|
This Week at St Timothy's | Oct. 25, 2016
|
|
Stories of Stewardship |Katie Bryant &
The Overflow Shelter
|
|
Stewardship is about ordering our lives. We decide what we hold as important, holy, if you will, and invest in exactly that. We make the best use of the resources we have and watch as God can make our offerings even more.
St.Timothy's began an incredible exercise in stewardship when we opened an Overflow Shelter in Drake Hall almost 3 years ago in February 2014. Looking back, I am still amazed that it happened at all. There weren't years of research, planning, and budgeting that opened our doors--it was an immediate need to house our city's most vulnerable people. A space was needed for another Overflow Shelter--the two downtown shelters were literally overflowing with guests--and St.Tim's had space to share. Our church responded by offering the resources we had--mainly our nice, warm Drake Hall and a handful of volunteers ready to make it happen--our God's hand in it to make it holy. The same space that hosted our parish family meals, formation events, children's Christmas programs, and wedding and anniversary receptions was all of a sudden transformed into a bedroom each night for 20+ tired and weary souls. Drake Hall was given new life--touching (and literally saving) many more lives each night than ever before.
Beginning this
December 1st, St.Tim's will begin another season of opening our doors to our homeless guests each night. We have lived into being good stewards of our space, but stewardship in the shelter doesn't stop with our use of Drake Hall. As a parish, we have re-ordered our lives in many ways to welcome in our guests each night. You all have joined in as we direct much of our resources and energies toward holy hospitality each winter. From donated supplies, lovingly knit scarves, home-cooked meals, heart-felt cards from children, to your own sleepless nights so that our guests may rest--you all have found ways to offer what is yours to welcome in our guests night after night. Each year our volunteer numbers grow exponentially--as you share your stories and experiences with others and they too want to see how they can fit into this piece of the kingdom. The costs of running an overflow shelter are great--from the many volunteers who give their time and energy to make the shelter run smoothly, to the energy costs of keeping Drake Hall warm and safe for our guests and volunteers each night. We offer our whole winter, our space, our hearts, and our resources to a ministry of holy hospitality in the name of Jesus Christ. And each and every night, an amazing thing happens as we are all--church folks and homeless guests alike--forever changed, transformed, by the grace of God through Jesus Christ.
St.Timothy's has a three-fold mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ through Adoration, Formation, and Transformation. My primary role on staff at St.Timothy's is to help shape the "transformation" piece of our life together as church. I could have spent money on a life-changing book study, taken you across the globe to serve God's people there, or hosted a missions fair to help you find a way to serve in the community--all could have been transformative indeed--but God had other plans for us and sent us a shelter full of weary souls to care for and love. Thanks be to God!
A Response from Chris Ervin, Ministry Administrator
Katie has eloquently described the stewardship of our space, time and talent in operating an evening home for those who do not have one in the coldest months. There are things that she did not say that I want to say; that I must say. Without Katie, there would be no overflow shelter at St. Timothy's. She was the driving force behind opening the doors and continues to be one of the primary reasons that the doors stay open. She works tirelessly on behalf of St. Timothy's shelter and others through things such as attending meetings and writing grants.
Katie represents the staffing model that St. Timothy's has adopted with great success. We invest in people, not programs. When you have great people, great programs follow. Due to our church's investment in Katie, we have outstanding Godly Play and children's formation and a shelter that protects our most at risk neighbors from the cold.
This does not end with Katie. Our youth program is in excellent shape due to the efforts of John Roberts and the continuing efforts of Katie Harper. The youth are taking an interest in their own formation and asking questions to discern what it means to be a servant of Christ. The music program at St. Timothy's is one of the best in the region. This is due to our decision to invest in Christin Barnhardt, Robert Matthews, Raymond Hawkins and professional musicians to elevate our adoration of almighty God. All of this shows that the decision to invest in people not programs has born fruit. St. Timothy's is a vibrant parish due in large part to the efforts of our program staff.
Outside of the program staff, John Rak allows us to be better stewards of the contributions the church receives. He is able to do a multitude of things for us, from repairs to construction, due to his work history in skilled trades.
All of this gets us to the point of stewardship our financial resources. Our faithful stewardship allows us to have gifted people to lead us in our efforts to live the life God intends for us. Give as God has asked us to give; joyfully and sacrificially. This will allow us to sustain our Adoration of God, our Formation as Christians and Transformation of our lives in Christ our Lord.
|
|
Faith & Health | Agnes Barry to speak on suffering
|
Wednesday evening at 6pm in ECW Hall, Agnes Barry will begin the St Timothy's Faith & Health Series by speaking on suffering.
