In Search of a New Rector - St Margaret's Churchguide, teacher and leader to join us on the way. All...

St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church

“To restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.”

In Search of a New Rector

95 Court Street, Belfast, Maine www.stmargaretsbelfast.org

Table of Contents

Welcome . . . . 1

Seeking Our Rector . 2

Who We Are . . . 4

Where We Are . . 5

Our History . . . 7

Our Worship . . . 8

Our Life Together . . 11

Our Outreach . . . 13

Our Finances . . . 14

Our Future . . . 16

Contact . . . . 17

Welcome

T he people of St. Margaret’s invite you to enter the church they love and to join with them in prayerful companionship as they seek a new rector. They have opened their hearts in discussion and prayer for this profile, faithfully sharing hopes and concerns with each other and the Vestry. This profile is

their collective offering to God and the rector who will come.

We share a deep belief that together we are on a journey that is enriched and supported through individual and corporate worship, teaching and learning, friendship and service. Now our Discernment Committee, representing us all, is charged to find a guide, teacher and leader to join us on the way. All this we are humbly asking of Almighty God, that we may fulfill the stated Mission of St. Margaret’s – “to restore all people to unity with God, and each other in Christ.”

To remind our Discernment Committee—and our parish community – of these aspirations and values, our Vestry wrote the following prayer for our time of discernment:

“To you, gracious Lord, in this time of change and uncertainty, we lift up our souls and entreat you to show us the way.

“Turn to us and be gentle with us. You know our needs and the obstacles before us. Allow us to discern your solution and the path you have already chosen for us. Sustain us now with the knowledge of your presence as we endeavor to fulfill the task you have set before us.

“This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son, and the leader of our church. Amen.”

In Search of a Rector 1

Seeking Our Rector

Y ou, our new rector, will begin today as you do every day, with a period of quiet reflection. This is sacred time for reading scripture and meditating on God’s call. You’re continuing your spiritual journey and drawing nourishment for what’s ahead.

Soon enough you’ll be back in the clamoring, needy world of parish and community. But not quite yet. Not yet.

This morning along the jagged coast of Maine, the first rays of sunlight are skipping across the waters of Penobscot Bay to bless Belfast and the people of St. Margaret’s with a new beginning. Earnest prayers are being lifted for you and about you. We know we are already joined with you in one faith, one hope, one source of life and love. Soon, by God’s grace, we will meet, and become companions on the Way. We are searcher and finder, intertwined and interchangeable, separate yet joined as one in the body of Christ.

Hear the voices rising from St. Margaret’s this dawn. Breathe in our words about the wise, caring spiritual leader and teacher we await. Can you sense our questing, open spirit? You’re certainly noting our earnest desire for thought-provoking sermons that flow from wide knowledge and current study – and from the heart. Is one of your strengths a gift for expression that cuts through clutter to reach the soul? And do you sing or chant or possibly hum on key, play the piano or strum a guitar? Do you like Bach and Leonard Cohen? So do we! Has experience attuned you to respond to soft pleas or pained cries for pastoral attention, for someone who “listens?” Do you share our energy and can-do attitude that mark our wide-ranging community service and drive us to do more? Does joy enter the room with you? Are you comfortable with our ecumenical ties and expectations? Can you talk about where the church is heading, as well as where it has been, and accept that some of us are pushing into new spheres of spirituality while others are seeking steadier grounding in biblical study and the liturgy? Will you help us grow – in numbers, in vision, in love?

We. You. Searcher and finder, giver and receiver, intertwined and interchangeable. We are humbly offering our selves, with all our aspirations and contradictions and short-comings, as a frame around the mirror in your hand. Please take the time you need to look long, and deeply. What are all the faces, yours and ours, saying?

Our rector prays in response: “Here I am, Lord. Send me.”


Many hearts pray for a Rector who will be . . .

“Deeply spiritual and able to teach Christianity as a spiritual religion.”

“Very bright, a skilled thinker who is well-read and current in theological reading, who can draw on broad and deep knowledge to add special touches, such as poetry, to a service.”

“Energizing, warm, a good listener, committed to stay a long time with us.”

“Someone with a good singing voice, who would be a true pastor . . .”

“Someone aware and concerned about social justice issues.”

“Someone who can draw the community and younger families in.”

“Someone who will assist in our exploration of where the organized church is headed in the 21st century.”

