2022 Stewardship Campaign

2022 Stewardship Letter

October 25, 2021 Dear Church of the Holy Spirit,

Along with beautiful fall colors, and crisp cool air come... yes, Stewardship Time. Webster’s defines “to steward” as “being responsible for the care of money, time, and talents of a community or group.” In our case, stewardship is to care for our church – not just the building, for as the song says, “We Are The Church.” One outward sign of this was the recent parish workday, when a dedicated group gathered and tended our piece of God’s creation. A smaller group, lovingly, privately and regularly, tend the Memorial Garden. Others care for and provide encouragement to the sick or those in need in our community. This care extends beyond the church family with support for Neighbors in Need, immigrant families through our La Esperanza Ministry, the Church of the Advocate and many others of our Outreach ministries. Prayer, in its mysterious way, cares for God’s creatures and creation, both human and those in the natural world . At ECHS, this happens in structured and unstructured ways, privately and in community: in Evening Prayer service, Centering Prayer group, through Prayer Chain and at our Sunday services, to name a few. As members of the Holy Spirit community, we have many opportunities to be led into these ways of following Christ. Among those are inspiring Sunday messages, as well as other services, and the awareness of and invites to various opportunities for following a Christian walk. Our Senior Warden and all the vestry serve as faithful guides in making decisions for how we as a church community can best follow Christ’s lead. If we excelled at being hermits, like the desert mothers and fathers of old, we might not need a priest, a vestry or a church home. However, most of us want and value this community. For that reason, we gratefully return a portion of our gifts of time, talent and treasure that God has bestowed upon us, to enable this part of the God’s “Blessed Community” to function. Amazingly, and some might say miraculously, with a year and a half of COVID trials, our community has remained strong. Please prayerfully consider how God is leading you to share your gifts of time, talent and treasure through the life and ministry of the Church of the Holy Spirit. Enclosed are the 2022 ECHS ministry commitment forms. Please complete and return both the yellow “2022 Volunteer Ministries Form” and the green “2022 Financial Pledge Form” before Wednesday, November 17th. These forms, as well as a description of all the ECHS volunteer ministries and a proposed 2022 budget, may be found on the ECHS webpage and also in an email sent from Martie on October 25, 2021. If you would like more information, or wish to discuss your gifts, please contact any member of the Stewardship committee or any Vestry member. Lord, help us through our gifts, “to seek and serve Christ in all persons, ….and strive for justice and peace among all people” (from the Baptismal Covenant, BCP, pgs. 304-5). With gratitude, 2021 ECHS Stewardship Team: Jim Haaga, Peggy Barnes, Colleen Boll, Carolyn Homra, Carol Jablonski, Ty Jones, David McNair, Kathleen Phillips, Bill Sewell (Treasurer)

2022 Financial Pledge Form

2022 Volunteer Ministries Sign Up Form

2020 Ministries Descriptions

Proposed 2022 Budget (as of October 18, 2021)