_______________________________________
Agnes Barry is a Board Certified Chaplain (Association of Professional Chaplains) and a former Clinical Pastoral Education Supervisor (Association for Clinical Pastoral Education. From 1973 to 2000, Agnes both trained and then taught Pastoral Care to seminarians, priests, and pastors of all denominations at the University of Virginia Medical Center (Charlottesville, VA) and Carolina's Medical Center (Charlotte, NC). In 1999, she was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education. In 2000, she was elected Regional Director for the Association’s Mid-Atlantic Region, a position she held until 2006. Agnes was born in Brooklyn NY. She completed her undergraduate degree at Notre Dame College in Baltimore, MD. Agnes received the Master of Arts Degree (Education) from Fairfield University in Fairfield University in Fairfield CT and an STM degree in Pastoral Ministry from New York Theological Seminary in New York City. While she served at Carolinas Medical Center, Agnes served on the Ethics Committee and was privileged to hear Eric J. Cassell, MD, speak on suffering, particularly in the experience of cancer patients. His understanding and research on this topic led Agnes to develop her own approach to the mystery of suffering in care of cancer patients and in the way suffering has impact in the ministry of pastors.
|
|
|
|
To submit names of the faithful departed to be placed on the bier, please click
here.
|
|
The Abraham Project - Becky Johnston, Program Director
|
Good morning from TAP!
Thanks, again, for continuing to support our interns in the role that play in St. Timothy's. I had a conversation with someone this past weekend who said "We've been meaning to have them over for dinner, but it just hasn't happened yet." Good news! It's not too late. In their first few weeks, all three were inundated (in a good way!) with so many offers of meals and hospitality. You invited them over, you welcomed them in, you made them a part of your Grace Dinner meal. THANK YOU for that. Know that they are appreciative of each gesture. And still want to include them? Invite away.
An easy way to reach them outside of church is through their email:
Maybe you'd like to bless them with a gift card? I can tell you they enjoy their local restaurant and coffee shop- Cafe Arthurs and Ardmore Coffee are within walking distance and they enjoy going as they are able. They also do most of their grocery shopping at Food Lion, Walmart, and Trader Joe's. If you plan to bring them food, there are no food allergies, but one housemate is a vegetarian.
As always, if you have specific questions or would like to get further connected to our interns, feel free to get in touch with me.
becky@theabrahamproject.net
|
|
What: Halloween Trunk-or-Treat
When:
Sunday, Oct.30
Time:
5-6:30pm
Where: Upper Drake Parking Lot
Who: St.Timothy's folks, neighbors, and friends!
What is Trunk-or-Treat?
Trunk-or-Treat is an event where people can hand out Halloween treats from the trunks of their cars. It's a safe alternative to going door-to-door.
Who is handing out candy?
You are! All St.Timothy's people are invited to bring their cars and chairs and hand out treats at your trunks. We can't know exactly how many kids will come--but plan for at least 75 kids.
Is there a contest this year?
Yes! Awards will be given for the best trunks! Be as creative as you like! You can decorate your cars, wear costumes, play spooky music, have games, and more!
Where do we park?
If you are handing out candy, park in the upper Drake parking lot. Plan to be parked before
4:45pm
and please stay until
6:35pm
for the safety of our kids. If you are just coming to enjoy the festivities, please park near Gribbin Hall.
What if it rains?
Bring your treats into Drake Hall to hand out, and we'll have a Monster Mash & costume parade.
|
|
Did you know that St Timothy’s has seventeen choristers?! They rehearse Mondays and Wednesdays and sing in mass 1-2 Sunday mornings a month and for monthly Evensong.
With this many choristers, we needed to purchase more music stands for rehearsals and neck ruffs to wear with our vestments.
For $100, you may support one of our choristers by providing a music stand and a neck ruff.
In addition to our choristers, twenty-three other children and youth rehearse Wednesday evenings to sing in mass once a month. They bring a lot of life to mass when they sing and truly help lead the hymn-singing and service music.
For $50, you may support a singer by helping provide a new anthem for them to sing.
St Timothy’s also has some professional musicians, our choral scholars, who help lead our liturgies on Sunday mornings and evening masses. They are an integral part of helping us learn the amount and quality of music required by our liturgies, and they help our faithful volunteer singers learn music quickly.
For $250, you may help support a choral scholar so we can continue offering music at the highest level possible.
If you would like to support one of our many singers (and do so in memory or honor of someone), please indicate “Music Ministry: support a singer” in your check memo, online, or on the giving kiosk.
|
|
Join us as we prepare to host our homeless friends for the winter! The dry run offers logistical training for volunteers (all roles) and a good refresher for veteran volunteers. Dinner will be provided.
St. Timothy's youth will simulate our "guests" and volunteers will have the opportunity to walk through a typical night in the shelter as a volunteer.
The shelter is both life-changing and life-giving and an opportunity to follow Jesus beyond our comfort zones and into something holy and good.
Come and see!
Ready to Volunteer? Overflow Shelter Sign-Ups are Live
The fall is flying by, and our overflow shelter opens in only 36 days! Each year we have partnered with different congregations to fill our spots, and our super group churches take a night and are fully responsible for it. Those are: Highland Presbyterian on Mondays, Knollwood Baptist on Thursdays, and Ardmore Baptist on Fridays. Please sign up for days OTHER than the ones designated for those groups; that is Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Sign ups for the shelter are live - click
here to pick your dates! If you have any questions, contact Katie Harper at
katie.harper@sttimothys.ws.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|