“Someone less to the left and more in the middle so that those of us who are Republicans and Christian conservatives can feel comfortable too.”

“Someone progressive! We don’t want to go backwards!” (From a 90-year-old parishioner.)

“Someone compassionate, gentle, open, who celebrates love and family values, who likes partnerships and collaborations. A good listener, but also a perceptive thinker and doer.”

“Someone who has long been an Episcopalian, knows the history. No newcomers!”

“Someone who is really interested in pastoral care (and) is strong in spiritual counseling and likes visiting and being with people.”

“Someone filled with the joy that comes from serving others and who has a sense of humor.”

“Someone who wants to be rector of St. Margaret’s more than anything else in the world.”


S t. Margaret’s is a caring congregation. We describe ourselves as “a welcoming family” . . . “willing to grow and change,” as a church where “everyone is accepted” and “love is palpable,” a parish “filled with people who are intellectually stimulating, open to a wide variety of ideas, respectful of diversity.”

We are both “summer people” and year-rounders, native Mainers and many who will always be “from away.” We are not a large congregation, with 203 members in good standing, including 17 under age 16. As a group, we reflect the demographics of Maine as a whole – an aging population with a declining number of school-age children and young adults.

We come from varied church backgrounds. Two-thirds of us are over 55 and about half of us are retired, with several more nearing that transition point. A weary, burned-out group? Hardly! Many of us have moved to Belfast in the last 10-15 years, happily exchanging former careers for new roles as volunteers and community leaders, as farmers and instructors and blossoming artists. We look ahead, not back. St. Margaret’s itself is “a place of change,” a parishioner notes.

We share a strong environmental ethic tied to this exceptionally beautiful region. Many of us are engaged in environmental protection and enjoyment of the outdoors. We hike, we camp. We paddle and sail. We advocate and contribute. We’re very attuned to the health of Penobscot Bay and coastal New England. We treasure the resurgence of small farms and abundant local produce. Even in our parish kitchen we recycle and compost.

Individually and collectively, we’re busy. We’re quick to work with local programs that help those in crisis or in need. We mentor and teach. We serve on many boards. We work for social justice, here and around the world. Sometimes we are overwhelmed by our multiple commitments within church and to community groups and causes we ardently support, and we wish for newcomers – many newcomers – to join us. Yet we are grateful for this congregation and all we accomplish. We know how it enriches our lives.

For the most part, we’re an upbeat collection of folks. We feel fortunate to live here. That said, we seem to have a yen to travel, sometimes to escape winter, often just to experience someplace new. In person and in spirit, we’re on the move. We are a small, dynamic congregation!

Who We Are


Where We Are

B elfast was named one of the “top 10 culturally cool towns in the country” by USA Today, Frommer’s Budget Travel magazine named it one of the 10 “coolest small towns” in America, and just recently msn.com called Belfast a “top small town destination for 2014”. We all know why.

Belfast is a city of just under 7,000 year-round residents and the county seat of Waldo County, positioned midway along Maine’s 1500-mile coast. It hugs the mouth of the Passagassawakeag River (do call it the “Passy”) and overlooks shimmering Penobscot Bay, dotted with forested islands. The Armistice Bridge spanning the river and the city’s gently sloping landscape offer views of hundreds of boats moored in the harbor. From the city’s signature red and black tugboats tied up at the downtown wharf to the Bank of America and athenahealth office buildings just outside the downtown by-pass, Belfast is a surprisingly eclectic community.

This is home to many “from away” as well as those whose ancestors have lived in Maine for generations. We are fortunate to live among artists, boat-builders, small-business owners, carpenters, vibrant retirees and hardworking towns people, some of whom once found their employment in the closed-down poultry plant, shoe factory or cannery. The shoe factory has been turned into a complex of offices and businesses; the poultry plant was razed and is now beautiful green space called “the Common” and a park named Steamboat Landing.

The cannery was demolished, and in 2011 Front Street Shipyard opened. Ever since, locals and visitors alike have been fascinated to watch ever-shifting activity along the waterfront. Luxury yachts from foreign ports appear alongside weathered fishing boats and modest pleasure craft, all awaiting service or overhaul inside cavernous green buildings. Huge travel lifts crawl like Erector-set creatures as they move boats as large as tugs from water to land and back again. It’s a sight to behold as one walks the new Harbor Walk, a paved trail of almost a mile that runs along the Penobscot Bay shoreline past boat moorings and the working shipyard to a footbridge which connects to East Belfast across the river.

