Sept. 2012
An Update from the Council:
Dear Friends,
Greetings from your church council! Many exciting things are happening here at Our Saviour’s after a difficult period of the last year or so of change. Declining attendance and membership, disagreements about the future of Our Saviour’s as a congregation and the future of the building itself have clouded our true purpose and divided our attention from our calling, that is to be disciples of Christ, and minister to the needs of our community. I believe that we have finally reached the end our proverbial rope! Good thing too, because otherwise, we never would have given up trying to figure it out, and finally hand it back to God. At council we have called out in prayer, like lost lambs, panicked. Now that we are still enough to hear the answer, we see that God does have a plan for us, we just need to be brave in our faith and accept that God likes to do things a little differently now and again.
At our last congregational meeting in February, a motion was passed to investigate new opportunities with our building, including the sale of it. We haven’t needed to sell yet, and have reached out into the community with prayer. Our prayers have been answered with new friends in the Holy Community Covenant Church, a young, Christian group that has many members in the West End. They have been enjoying the use of the building, and we would like to continue this partnership. Of course, the Oromo Fellowship continues to enjoy the use of the building as does the Narcotics Anonymous, the math group, our Scouting group and occasional others. We have also had requests for the use of the building from other spiritually based groups that we would like to accommodate.
Recognizing that we can not continue on as before, (due to financial reasons and Pastor Nancy’s impending retirement) we have looked at other models, and believe that the best use of our building is to extend an invitation to the major stakeholders and create a Management board for the maintenance of the building, thus freeing us up to do the work we are meant to, the work we have been charged with - sharing the Good News and ministering to ourselves and our neigbours. Council has come to a vision for the use of our building, that is, we would like to open it up to create a spiritual community centre, with a variety of users and uses. We believe that we can honour the gift of this building by offering it as a physical space for a larger faith community that nurtures all of our spiritual growth. This is still in the planning stages, and more news will be forthcoming. However, the idea being that Our Saviour’s as a congregation would still hold title to the building, but that the day to day upkeep, rental and maintenance would be handled by that board. We will no longer have the sole run of the building, but God has challenged us to open it all up, and share with those sent to us by God, for the good of us all. To that end, we are also going to be clearing out the “pastor’s office” to make it a quiet, rentable space.
Admittedly this exciting new life for our building does come with change and will require a readjustment in the way we think about the building and our place in it. However, I know in my heart we are following God’s will in this situation as best we can, so friends, lets all take this leap of faith that we’ve been called to.
In Love, Peace and Hope,
Erin Grexton Seigmiller
Greetings from your church council! Many exciting things are happening here at Our Saviour’s after a difficult period of the last year or so of change. Declining attendance and membership, disagreements about the future of Our Saviour’s as a congregation and the future of the building itself have clouded our true purpose and divided our attention from our calling, that is to be disciples of Christ, and minister to the needs of our community. I believe that we have finally reached the end our proverbial rope! Good thing too, because otherwise, we never would have given up trying to figure it out, and finally hand it back to God. At council we have called out in prayer, like lost lambs, panicked. Now that we are still enough to hear the answer, we see that God does have a plan for us, we just need to be brave in our faith and accept that God likes to do things a little differently now and again.
At our last congregational meeting in February, a motion was passed to investigate new opportunities with our building, including the sale of it. We haven’t needed to sell yet, and have reached out into the community with prayer. Our prayers have been answered with new friends in the Holy Community Covenant Church, a young, Christian group that has many members in the West End. They have been enjoying the use of the building, and we would like to continue this partnership. Of course, the Oromo Fellowship continues to enjoy the use of the building as does the Narcotics Anonymous, the math group, our Scouting group and occasional others. We have also had requests for the use of the building from other spiritually based groups that we would like to accommodate.
