This worksheet is designed to help you reflect on what St. Simon’s means to you and explore how you

come to make your giving decisions. It is offered in love as a tool for your use and your eyes only.

How often do you find yourself saying “I don’t have enough time/energy/money…”? For most of us, it happens

more often than we even realize.

As Christians, we are called to live in faith, trusting the present and future to God who loves us more than we love

ourselves. The invitation to give includes supporting the church’s mission and ministry as it is also a tangible way

we exercise trust in God, even when—or especially when—we aren’t sure there is enough. When we offer what

we have, God provides more than enough—“twelve baskets full.”

The scriptural understanding of a tithe, giving 10% of our income to God—giving the “first fruits” rather than

what is left over—is embraced by the Episcopal Church, although few are brave enough to try it! The average

percentage of income in the larger Episcopal Church is 2.41% ($3,000) and here in our parish, gleaned from the

recent church assessment survey (the CAT), the percentage is 1.99%. Remembering why I give to the church and

what this community means to me:

•What I gave to the church five years ago: $_____________ was _____% of my income

• What I gave to the church two years ago: $_____________ was _____% of my income

• What I gave to the church last year: $_____________ was _____% of my income

• What might be gained by stretching my giving beyond what I think I can do?

We each receive blessings from God. Some of those blessings occur through the church, through friendships and

relationships, through worship and prayer, and through participation in acting out the Gospel. Part of our personal

spirituality is in giving of our resources for the mission of God here.

My commitment for 2018: please transfer these to your Pledge Card

The trust-filled gift I commit is: $__________ Time/talents I am inspired to offer: __________________

Thank you for your faithfulness and generosity, for your presence and your witness.

An Invitation to Reflect Jesus took the bread in his hands and gave thanks to God. Then he passed the bread to the people,

and he did the same with the fish, until everyone had plenty to eat.—John 6:11

• Why is St. Simon’s important to me and my family?

• What gifts/blessings do I/we receive by being here?

• What would happen if St. Simon’s wasn’t here, not only in terms of my experience but also the

impact on others both in and beyond the community?

• What do I invest in our community of faith—in time, talent and treasure?

• How do I determine how much of my resources—time, talent and treasure—to give?

• How did it feel when I gave to the church last year? What was it like to contribute financially and

see the ministries grow? Where else does our treasure go?

Dear Parish Family,

Last spring the Vestry unveiled a new mission statement for St. Simon’s:

Celebrating God’s Love for All

Seeking to Embody Christ in the World

We live into this mission every day at St. Simon’s. Just a glance at the parish calendar shows how we embody

Christ in the World: Christmas Baskets, Youth Mission Trip, Book Clubs, Walk in Wednesdays, Pet Blessing, and

education for all ages. We are blessed to celebrate God’s love through these ministries.

God designed us to lead confident, faithful lives and has clearly blessed our lives over and over again. Our partici-

pation through St. Simon’s helps us to recognize and appreciate these blessings. We have responded to our bless-

ings with love and care and service to others and by giving of our talents and ourselves.

Last year, we increased our pledges to hire a full-time associate priest and to

grow our missions and ministries. And that leap of faith has been rewarded:

more than 30 new people joined the congregation this past year and are partici-

pating in our parish community! We continue to strengthen our work together

and that growth depends on your continued support.

Inspired by the accomplishments of the past year and the possibilities for our

future together, we are increasing our pledges for 2018 by an average of 12%.

Read on for more details about the exciting ways we are growing and why this

increase makes possible new and important ministries. We invite you join us.

Included with this letter is a suggestion as to what this increase could be for

you. Please consider how God has blessed you this year while thinking about

how much you can pass on those blessings. We encourage you to bring your

pledge card to church on January 28, and offer it on the altar as your gift of love

back to God. If you cannot join us here on the 28th, please mail or email your

pledge to the church by then.

Thank you for all you contribute to our St. Simons community of faith,

The Giving Team—John Stomper, Dave Ungurean, Becky Hume

St. Simon’s Episcopal Church 2018 Giving Season

Celebrating Christ’s Love

for All

Our Growth Over the past three years, St.

Simon’s has grown by more than

40 new households. Not only

have we grown in all age

demographics, we have also

embraced connecting with

organizations like the Children of

Abraham and the Viator House.

The blessing of our

demographics is that there are

connections between all ages.

This cross-generational

participation and spiritual

development has been exciting to

witness. We’ve grown in a differ-

ent way too, as over a one quar-

ter of our congregation attends

church more than they did three

years ago.

Our Formation Participation in the educational

offerings has increased and pro-

grams have been added because

of our thirst for spiritual growth.

The most recent subjects have

been: Difficult Bible Passages,

What’s God Got To Do With

It?, What’s Your Spiritual Gift?

and Who knows the Saints?

The Church School is amazingly

popular and currently educates

88 children. The Youth Group

meets weekly to deepen their

faith—with fifteen to twenty in-

volved each week, it is hard to

believe that just a few years ago

we didn’t have a youth ministry!

They embarked upon a mission

trip to Kentucky in 2017 with

plans to return in 2018.

Seeking To Embody Christ

in the World

Sufficient Staffing for Our

Growing Ministries

Pastoral—Administrative—

Musical—Youth—Education

Building on our success, we seek to

sustain and strengthen the spiritual

community we have developed. We

are looking for what the Holy Spirit

can do with our participation. Two

years ago, we as a parish embarked

on a journey to invest in personnel

to strengthen our ministry. In 2016,

we added an associate rector, using

the resources of the Missions and Ministries (M & M) Fund to make this possible. In 2017, we had an unexpected

opportunity to strengthen our administrative function while expanding our support for family ministries. After

prayerful discernment, we stepped out in faith. The graph above shows we can fully fund these additional

resources by 2021. Already we see the fruits of our investments in the vibrant CAT results and in the spiritual

renewal many are experiencing and which newcomers are drawn toward. We know it is a stretch, but we believe

God is present and faithful when we offer what we can.

The Mission and Ministry Fund is fed by income the church receives by leasing parking and office space to Northwest Community

Hospital. However, these funds cannot be relied upon so cannot be part of our long term planning.

What the CAT Revealed Based on the recent CAT survey,

St. Simon’s future options will

include expanding outreach min-

istries, implementing strategies to

reach and include new people in

the church, strengthening the

process which develops people

for ministry and leadership and

enhancing our musical offerings

to deepen our worship experi-

ence. The survey also indicated

that overall, our parishioners are

highly satisfied with how things

stand today as well as poised and

energized for our next steps.

Thank you to all who participat-

ed in the survey and for your

candid responds. They demon-

strate our ability to do great

things together!