Overlooking the harbor is picturesque downtown Belfast, where 19th century brick storerooms now house a mix of boutiques, several bookstores, a venerable old-fashioned hardware store, specialty stores, a green store, galleries, a history museum, a range of restaurants and taverns and an independent old-time movie theater that shows first-run films.

Nearby is the Farmer’s Market, and just the other side of the city dock is the setting for the Arts in the Park Festival, the Celtic Celebration, and Harbor Fest which draw thousands to the town during the summer.


Beyond the business area are well-tended parks - Belfast even has a dedicated dog park, one of the first in the state - near weathered clapboard houses with award-winning gardens and grand old sea captains’ mansions dating to early and mid-1800s. Belfast has its own Curling Club, the only one in Maine, and our YMCA has indoor pools.

Retirees and families alike support and encourage a range of educational and cultural offerings - the Senior College, the Belfast Maskers theater group, Penobscot Bay Singers and an array of festivals throughout the year. For children a sampling includes

programs at the Belfast Free Library, dedicated programs and camps at the Waldo County YMCA, and active parent-teacher groups in the school system.

Cultural and recreational offerings spill through nearby communities rimming Penobscot Bay and the Atlantic coast. Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park are 90 minutes away. Bangor offers a Symphony Orchestra and the Penobscot Theater Company. Searsport’s Penobscot Marine Museum brings the region’s sea-going history to life. A short drive south is picturesque Camden.

Our mix of newcomers and native Mainers can lead to fiery political discussions on occasion, but it also ensures a richness that more homogenous communities never experience. Old ways and traditional values coincide with new technologies and new ways of thinking. We may shop at Hannaford’s, an expansive supermarket, and also at the much-praised Belfast Coop, a smaller market specializing in local organic foods. It’s a favorite gathering spot for morning coffee or a healthy lunch. Big box stores are an hour’s drive away.

There’s more to Belfast than what the tourist sees, however. In our more rural neighborhoods, many financially pressed families live in trailers or ramshackle houses without central heating. In Waldo County, 15.5% of the population lives below the poverty level. Unemployment in Belfast in June was 5.90%, compared to 5.5% statewide. Estimated median household income in 2012 was $32,969 in Belfast. Median age here is 46.9, in Maine, 43. Of the 3,049 households in Belfast in 2012, 47 % included at least one person over age 60. Clearly, Belfast has become an attractive place to retire.

And the weather? Last winter that purple “Polar Vortex” nipped us with below zero temperatures, but that isn’t the norm. Our location on the coast means temperatures are usually much milder than those encountered inland. Winters last until April, when we welcome mud season. But by then the sun is coming up early over Penobscot Bay, spring bulbs are sending up shoots, lobsters are moving toward shallow feeding grounds in the bay, and fledgling Bald Eagles are taking flight. We strip off our layers, breathe deeply …. and prepare to greet the black flies!


Our History

S t. Margaret’s will honor the vision and generosity of a remarkable woman from Boston who spent summers in Maine as it moves through its Centennial year of celebration and re-dedication in 2015. Maud Gammans (1866-1928) and a small group of her

friends organized fund-raisers and collected donations to build a summer chapel in Belfast. After several years of worshipping in borrowed space, the new congregation broke ground in May 1915 for the chapel at the end of Court St. By September they were worshipping in their still-unfinished building. The church was consecrated in 1916, but didn’t become an official parish of the Diocese of Maine until 1930, the year before it achieved year-round status. From the beginning, “summer people” have been a devoted and generous part of the parish and participate fully in its activities.

Architect Russell W. Porter chose the medieval English parish church as his model for St. Margaret’s. In keeping with Maine tradition, he built in the “shingle style” with Arts and Crafts touches. Most of the stained glass windows were made in London by the firm of James Powell & Sons (Whitefriars) Ldt. The earliest, the three-panel transept window (1922) depicts scenes from the life of St. Margaret of Antioch, the church’s patron saint.

In 1908, well before the church was built, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Cross made a “naming gift” in honor of their deceased daughter, Margaret. The Crosses lived in Washington, D.C., but Mr. Cross was a native of Belfast and son of the city’s first mayor. St. Margaret of Antioch, patroness of women in childbirth, was an early Christian martyr whose existence probably was more legend than history. Why she was chosen over the more accessible and clearly historical Margaret of Scotland remains a mystery our parish records do not answer.

