Dear St. Lukers,
Legacy of Leadership. This is the campaign we are kicking off that will help fund key capital projects, launch a wellness and mental-health nonprofit, support leadership and advocacy training, improve campus safety, care for the environment, and create new revenue to support transformative ministry. That’s it in a nutshell.
It’s about stewarding the legacy of those who, nearly 50 years ago, took a leap of faith to create a Wesleyan-centered, outward-focused community—one committed to reaching people who were disconnected, had drifted away from the institutional church, or had no church background at all. Last Sunday in worship, Jad and Melissa shared a clip of Rev. Jim Harnish, founding pastor of St. Luke’s, sharing that the original mission statement had a bullet point that called us to become a “model of ethical behavior in a world of increasing scarcity.” Those words hit me when I heard them. How many people do you know, including yourself, who are looking for such a community?
Our current state of affairs has many people moving toward, if not at, the very brink of scarcity. With the government shut down, SNAP benefits being pulled back, and agencies that help resource our communities experiencing funding cuts, the church has to be the model of ethical behavior, the gap fillers, and hope for a world of increasing scarcity.
We want you to know that we are already at work listening and responding. Our missions and care teams are ready to provide resources to those in need, working with our schools and non-profit partners to best support students and food pantries, and are reaching out to our resource advocates who helped us during COVID and at other times to be ready as needed.
This is what it means to Embrace the Present Moment. And thanks to your generosity of time and resources, we are prepared when our community needs us to stand in the gap, stewarding the rich history of what St. Luke’s has been and will always be. Join me this Sunday in worship as we look at what it means to be people who do not resist or isolate from the present but lean into who we are to be changemakers.
See U Sunday!
Jenn.
