Annual Meeting Sunday, February 4 2023

9am Coffee and Treats available in the Parish Hall

10am Worship and Annual Meeting in the Church

Zoom and In-Person

NO 8am Zoom Morning Prayer on February 4

What is the Annual Meeting?

The Episcopal Church has a system of governance that includes representation of laity (lay people) and clergy at every level. The Episcopal Church (110 dioceses from the US and a few other countries, outlying territories and one in Europe) gathers every 3 years at The General Convention (next up, Louisville, KY in June 2024). The Episcopal Diocese of Colorado gathers annually with clergy and lay representatives of every congregation (about 100) at Diocesan Convention. And each congregation has a governing board, or Vestry, of lay and clergy members, elected from the Annual Meeting.

The first American Book of Common Prayer was printed in 1789, the same year the the US Constitution, and the Constitution of The Episcopal Church were ratified, both in Philadelphia. There are similarities to both in how our representative government works--lay and clergy people make decisions together.

The Annual Meeting of St. Aidan's is part of that. At every Annual Meeting, some lay people are elected to serve on the Vestry for 3-year terms. The Vestry oversees parish finances and takes care of property, also advising the clergy and navigating through issues that are important to our common and baptismal life. Members of the Vestry are people who are committed to helping St. Aidan's fulfill God's mission through our congregation in all seasons.

The Vestry is: the Rector, the Senior Warden (primary lay leader who assists the Rector), the Junior Warden (lay leader who handles mostly day to day property issues), and six to nine members. Members of the Vestry are communicants in good standing, over 18, who contribute regularly to the life and ministry of the congregation. Vestry Members are elected to three year terms.

St. Aidan's Vestry meets monthly, more or less, most often by Zoom, and in-person from time to time. An Annual Vestry Retreat (usually an overnight or a Saturday meeting) supports the day-to-day work of the Vestry. The Vestry appoints other Officers ( such as a Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer(s) and a Clerk). Meetings are open and minutes are posted in the Parish Hall. We pray together, and take some time to listen to Holy Scripture and each other to make the best decisions for our congregation. It is good, beautiful work, and we laugh and care for each other too.

Our current Vestry members are: Paul Voakes, Senior Warden; Tom Sturm, Junior Warden; Kim Keffeler, Clerk; Matthew Stolte, Jennie Garcia, Carina Julig, Mary Martin, Bev Robinson, and Melanie Sokhey, Members. At the Annual Meeting we need to elect 1 person to fulfill the term (through 2025) of Carina Julig, who has moved to Santa Fe, and 1-2 new members. The term of Mary Martin is ending in 2024, and she is available to be elected to a second term.

If you feel called to serve on the Vestry, or if you know someone who you believe would be a leader for our congregation, please contact Paul Voakes, or M. Mary Kate- Rejouis, or any current member of the Vestry (talk to them at church, and soon!).

Please consider giving yourself in this way--and read below from two Vestry members some reflections on Vestry leadership and the life of faith together.

The deadline to be a candidate for Vestry is January 25, 2024 for publication of information in our Annual Meeting Agenda. Nominations from the floor of Annual Meeting are permitted.

All members* are encouraged to attend the Annual Meeting on February 4 and take your part in way of being church in the world.

If you're curious and you'd like to read ALL about Vestries, you can find The Episcopal Church Constitutions and Canons and the Diocesan Canons here, and also St. Aidan's Articles of Incorporation (2016) and our Bylaws (2014) here.

Vestry Member Mary Martin

My husband and I have always been active participants in church leadership, no matter where we lived. Our son was one of the first youth to join church leadership as a youth representative.

Saint Aidan's is no exception.

With all the programming available during the early Covid times, I got involved on several different levels. I had lost my mom right before the pandemic, and lost my mother-in-law 6 weeks prior to that. Scott and I both lost our jobs due to the pandemic. Like many others, we were reeling.

Mother Mary Kate was instrumental in helping me feel welcome, needed, and valued. Mother Kay's grief group, along with Bal Patterson's job-finding group were beyond helpful. Shortly after the job-finding group ended, I felt a call to join the Vestry.

Not only was this a call to serve, but it was also an opportunity to be a part of the future of the parish, an opportunity to work alongside the rector and the entire Vestry, to understand how things work, and to really make a difference...both for now and for the future.

With all the exciting things happening with the future of Saint Aidan's, now is the perfect time to join the Vestry and make a difference for the next 75 years and beyond.

Vestry Member Carina Julig

When I joined the vestry in February of 2022, St. Aidan's was going through a challenging time. Like churches across the nation, we were still struggling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had completely changed the way we were able to worship and come together as a community for over a year. It would have been easy to focus on staying the course and nothing else. But instead, that year we began a congregation-wide process of discerning how we can make the wisest use of our resources to ensure the long term future of our church and the ministries that are important to us.

The past two years have not always been smooth, but we have made tremendous progress along that path. The departure of Pastor Zach after one of Bread + Belonging's most successful years ever came as a shock to many, but it has been a blessing to see how many people have rallied to keep the ministry going as St. Aidan's and the Lutheran Campus Ministry board work together to find a new leader. More than ever, I am convinced that we are stronger when we work together with other churches. Having a worship service with all the other Episcopal churches in Boulder County at the Boulder Reservoir over Independence Day weekend was another lovely reminder of that fact.

I have been participating in Vestry and the LCM board remotely since this summer, when I moved to Santa Fe for a new opportunity covering city government for the Santa Fe New Mexican. For my work, I recently wrote about a Lutheran church that is applying to host Santa Fe's first-ever Pallet home village for people working to exit homelessness. The congregation had shrunk to such a small size it was considering closing its doors, but at its annual meeting last year decided it was still needed in the community. The pastor described it as "the little mouse that roared," which I believe would be the perfect way to describe St. Aidan's as well. Our mission of sharing the good news of Jesus, and our work serving the vulnerable in Boulder County and beyond, is as needed as it has ever been. I have been so blessed to be a member of this congregation for seven years, and with God's grace I know we can continue to be good stewards of the gifts that have been entrusted to us.

* From the St. Aidan's Bylaws 2014, Article II Membership: "All persons who have received the Sacrament of Holy Baptism with water in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, whether in this Church or in another Christian Church, and whose Baptism has been duly recorded in this Church, is a member thereof. No member shall be qualified to vote at any meeting of the Church unless that member is an adult communicant of this Church in good standing, in accordance with the National Canons of the Episcopal Church and as shown by the Parish Register, and is a regular contributor. The Rector and Wardens shall be the sole judge of such qualification."

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