In 2007 St. Margaret’s parishioners dedicated an enlarged (double the former size) and totally refurbished parish house connected to the church. And like the church, this expanded space for parish gatherings and community use owes much to “summer people.” Ruth O. Trauger, widow of the Rev. David Trauger, summered in Belfast for two decades with her husband. When she died, she bequeathed almost half a million dollars to St. Margaret’s. Part of that bequest, along with money given by parishioners, financed the construction.

Commitment, generosity and vision have marked St. Margaret’s first 100 years. They are enduring guideposts as the parish moves into its second century of worship and service in Christ’s name.


Our Worship

O ur major worship service is the Eucharist (usually Rite II) twice on Sundays – spoken at 8 with no accompanying hymns, and sung at 10:15 with music throughout the service. We also have a 9

a.m. Eucharist on Wednesdays that includes a healing service. We do not use incense.

Our clergy vest (chasubles, stoles and albs) as do our lay assistants (cassocks and surplices.) Lay cup bearers, acolytes and readers serve during the Eucharist and other services and lead Morning Prayer on Fridays and Evening Prayer on Tuesdays. At present we have 12 adult cup bearers and acolytes and five youth acolytes. In addition, 20 adult readers rotate through Sunday services, joined by two regular youth readers. Last Palm Sunday we had nine young people participating in the reading of the Passion.

The doors to St. Margaret’s are open to everyone to worship and share the Eucharist. This is so central to our life in Christ that our celebrant always offers the invitational Prayer Over the Gifts (printed elsewhere) before the Great Thanksgiving. This prayer, first introduced

by a former rector more than two decades ago, has become an integral part of our worship. We consider it essential, not optional. One parishioner spoke for dozens when he wrote for this profile, “I would loathe to lose that welcoming prayer.”

We treasure our Episcopal liturgy from the Book of Common Prayer. It is the centerpiece for all our worship. We turn to Rite 1 periodically, especially at 8 a.m. and during Lent. We’ve even celebrated the Eucharist in a series of historical Anglican and Episcopal liturgies.

We’re also open to substituting with a Celtic or New Zealand service on occasion, appreciating their more contemporary wording and environmental awareness. We recently celebrated the 12-Step Eucharist written for Recovery Ministries of the Episcopal Church. It was publicized in the community and drew several visitors who are in AA or other recovery programs. Their profuse appreciation, shared by our regular members, whether in AA or not, generated requests that we find a regular place for this service on our annual church calendar.


We embrace inclusive language and expect to share in worship with friends and neighbors from other faith communities. This is especially evident during Lent and Easter, when ecumenical services have added richness to our observances. There has been a pattern of rotating Lenten classes between St. Margaret’s and First Church (UCC) and participation in an ecumenical Lenten lunch program hosted by the First Baptist Church. This year St. Margaret’s hosted an ecumenical Good Friday service in addition to a noontime Stations of the Cross. We join other Episcopal churches in our coastal region for a Saturday Easter Vigil open to all. Our rector has always participated in the community-wide Easter sunrise service on the Belfast waterfront. We were deeply moved by a first-ever ecumenical baptism at St. Margaret’s this spring. Our priest was joined by clergy from the UCC and Baptist churches in baptizing a teen-age boy who knew them all through an ecumenical youth program. The Sunday afternoon service, following the baptismal liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer, filled our pews with worshippers from three church traditions.

We typically have two services on Christmas Eve, one in late afternoon geared to families and children, and a very festive Eucharist in the evening that starts with a half-hour of singing Christmas carols. And here’s a Christmas tale: Last Christmas Eve, Belfast was encased in ice (that’s NOT typical!) and in the grip of a massive power outage that for some had lasted over three days. At St. Margaret’s, candles, flashlights and hooded parkas were everywhere. Then suddenly, just minutes before the 4 p.m. service was to start, lights in the sanctuary blazed on, and the furnace rumbled to life! Thanks be to God! Merry Christmas!

We appreciate opportunities for quiet worship. Our Sunday 8 a.m. service has special appeal for those who prefer a calm and seamless presentation of scripture and the Eucharist, uninterrupted by music. Some of us have discovered new spiritual depth by gathering for prayer and meditation early Wednesday mornings, led by our priest and a Buddhist nun.

