Rev. Yme Woensdregt
The Campaign Committee for Together in Mission continues to work hard behind the scenes as we prepare for our Diocesan financial stewardship campaign.
One of the difficulties with writing for the Highway is that our articles are written a month ahead of time — and things change in the meantime. As John Lennon famously said, “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.”
Last month, I wrote about a weekend for parish leaders to gather to talk about stewardship. Unfortunately, that focus of that gathering has been changed. We will be in touch with parish leaders, both clergy and lay, about our changing plans.
The defining question for Together in Mission is this: “What is God calling us to do? What is God calling the Diocese of Kootenay to do? What is God calling your parish to do? What is God calling you, as a faithful Christian, to do?”
Every parish in the diocese is being invited to consider that defining question. It is the single most important thing in this campaign.
That question focuses on the very important thought that the church is involved in God’s mission in the world. As one of the speakers at the Joint Assembly in Ottawa last July said (roughly paraphrased), “The church does not exist for its own sake. The church exists for the sake of God’s mission in the world.”
As you consider that question, you envision the role you, your parish, and your diocese will play in the ministry of God for the world in which we live. We will imagine how we can work in partnership with God for the healing of the world.
Henri Nouwen writes in A Spirituality of Fundraising, “Fundraising is, first and foremost, a form of ministry. It is a way of announcing our vision and inviting other people into our mission. Vision and mission are so central to the life of God’s people that without vision we perish and without mission we lose our way.”
Let me ask you directly: “What is God calling you to do?”
Please continue to hold this campaign and the Steering Committee in your prayers.
