Wardens’ Report: February 2019
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 Vestry gathered on Tuesday and began with prayer at the rail, submitting ourselves to God in humility and with thanksgiving. This month we gave thanks for God’s continued outpouring of grace and wisdom on David as he leads the good work in our church, including our church planting initiatives, RILA, Restoration staff and vital ministries.
We considered the recommendation from the Outreach Steering Team to designate the Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, and Easter Offerings for RILA (Restoration Immigration Legal Aid) as they work to expand their ministry of providing legal services to support refugees and asylum seekers in our community. Additionally, we considered RILA’s longer term needs and options to continue to grow and support this vital Resto “startup” that is meeting the needs of some of the most vulnerable among us. We also considered the report of our Vestry Retreat for sharing with the wider church.
We are blessed with an amazing staff who has worked diligently to adapt to the astounding growth in many areas of our walk here on Quincy Street. In response, we spent some time reviewing our financial status for the remainder of the current fiscal year as well as the possible flexibility next year to see if we could start hiring additional part time staff to support our children’s and operations’ ministries. We noted that average Sunday attendance in January (594) increased 10% over the previous year (540) and our giving, though slowing from December, remains higher than last year and around 102% of year to date budget. We continue to give thanks for your generosity as we consider how to best steward our resources for God’s glory.
Finally, the vestry received the great news of Liz’s calling to lead the effort at the South Arlington church plant and began to consider all the implications of this amazing gift from God. We hope you continue to take advantage of the opportunity to read the Church Plant Strategy document that was distributed via CCB. Additionally, church planting will be the main focus of the upcoming Parish Meeting (February 28) and we encourage everyone who wants to hear more to attend.
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’
– Hannah Royal and Dietrich Kuhlmann, Wardens