But music is also an integral part of our worship, and most everyone has an opinion about what it should be! Music flows through our 10:15 service, from the prelude by our experienced organist through hymns, a choral anthem and a sung Eucharist, to the concluding organ postlude for which everyone remains seated. At present a parishioner is the unpaid director of our choir that generally numbers around 11 adults, but sometimes expands for special occasions. The congregation joins heartily in singing familiar hymns, chanting the psalm and singing parts of the Eucharist. Significantly, we sing a contemporary version of the Nicene

Creed that is attached to the inside back cover of our Wonder, Love and Praise supplemental hymnal. While most hymns are selected from the standard 1982 hymnal, we frequently sing from WLP. Many have asked for even more variety by bringing in musical instruments and adding the Lift Every Voice and Sing hymnal to our repertoire. Some put music near the top of their list for what’s most important to them about St. Margaret’s. “I’d like even more music,” says one 10:15 regular. “You can’t have too much.”


We look forward to intelligent “on-point” sermons that illuminate the lectionary readings with fresh understanding and make them relevant to our lives. As a predominantly older congregation of thinkers and doers, we value thoughtful and informed discourse that challenges us, nourishes us, and leads us beyond our church to those waiting for Christ’s love.

PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS Lord, We have prepared the holy table as we will again and again until we have a world like this welcome table. Here may all be addressed, sprinkled, bowed to, incensed, touched and kissed, treated like somebody, all in the same way. Here may we bless you, God, in a common prayer of thanksgiving. Here may everybody – everybody – share and share alike in the bread broken and the cup poured out.


Our Life Together

S haring – of our lovely space and ourselves – marks our life together. We seek to see Christ in each other and to welcome Christ in every person we meet.

That is why we doubled the size of our parish house in 2007 and added a lower level meeting room with a small kitchen and an outside door, making it possible for groups like AA and Al-Anon to come and go freely every day of the week. An exercise class under the auspices of Waldo County General Hospital also uses this space, while several other community groups, including Penobscot Bay Singers, regularly gather in our expanded main floor parish hall for rehearsals, meetings or social events.

With new classrooms and office space on upper floor, our parish house – joined to the church by a “connector” hallway – is the hub of our communal life. Our parish directory includes more than 20 groups and ministries, a surprising number, perhaps, for a small

congregation. But we’re quick to accept responsibilities and to act, even when almost all of us serve in more than one capacity. Once a month we serve up an international feast, and men from the minimum security Re-entry Center in Belfast join us for fellowship as warm as the food.

Every female parishioner is a member of the Women of St. Margaret’s. They meet monthly to organizes fund-raising events that support a variety of local service groups. The women also provide scholarships for the diocesan summer camp, contribute to the deacon’s discretionary fund and oversee the kitchen in the parish house. Likewise, the Men of St. Margaret’s gather for a monthly breakfast meeting. Throughout the year they keep busy with innumerable work projects around the church.


“People are amazingly active

in church and beyond!”


Our Vestry has nine members, serving staggered three-year terms. Both men and women serve on our Altar Guild. The Daughters of the King, now in their 26th year at St. Margaret’s, maintain the parish prayer list in consultation with the rector and respond to requests for daily prayers for individuals who are ill, bereaved or struggling with life’s difficulties.

Adult Education classes or special programs are planned by the rector and a lay committee. They are usually held at 9:15 a.m. Sunday morning, between the two services. Classes may focus on a book, scripture or liturgy, or a subject of current topical interest. During Lent we have shared in ecumenical study with members of nearby First Church (UCC). Among books recently covered in our Adult Ed classes are Falling Upward and the Naked Now by Richard Rohr, Mission-shaped Spirituality by Susan Hope, The Wisdom Jesus by Cynthia Bourgeault, and People of the Way by Dwight Zscheile.

St. Margaret’s does not have a Sunday School, but last year took a leadership role in forming a very successful program for teens called Encounters with the First Baptist Church and First Church (UCC). The group rotates between the three churches on alternate Sunday afternoons for food and focused discussion and role-playing that

delves into some of the challenges and anxieties of the teen years. This has become a model program for other communities. With relatively few children among our parishioners, we are acutely aware of how important it is to include them in the life of the church. We are blessed to have a core group of young people who serve regularly as readers, acolytes and torch-bearers.

