Rector’s Update: The RCDF/P
Dear Restoration,
“Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of His salvation from day to day.
Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all peoples!” (Psalm 96:2-3)
As a church, we are motivated by the beautiful pictures in Scripture of all God’s people, from every nation, tribe, people, and nation, worshiping Him while standing before His throne. The diversity of ‘all peoples’ manifests the glory of our Creator and His power to redeem as we become one in Christ.
I shared on our 12th birthday (November 22nd) that over a dozen men and women have followed a call to ordained ministry while at Restoration. They start with a team of church members to discern how God is leading them. Then they are affirmed by our vestry as they come under care of our bishop. Most have jumped into multi-year seminary programs before being ordained by our bishop. It is a great privilege to be a part of that process and a great gift to the broader church to send men and women out to lead, preach, and serve.
Last summer, we created the Restoration Clergy Development Fund and Program (RCDF/P). The purpose of the RCDF/P is to develop men and women of all ethnic backgrounds for ordained ministry ‘among all peoples.’ We are deliberately inviting women and people of color to participate in this program. We know that the presence of women and people of color as ordained clergy is critical for the church to ‘declare His glory’ among all peoples. We hope that the Restoration Clergy Development Fund and Program will be a resource that God uses to raise up excellent clergy, especially clergy who are women and people of color.
Over the next three weeks, we are raising funds for our next program year. The program costs about $75,000 annually per participant, starts in late summer and runs for about 12 months. Because of your generous gifts during our first fund raise last July, we already have $40,000 for the 2022-2023 program year. We would like to have enough in this raise for one or possibly two participants in the coming year.
I know that many people at Restoration share my desire to develop more Anglican clergy and specifically more clergy who are women or people of color. If you would like to give to the Restoration Clergy Development Fund, which resources our clergy development program, you can do so between now and March 1. Please log in to Restoration’s giving portal and choose ‘Restoration Clergy Development Fund’ from the drop-down menu. We intend to close this fund raise on March 2. If you have questions about giving to this designated fund, please reach out to our executive director, Kat Downs.
If you know of someone who might be interested in our clergy development program, please send them this link and invite them to send an email to Rev. Beth Tipps who directs the program. We are open to talking to anyone who is in the process of preparing for ordained ministry.
I recognize that over the past few weeks, Restoration has given you several opportunities to give. Thank you for the generous welcome you gave to ‘family #63’ from Afghanistan last weekend. Your time, furniture, and financial resources were an extraordinary outpouring of God’s love. Thank you for giving to the day to day operations of our church as we create environments for children, youth, and adults to worship, pray, sing, and study the Scriptures. And thank you for considering this opportunity to keep being a church that raises up new leaders for the church.
For the Lord comes, “splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary…
Say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns!'” (Psalm 96)
-David
