previous year (508), our giving was significantly higher than last year and around 106% of year to date budget.  We are thankful for your generosity as we continue to think about how to steward our resources for God’s glory.

On February 3rd and 4th we will gather for our annual Vestry retreat and would welcome your prayers as we continue our conversation about church planting.  We anticipate discussing the feedback that we receive from you through the sermon series and the upcoming discussion during our services on Sunday.  We hope you have had a chance to read the Church Plant Strategy document that was distributed via CCB and provide your feedback through the survey that was linked in that email.

As always, if you have questions, concerns, words of wisdom or encouragement, please know that we are open to your feedback on all aspects of life together on Quincy Street.

You can read an archive of past Wardens’ Reports on our website or Vestry Meeting minutes on CCB, under the ‘Files’ tab in the ‘Entire Church Group’

-Dietrich Kuhlmann and Hannah Royal, Wardens