St. Margaret’s has always had a full-time rector and a paid part-time parish administrator. We are especially blessed to have the ministry of our deacon, the Rev. Tom Duplessie, who has been with us for several years and is much beloved in the parish. He is deeply engaged in community outreach, pastoral care and helps lead worship services. We look forward to our deacon and new rector working together cohesively in both worship and parish ministries.

Constant communications from our tech-savvy staff and parishioners keep our weekly e-letter, News from the Pews, and a website current with announcements, news, events and feeds from national church-related organizations. We hope our new rector will be tech-innovative, enjoy interaction with the website and maybe even write a blog!

Our Outreach

T here is a single “front door” that leads worshippers into St. Margaret’s and back out again into the community. Those departing see this hand-lettered strip above the door: “You are now entering the mission field.” Our parishioners understand. St. Margaret’s is so deeply embedded into local service organizations and

ecumenical programs to provide food and winter fuel assistance to our large population in need that outreach and involvement are in our DNA. This is a parish that contributes much in talent, energy and financial support, and many of us keep wanting to do still more. But our well-intended dreams sometimes snag on the realities of finite energy and income.

Three years ago our very active Mission Outreach committee undertook a thoughtful study of how people and funds from St. Margaret’s might best be used to change lives and uplift those we would serve. The committee drew on insights from Robert D. Lupton’s book “Toxic Charity” to put greater emphasis on working side-by-side with those in difficulty. Instead of drawing from designated funds in the parish budget, the committee and the Women of St. Margaret’s, in particular, are undertaking focused fund-raisers through the year to benefit specific causes. As much as possible, they work with, rather than just writing checks for, those who will benefit.

For more than a decade St. Margaret’s members have collected food and distributed it through our ecumenical community food cupboard. Now we’re hands-on in the Window Dressers program that assembles energy-efficient interior storm windows that are sold and installed at minimum cost. Men from the minimum-security Re-entry Center in Belfast come for our monthly international pot-lucks and sometimes help with church projects. We join with others to prepare and sell strawberry shortcake to raise money for a winter fuel fund. Initiated by a member of the committee, The Soap Closet provides toiletries and paper products to clients of area food cupboards. We have supported it from the start with funds, storage space, and volunteers. Other parishioners are regular volunteers at our local soup kitchen.

While many of us are definitely “seniors,” we keep young working with and for children and teens. We’ve long backed the Game Loft, a structured after-school program for middle and high school students, serving as mentors and periodic “celebrity chefs” on Friday nights. Last year our Mission Outreach committee awarded funds from a bequest allocated to outreach to four community organizations; three of the four grants went to innovative programs for children.

With the emphasis on direct participation, a few outreach programs that once relied primarily on our parish budget for support have faded, most notably our “partner parish” connection to an Episcopal church and school in Haiti. Comments from parishioners in the self-evaluation study for this profile suggest the issue of how outreach should be funded and supported will be a lively topic of discussion in the coming year.


Our Finances

T hanks to careful financial oversight and extra help from parishioners, St. Margaret’s has come through recent lean years in solid shape. We have been able to make important improvements to our buildings and grounds while offsetting some reductions in income by reallocating resources. We’ve challenged ourselves with

special one-time fund-raising drives – to pay for that dreaded but essential new furnace, for instance -- and in every case we have exceeded our goals. Our 2014 budget is realistic and reflects mid-year changes required for this transition period. Pledges are strong and coming in as anticipated, and expenses are under control. Looking to 2015 and beyond, we are confident and ever-vigilant.

The Recession cut into income from our endowment managed by the Diocese of Maine, dropping it by almost $10,000 in 2012 alone. The projected endowment income of $45,195 in our current budget is still $7,300 below what we received in 2011. Not many years ago our endowment provided over half our parish revenue. Today, at $1.12 million, it accounts for 24%. On one hand, we are glad to be less reliant on the whims of financial markets to cover parish expenses. But this change does ask more of our pledging members and requires extra attention to our cash reserves and special fund allocations.

