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A stewardship letter from Fr. Ben and Fr. Matt
Dear siblings in Christ at The Table,
As we do each October, we ask you to take time over the next month to pray about how God is calling you to steward your time, talent, and treasure in the coming year, and make a pledge to participate in the common life and mission of The Table in 2027.
As we begin to think about our life together in God’s love in the coming year, it’s worth pausing to reflect on all that God has done in our midst this past year:
- We continued to get more settled in our new church building, learning more about what it means to steward this building as part of our mission.
- We raised funds to call Becca Ito to a one-year full time “fellowship” staff position focused on kids, youth, families, and community engagement. Becca has been a profound gift for our whole church.
- In February at our annual meeting we elected new Vestry members: Jamie Dunn and Radonna Fiorini joined Tim Ludden (Senior Warden), Nathan Baker (Junior Warden), Alissa Birkel, Ken Racke (elected for a second 3-year term as Treasurer), and Lukas Smith.
- We welcomed Stephen Clark to our staff team as the Sexton, bringing some long-needed management to the maintenance and upkeep of our building and grounds.
- We baptized one person, held two weddings, and welcomed six new members to our congregation, and others have become regular attenders of worship gatherings and Table Groups.
- We continued to cultivate our fledgling Sacred Forest of fruit-bearing native trees, and our Peace Garden of donated produce to a local food bank.
- We hosted a raucous and beautiful evening of worship with Liturgical Folk and our very own Good Lord, Rose!
- So far this year through our Benevolence Fund we’ve given away ~$10,000 to help people with various needs, including utilities, rent, vehicle repair, groceries, medical bills, legal fees and tutoring.
- In our Adult Formation ministry, people participated in two discipleship groups and a variety of Sunday School classes on topics like Discipleship in the Sheets, Advent Spirituality, Contemplative Prayer, Growing as Disciples, the Sermon on the Mount, and currently Jesus and Women.
- We continued to find ways to share life together in the love of God: Holy Eucharist, Table Groups, after-church potluck meals, parties, concerts, movie nights, cleaning days, and many informal gatherings.
We are also thinking about the future, and along with our Staff and Vestry we are discerning how God is calling us to participate in the life and mission God shares with us in 2027. Our new church building creates new responsibilities as well as new missional opportunities to be present in a new place as Christ’s Body. We’ve maintained community partnerships we inherited from St. Albans and are looking to develop others as we grow and discern together.
In light of all this goodness, how is God calling you to steward your resources of time, talent, and treasure in 2027 to participate in the life and mission we share together in God?
Our stewardship is about our money, of course, but it’s also more than that. We ask you to make a stewardship pledge every year for a few reasons:
1) The life we are cultivating together matters.
We began praying and dreaming about The Table eleven years ago because we wanted to cultivate a worshiping community drawn together to follow Jesus by creating a particular form of life together:
- In a reactionary world, we are cultivating a resilient, non-anxious Christianity that’s not afraid to wrestle with deep questions of faith.
- In a world obsessed with short-term results and the 24-hour news cycle, we’re focusing on long-term spiritual formation and leadership development to see generations multiplied over the long haul.
- In a culture held captive to “us vs. them” ideologies, we’re cultivating a generous “big tent” spirituality grounded in the deep well of the Anglican tradition.
- In a world languishing under the legacy of White colonialism, we’re activating the Body of Christ to engage in social, economic, environmental, and racial justice, standing in solidarity with marginalized and oppressed communities, and working for liberation for all.
We do this by simply “being and doing church” together: we gather on Sundays to listen to God and respond in prayer together, to give thanks and break bread and make Eucharist together, to share a life of love together throughout the week, and invite all who would come to join us in the transformational journey of following Jesus.
As we participate in this shared life, it transforms us. We steadily become more recognizably the Body of Christ, welcoming one another and the stranger in love, listening to God and one another in grace and truth, proclaiming good news to one another and our neighbors, and going to join in solidarity with the marginalized in the name of Jesus.
This is what we do week in and week out. We consider every person who comes into our church as a gift from God, given to help our community grow into mature love. Through worship gatherings, formation classes, DNA Groups, and meals together in Table Groups, God’s mission is going forward.
2) Your pledge helps us plan faithfully and realistically for the coming year.
Many of you give faithfully and sacrificially, and we are deeply grateful for your partnership in the work God is doing through The Table. So many of you have beautiful stories of the redemptive and transformative work God has done in you through your participation in our life together as a community.
The work that we are doing at The Table is funded by donations from ordinary people like you who have decided to participate in sharing resources to see God’s mission go forward in our midst. We make every effort to steward resources wisely, to make the biggest possible impact for the sake of the whole gospel. In other words, your pledge helps us plan and budget wisely and realistically.
3) Your pledge is about more than money.
We believe that what God has given us to steward isn’t just our money, but also our time and talent. The Table is at an important point in its growth and development where we need to strengthen and expand lay ministry by building teams to do the work of our church together.
So as you pray about how you will contribute financially to the life of our church this coming year, also consider where God may be calling you to serve in the life of our church. On the pledge form, there is a list of teams that we are seeking to build right now.
Even if you are already giving financially and/or serving in lay ministry and plan to continue, we ask that you fill out the form to indicate your pledge for 2027 (even if it’s the same as last year), so we can plan accordingly.
If you have not been a consistent stewardship partner at The Table, and you sense God’s call to be part of our life together, please prayerfully consider what amount of money you will give, and in what area of ministry you will serve in 2027. If you have a partner, pray with them about this decision. We strongly believe that God leads couples to make important decisions in agreement.
If you have questions about how giving works at The Table, check out our Frequently Asked Church Giving Questions page.
Make your pledge by Sunday November 1.
You can make your pledge online right now, or by filling out a pledge card at church and putting it in the offering plate on Sunday.
We will be sending out weekly updates on the stewardship campaign via email with more details (sign up to make sure you’re on the list), but please don’t hesitate to reach out to us or the Vestry if you have any questions at all.
We are so thankful for what God is doing in our church, and you’re a big part of that. Thank you for your partnership with us in the gospel!
Grace and peace,
Fr. Ben Sternke and Fr. Matt Tebbe
Co-Vicars at The Table
