Dear saints,

Well, there was no ice cream on the walls and nobody left Ellis Hall hungry on Sunday morning. Sundae Survey Sunday was a grand success not only because the ice cream and their many and varied toppings were truly fantastic, but also because we now have surpassed our goal of survey responses totaling our average Sunday attendance, which apparently in the world of church surveys for rector searches and other such things is a gold standard. At the time of this writing we are at about 115% of our average Sunday attendance, so the response to this effort has been tremendous. If you haven't yet taken the survey then the good news is you still have until the end of the day to do so before we close the survey.

The past several weeks have been an incredible journey of parish engagement: town halls, free-form online reflections from parishioners, numerous home gatherings, hundreds of survey responses and ongoing one-on-one conversations across the life of this church. We have asked how you feel God calls us forward to be the church in this place into the future and you have offered a whole-hearted and incredibly thoughtful and faithful response. Thank you.

The Future of Our Block steering committee, assisted by Houser Walker, who have facilitated our town halls and home gatherings, will present back to the parish what we have learned from one another at a forum in Ellis Hall on Sunday, May 5, following the 9:00 a.m. service. Please do join us in person that day or online. There is a lot for us all to reflect on. 

Thanks be to God for the gift of this church.