We are inviting everyone who worships at St. Mark's to enjoy a time of growth and renewal with others in a small group that will meet four times in Lent and four times again in Easter. We are calling these Growth Groups because they will give us a way to grow in faith, grow in friendship, and grow as stewards of all God's gifts. The groups will meet weekly, starting in mid-February, with a two-week break around Holy Week and Easter. Like the Faith Journey groups that many of you remember, Growth Groups will provide a similar opportunity to hear each other's stories, explore questions of faith, build relationships, hear scripture together, and listen for God's call.

 

To sign up for a Growth Group, please click on this link and choose the day and time that works for you:   www.SignUpGenius.com/go/30E0E48ADAC22A5FC1-stmarks 

Last week's installment of Stewardship 103 (click here ) described the case for sustaining the current mission of St. Mark's into the 2016-2017 fiscal year.  This week's describes the case for growing the mission as envisioned in our congregational strategic plan (click here ).   Three specific areas of growth are proposed.

First , the Church Council is proposing that we place special emphasis in 2016-17 on Congregational Care, especially as it is explained this section of the plan:

We reach out to one another with words and deeds of love.

• We encourage each person to extend care to those in need, and to receive care during time of need.
• We nurture a congregational culture of loving care by providing both formal and informal opportunities to connect to each other in times of sorrow and in times of celebration.
• We commit to being a public presence in our community in order to share the love and justice of God with all people.

The Council's vision for ministry going forward is to meet the need for more pastoral care for our members and for pastoral leadership in the overall ministry area of Congregational Care. In 1988, St. Mark's averaged 150 in worship and the pastoral staff consisted of two full-time pastors and one part-time visitation pastor. In 2016 to date, we are averaging about 400 people in worship, and we have a smaller pastoral staff.  At the present, Pastor Shjerven is at three-quarters time. The plan is to restore her position to full-time. In addition, the Church Council would like to expand our ministry with young adults. We are blessed with a large number of people in their twenties and early thirties at St. Mark's, and we want to build on the good energy that we currently see in the monthly and quarterly gatherings. Programmatically, we want to add money to the budget for this effort.

Second , looking beyond Congregational Care, the Council also envisions an increase in our support to the local Food Bank and to reach out in any way that we can to the refugees who are being settled in our community. This has been our practice in the past, when our congregation supported refugees coming from Southeast Asia and Africa, and we want to be there for the ones who are coming to us now. That is all part of being a "public presence in our community in order to share the love and justice of God with all people."

Thir d, the Council is in consensus that we need to start building up a healthy reserve for "deferred maintenance" of our facilities, which are used heavily by groups every day of the week. In keeping with our commitment to link facilities with ministry when the major expansion occurred in 2008, we have developed a twenty-year plan that identifies what will be needed each year to keep all our facilities in excellent condition.

We estimate that we will need to eventually set aside approximately $50,000 per year for this important work, and we want to get to that goal within the next three years ($17,000 in 2016-2017, $34,000 in 2017-2018, and $50,000 in 2018-2019).  Overall, these increases in support for congregational care, outreach, and upkeep of facilities requires a 5-6% increase in offering income in the next fiscal year, and the Church Council asks  all members of the congregation to take this into consideration when we make our Plans for Giving.

Next week look for information on the Plans for Giving materials.

St. Mark's Preschool is accepting registration packets for the 2016-2017 school year. Classes are available for children ages 2.5-6 years old.  To get more information and/or a registration packet, visit the preschool's website, www.smlutheran.org/preschool or contact Anne Zimmerman (253) 752-4929 M-F 8:30-2:00.

Ushers, Communion Assistants, Lectors--for all services!

Lutheran World Relief is looking for both soap and baby socks for their layette kits.  For more information please contact Randi Holland at [email protected] or by calling (253) 905-5693.