Rector's Report 2012: St. John's Episcopal Church

Rector’s Report- 2012

Twenty Twelve has been a blessed year for us at St. John’s. We had six baptisms and four confirmations, and our average Sunday attendance stood at just over 103. Those numbers are well within the average parameters of the years since 2005. But numbers without interpretation are seldom helpful in evaluating who we are, where we have been, or where we are going. And so I offer some other measures which help to round out the picture of life here at St. John’s.
Our finances ended the year in the black.
Average attendance at our weekly Christian Formation events runs in the upper twenties.
We are a regular presence in three nursing facilities and two jails.
Our cooperative meals missions with St. Paul’s Logan involves about 15 parishioners each time.
We give to local pantries and distribute household supplies through the drug court.
We support local schools through job training placement for students and providing cheerleaders a place to practice.
AA and Alanon meet in our undercroft every week.
We participate in community-building activities sponsored by the Mayor’s office, Family Services, and the Fairfield Medical Center.
The Art Walk, community recitals, and the Candlelight Tour allow us to support our community.
Episcopal Parish Health Ministries offers a monthly program here, including a fellowship meal with a speaker, and free blood pressure screening.
We offer three services of Holy Communion and one of Choral Evensong each week, in forms which span the breadth of our Anglican heritage.
Daughters of the King offered a ladies retreat and summer morning prayer in the garden.
Lay readers, altar guild, lectors, ushers, and choristers provide incredible and reliable support for all of our worship services.
Our vestry runs by consensus and votes only where expenditure of funds or canon law requires a recorded vote.
The addition of a Deacon and Licensed Lay Preacher to our preaching rotation has significantly deepened our opportunities to understand the Bible.
Our Vestry does a commendable job staying on budget and planning ahead for the needs of our parish.
Six parishioners from St. John’s participate regularly in Diocesan events and ministries.
We support financially and in prayer several members of parish families who serve as missionaries around the world.
We give regularly to many missions and agencies at home and abroad.
Our office volunteers bring a sense of professionalism and efficiency to our parish operations.
Four members of our parish are actively considering some type of Christian Vocation.
We are one of the few churches in central and southeastern Ohio who worship in the English choral tradition.
We continue to maintain St. John’s building and grounds in a way which shows forth the glory of God and respects the historic nature of Square Thirteen.
We strive to reach out to our community through our website and the rector’s blog.
We remind all who come here of our commitment to Christian unity by welcoming all of the baptized, regardless of denomination, to Holy Communion.
Our parish participates regularly in Deanery and ecumenical activities.
Our youth group meets regularly and has consistent attendance.
You enable me to continue my professional development through annual attendance at “Mere Anglicanism” in Charleston, membership in the Society of St. Alban and St. Sergius, membership in the Communion Partner Rectors, and through regular retreats at the Community of the Transfiguration, an Episcopal Convent in Cincinnati.                                 
We pay all Diocesan asessments in full and on time.
It is my prayer that in the year to come, we might continue to build on this heritage of worship and service, to the glory of God, and to the extension of his kingdom. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Respectfully Submitted,

Bill+