Please click here to read The Rev. Morgan Allen’s sermon from October 21, 2012, This Neighborhood Needs Healing. You may also access an audio version by clicking here.

At The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, we believe that God will provide for the ministry to which God calls us. Moreover, we believe that God calls us to excellent ministry: not mediocre, or middling, or good enough, but a congregational life whose fullness reflects the abundance of our God. We recognize that such excellence costs more money and demands greater participation from our membership, and we do not shy away from our shared responsibility to work cooperatively toward these good ends.

For this year of 2012, we set specific goals for our parish family: increase our average pledge by 10%; increase our number of pledges by 10%; and grow our budget by 10%. Thanks be to God, our average pledge increased by 11%; the number of pledging households increased by 7%; and our pledged budget grew by 20%.

In response to this increased commitment, your parish leadership kept its word. During 2012 we hired an Associate Pastor for Youth; a Coordinator of Senior Ministry & Hospitality; a Coordinator of Communication & Design; a Director of Stewardship & Development; as well as additional administrative help. We believe God’s Spirit has been at work in assembling this amazing team of lay and ordained ministers to support you and the work of the Kingdom here at the corner of Windsor and Exposition.

We now need to move from the “storming” of all this change and growth, to the “forming” of a renewed foundation. With your continued commitment, we intend to stabilize our congregational leadership as we begin “performing.” That is, we now have the opportunity to enjoy the fruit of the commitments we sowed a year ago: a congregational life marked not only by more ministry, but by better ministry: excellence in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. From weekday worship to our upcoming Requiem Sunday on October 28; from middle schoolers’ JAM Session to “Successfully Senior;” from “Time Travelling with the Body of Christ,” our fantastic Sunday morning adult education class, to Joy & Wonder, our acclaimed new parish magazine; the Spirit of God is moving here at Good Shepherd.

Please join us on Sunday, November 11, when we will complete our parish-wide Stewardship season by inviting everyone to walk their pledge to the altar, asking God to bless the promises we have made. Between now and then, please enjoy the enclosed devotional book, and in the words of Sir Thomas More, I invite you to “pray for me, as I for thee.”

Godspeed,
The Rev. Morgan S. Allen,
Rector