March 12, 2020
Dear Members and Adherents of St. Mark’s United Church,
January 1st, 2019 St. Mark’s and St. David’s began a new search for a Minister. Over that year we faced many challenges with St. David’s over cost sharing, worship sharing and building issues. All of which came to an impasse with no chance of resolution in the New Year 2020. On February 16, during our Annual meeting at St. Mark’s, it was decided to end our cost sharing agreement with St. David’s. This was done after much discussion and negotiation with the Board, Regional Council 15 and the congregation, but was deemed the best path for St. Mark’s with a unanimous vote. The motion was sent to St. David’s where it was read and voted on at their Annual Meeting the 23rd of February, 2020. They voted to accept the motion and would make their last payment to St. Mark’s on February 28, 2020 ending the cost sharing agreement.
So begins a new chapter for St, Mark’s; with direction from Regional Council on how to proceed to start the process to call a Minister, the Joint Needs Assessment Committee up-dated the Community of Faith Profile. The Committee recommended hiring a full time Minister recently ordained with up to 5 years’ experience. We need to bring life back into St. Mark’s as this has been a very hard year for our congregation. We need someone to come and bring enthusiasm and the ideas to help us build our Faith Community. We lost our minister, our beloved Al and now it is time for us to move forward and try to bring folks back to the pews. We have been blessed with Adam Cooke at the piano each Sunday, now we need to fill the pulpit!
So why this letter? We need your help …. not just financially - but we need your prayers, your help and your presence. We do expect a shortfall in funding, but we can do it if we all pull together. We have done it before and we can do it again. But to do this we will have to raise money through fundraising and we will need help. St. Mark’s can meet this financial challenge with your financial help. No gift will be too small. St. Mark’s has a PAR system for giving that is based on 12 months, so if you would like to make a monthly contribution this can be set up to take your donation direct from your bank account.
In Closing We say Thank You for your support and we will keep you all up-to-date on how we are proceeding through our blog:
ourcontactonline.blogspot.com
Yours in faith,
Barb MacIntyre, Chair
St. Mark’s Congregational Board
St. Mark’s Congregational Board
“Faith is a choice to trust God even when the road ahead seems uncertain.” Dave Willis