Our pledges cover approximately two-thirds of our expected revenues for 2014. Plate offerings and income from renting out space in the parish hall complete our annual revenues, for a budget total of $185,943. In 2013 the amount budgeted for pledges fell short, due to a variety of unexpected circumstances affecting individual families. Thus, the amount budgeted for pledges this year was lowered by $5500 to account for moves, illnesses and other changed situations. We expect to

receive the full amount shown in the budget by the end of the year. The real vitality of St. Margaret’s shines brightly beyond the columns of budget numbers. We readily invest in the infrastructure and upkeep of the architectural gem that is our church home. And we throw ourselves into fund-raising for the Belfast community, money that isn’t taken directly from the approved budget. Last year a few parishioners got the attention of the full parish with a drive to improve the Memorial Garden on the west side of the church. They drew up a list of desired plantings and improvements such as granite benches and a wooden screening fence, and within two weeks parishioners donated $1,093 – more than asked—to make it all happen.

Our Treasurer, Betty Becker-Theye

OUR PLEDGES FOR 2014

100-499 8

500-999 17

1000-1749 17

1750-2499 11

2500-4999 11

5000-7100 4

Number pledging: 68

Average pledge $1,855


The new plants were barely in the ground when it was learned the old furnace beneath the church couldn’t huff through another winter. (The expanded and refurbished parish house, completed in 2009, has a relatively new model.) With a yard sale and a “donate the temperature” campaign in hot July and August, parishioners raised $6,536 for the furnace and insulation of our venerable wood church. Additional money was donated for an improved sound system in the church. This spring, the brick chimney for the church was rebuilt at a cost of $2,730, with money drawn from a bequest fund of $9,900 that the Vestry has designated for major capital expenses outside the operating budget.

The Vestry “tithed” 10 percent ($1,100) of the total $11,000 bequest to Mission Outreach in January as “seed money” to develop outreach projects. The budget developed by the finance committee and approved by the Vestry and then the full parish in January dropped last year’s line-item funding of $5,600 for outreach programs. This reflected a new focus on direct participation with beneficiaries rather than check-writing. In practice this has proved controversial in the church, as mentioned elsewhere in this profile, and the question of outreach funding will undoubtedly be addressed again. Without drawing on budget funds, parishioners continue to raise money for an ecumenical fuel fund and to donate time and resources to several community programs. In 2013 the Mission Outreach committee awarded $20,000 in grants to four local groups from another designated bequest fund.

The actual and projected revenues for 2011-2014 shown here are not full income statements. They do not included balances carried forward or transfers. They do include major revenue sources and expense categories. We take pride in having a balanced budget each year.


Our Future

T he Holy Spirit is putting a lively exclamation point on every aspect of St. Margaret’s in 2015! It’s our Centennial year! With gratitude and

joy we’ll gather to remember a great company of faithful women and men whose vision and devotion built this distinctive church and then sustained and expanded its mission to reach this milestone.

Now we’re on the cusp of an equally promising future. Themes that emerged from our discussions are strong and clear. These are the gifts and graces we seek in our next rector:

A pastoral shepherd who listens deeply and

shares in the lives of parishioners, young and old alike.

A spiritual teacher wise with experience

who is open to questions and diversity in those who seek God.

Someone with high energy and enthusiasm

for becoming a visible, ecumenical leader in the Belfast community.

Someone who will bring gifts of music and

a joyful heart to contemporary liturgies and innovative worship.

Someone who works cooperatively and

leads by example in outreach to the poor and marginalized.


“Keep a deacon!” “We should tithe to outreach ...” “I hope we thrive, and don’t lose ground.” “Growth is very important. We should emphasize increasing our numbers.” “We should have a Sunday School again.” “We want to feel alive in our faith and to explore our connection to the divine.” “I would think it well if we were to explore and adopt newer liturgies that aren’t so comfortable.” “It would be wonderful to find a person who has a vocation for seniors, a real calling, someone with creativity and imagination ...”

Now, with this picture of who we are, we send out our invitation:

Discernment Committee

l-r: Mary Provo, Michael Lavender, Linda Dunson, Courtney Collins, Paul Mazur (Co-Chair), Elaine Bielenberg (Co-Chair), Larry Theye, Judith Cox, Cindy Frost (not in picture: Randy Curtis)

Inquiries should be addressed to: The Rev. Canon Michael Ambler Canon to the Ordinary The Diocese of Maine 143 State Street Portland, Maine 04101 Phone: (207) 772-1953, ext.123 Email: [email protected]

Contact


In Search of a New Rector - St Margaret's Churchguide, teacher and leader to join us on the way. All...

Documents

Transcript of In Search of a New Rector - St Margaret's Churchguide, teacher and leader to join us on the way. All...