Dear Parishioners and Friends of the Chapel of St. John the Divine,
I write to you to thank you for your hard work and financial commitment to securing the future of St. John’s. A year-and-a-half ago, the Chapel was in danger of financial collapse. Today, we can say the Chapel is financially viable. This is due in large part to the heroic efforts of the Save the Chapel Committee: Betsy Ray, Empie Davis, Linda Rockwell, Annie O’Neil, and Maggie Kemp, and all the people who rallied around them in support of our cause: keeping St. John’s a self-sustaining parish in the Episcopal Diocese of RI, and preserving this sacred space in the neighborhood of Saunderstown Village. This energetic quintet, with support from the Vestry and members of the parish, raised a substantial amount of money from private donors, put on two successful and delightful garden parties, oversaw the conversion of the church rectory building from office and classroom space to an income-generating rental residence, created a workable office for church administration in a small space between the chapel and the parish hall, and enlivened a fundraising program of engraving bricks for the church’s garden walkway.
There is new life in the Chapel! Our outreach activities, particularly the Soup Troopers (thanks, Ken Cahill) and Food Pantry operations (thanks, Empie Davis), continue unabated. And with the help of our youth and their parents, we even took on a few new projects this year, collecting donations for the Jonnycake Center and raising funds to support earthquake victims in Haiti. Our Sunday hospitality has been great under the leadership of Jen Rake. We have a dedicated pastoral care team of laypeople (Julianne Hanavan, Jaye Cunningham). Jean Bowerman and Locke Webster are helping us confront our deferred maintenance issues. St. John’s continues to have a dedicated choir and great music Sunday mornings under the inspired direction of Judy Stickney. Our Sunday School attracted several new families this past year (thanks, Gigi and Olivia Edwards, and others). Six teens and two adults were confirmed in May; two adults were received. Their pre-confirmation enquirers’ classes attracted several other teens and adults, some of whom intend to be confirmed in the near future; others were already confirmed but simply wanted to join the discussion. (Thank you, Hays Rockwell, Gigi Edwards, and Narragansett Deanery clergy.) Many others have contributed in large and small ways to the sense of new life in the parish.
During the past year-and-a-half, parishioners have stepped up their volunteer service to do jobs at the church that were formerly performed by paid staff. We are sad to see the departure of Lori Jackson, whose other job has placed increasing demands on her, but the office is in the capable hands of Pat Williams, who is working eight hours per week. Previously we paid an administrator for twenty hours. Thanks, Kathy O’Neel-Webster, for coordinating these volunteer efforts.
We have thrived learning to follow the Spirit, relying on clergy only for services on Sunday mornings. We are in a very different, much more positive place from where we were two years ago. We have learned that the church is us, much more than the building.
And it is important to note that through our difficult times, there has been no interruption of the financial support that we are obligated to give to the Episcopal Diocese of RI, and we did not engage in any deficit spending. Through our careful spending (budgets with surpluses this year and in 2009) and the outstanding Save the Chapel fundraising efforts, we are working our way towards meeting the Diocesan financial requirements to engage in a search for a half-time rector. We are just a few thousand dollars short of that requirement at the time of this writing.
Therefore, it is now the Vestry’s intention to move ahead to complete our parish profile (the document that lets candidates for rector know who we are). With your help, and with the help of the Diocesan Congregational Development Office and the national Congregational Deployment Office, we hope by early next year to be in a position to search for and call a half-time rector to join us on our spiritual journey here in Saunderstown.
In the next few weeks, a survey will be distributed asking your thoughts and feelings about St. John’s. It is critically important that every member answer this survey prayerfully and thoughtfully, and we would be most grateful for input from all friends of St. John’s. The usual return percentage for these surveys is 30% but we are working to make that 100% at St. John’s.
We hope to see all of you at the Ice Cream Social on Wednesday, July 7, and at the Church Fair, Saturday, August 7! And please join us for worship Sunday mornings. We have an outstanding roster of clergy visiting us this summer.
I am full of gratitude for St. John’s and for all of the wonderful efforts towards preserving and growing God’s place in Saunderstown!
Thank you!
Yours in Christ,
John P. Edwards
Senior Warden