Recognizing that we can not continue on as before, (due to financial reasons and Pastor Nancy’s impending retirement) we have looked at other models, and believe that the best use of our building is to extend an invitation to the major stakeholders and create a Management board for the maintenance of the building, thus freeing us up to do the work we are meant to, the work we have been charged with - sharing the Good News and ministering to ourselves and our neigbours. Council has come to a vision for the use of our building, that is, we would like to open it up to create a spiritual community centre, with a variety of users and uses. We believe that we can honour the gift of this building by offering it as a physical space for a larger faith community that nurtures all of our spiritual growth. This is still in the planning stages, and more news will be forthcoming. However, the idea being that Our Saviour’s as a congregation would still hold title to the building, but that the day to day upkeep, rental and maintenance would be handled by that board. We will no longer have the sole run of the building, but God has challenged us to open it all up, and share with those sent to us by God, for the good of us all. To that end, we are also going to be clearing out the “pastor’s office” to make it a quiet, rentable space.
Admittedly this exciting new life for our building does come with change and will require a readjustment in the way we think about the building and our place in it. However, I know in my heart we are following God’s will in this situation as best we can, so friends, lets all take this leap of faith that we’ve been called to.
In Love, Peace and Hope,
Erin Grexton Seigmiller
From Pastor Nancy
I have decided to retire in November. My contract is over then, and considering the health challenges I have struggled with lately, I am not interested in looking for another church.
Council has expressed satisfaction in my work here, however, and have asked if I would be willing to continue to provide worship leadership on a “pulpit supply” basis after I retire. This has become my spiritual home, and you are my church family, so I will be very glad to continue to worship with you.
However, there are very many things that a Pastor does besides preach. If Our Saviour's is going to continue as a twenty-first century church, we are going to have to change many of our notions about who does what in the church. The time of the full-time professional pastor is over. Healthy churches of the twenty-first century will resemble churches of the first century more than the twentieth. And back then, there was no professional clergy. Rather, different people in the congregation were given gifts by God for the work of ministry.
What gifts has God given you for ministry? And how can these gifts be developed, what training do you need, to take up your share of the work of Our Saviour's?
One important ministry of the church is visiting the sick and shut-ins. Do you like to visit people? Are you concerned about the people you know who don't get out to church any more? Would you be willing to spend about one or two hours a month in this important ministry? I would like to see several people take this on, and I will be pleased to provide training.
Another gift that God gives to the church is the gift of prayer. The church needs people who are willing to lead in corporate prayer. Would you like to learn to write the intercessory prayers that we say on Sundays? This is something that a person can do even if they can't get out to worship. Again, I would be pleased to work with you to train you for this ministry.
Do you like to study the Bible? Do you like to gather with others to discuss the meaning of scripture for our lives? There are very good study materials available which do not require a great deal of prior knowledge to lead. Perhaps God has given you the gifts to be a Bible Study leader.
It is fairly certain that Our Saviour's will never be able to support a professional pastor again. But that does not mean that we cannot have a vibrant spiritual community. How is God calling YOU to be a part of this?
Council has expressed satisfaction in my work here, however, and have asked if I would be willing to continue to provide worship leadership on a “pulpit supply” basis after I retire. This has become my spiritual home, and you are my church family, so I will be very glad to continue to worship with you.
However, there are very many things that a Pastor does besides preach. If Our Saviour's is going to continue as a twenty-first century church, we are going to have to change many of our notions about who does what in the church. The time of the full-time professional pastor is over. Healthy churches of the twenty-first century will resemble churches of the first century more than the twentieth. And back then, there was no professional clergy. Rather, different people in the congregation were given gifts by God for the work of ministry.
What gifts has God given you for ministry? And how can these gifts be developed, what training do you need, to take up your share of the work of Our Saviour's?
One important ministry of the church is visiting the sick and shut-ins. Do you like to visit people? Are you concerned about the people you know who don't get out to church any more? Would you be willing to spend about one or two hours a month in this important ministry? I would like to see several people take this on, and I will be pleased to provide training.
Another gift that God gives to the church is the gift of prayer. The church needs people who are willing to lead in corporate prayer. Would you like to learn to write the intercessory prayers that we say on Sundays? This is something that a person can do even if they can't get out to worship. Again, I would be pleased to work with you to train you for this ministry.
Do you like to study the Bible? Do you like to gather with others to discuss the meaning of scripture for our lives? There are very good study materials available which do not require a great deal of prior knowledge to lead. Perhaps God has given you the gifts to be a Bible Study leader.
It is fairly certain that Our Saviour's will never be able to support a professional pastor again. But that does not mean that we cannot have a vibrant spiritual community. How is God calling YOU to be a part of this?