Dear Stephanie and Ashley,
Welcome to an exciting year at Grace Episcopal Church!
As we look forward to a new church year together, we wanted to highlightboth our theme for this fall as well as several important events coming up in the life of our parish.+ Hang the calendar on your refrigerator + so you are sure not to miss the energy, ministry, fellowship, worship, and inviting embrace of God among us!
Our theme this fall at Grace Episcopal Church is “Walk in Love.” These are words you hear frequently during worship at Grace. They are said after the announcements and before the offertory. If you are like many of us, though, you may have heard them as the signal that it’s time to get quiet again, since we’ve just passed The Peace with everyone around us andheard lots of great announcements about events happening at Grace Episcopal Church.
+ This fall we invite you to hear “Walk in Love” in a different way. +
We invite you to hear these words as connection.
We invite you toconnect with how
Jesus Christ walks and moves and does and loves and gives at Grace Episcopal Church.
“Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us in offering and sacrifice to God,” is spoken in the middle of the service to define the connection between how Jesus Christ offers himself to us, and how we in return offer ourselves to God and to God’s work among us. These words connect how God teaches us through the Bible lessons and sermon to how God feeds us through Holy Communion to how God sends us out into the world to teach, feed, and build God’s Kingdom. These are just a few of the action verbsdescribing how God empowers us to go and do God’s work.
The words “Walk in love”really do, then, connect the amazing abundance of Sunday announcements about all the places we’re going at Grace each week to the amazing abundance of how we’re praying, worshiping, and supporting each other to answer these calls to ministry in our community.
The way Grace Episcopal “Walks in love” together has profound impact within the church, in our local community, and around the globe. We will highlight the increasing impact of our church community near and far beginning Wednesday, September 28, which is also when you will receive your pledge card for 2017.
As you hear more about the increasing impact of our ministries at Grace, we ask you to prayerfully consider how you can increase the impact of your ministry at Grace. Consider this through your prayers and conversations with God. And consider this through your conversations with us about the mission and ministry at Grace Episcopal Church.We are excited about connecting with each of youand we are excited about this year at Grace!
Walk in love!
The Rev’d Rachel Faith,Isaac Lord,Sarah Church,
RectorStewardship ChairSenior Warden
Be sure to see our fall calendar on the other side …
Your Episcopal Church
Fall 2016 SampleEvents Calendar
+ all are welcome +
Sunday, September 12 | Fall Ministry Fair
10: 30 in the Parish Hall
Write brief description here
Sunday, September 19 | Formation for All Ages Begins
10: 30 – see calendar for classrooms
Write brief description here
Wednesday, September 28 | “Walk in Love” Launch & Community Supper
6:00 in the Parish Hall
Write brief description here
Sunday, October 3 | Blessing of the Animals
5:00 in the Churchyard
Write brief description here
Tuesday, November 1 | All Saints Day Holy Eucharist
6:00 in the Church
Write brief description here
Sunday, November 7 | “Walk in Love” Sunday and Festive Brunch
10: 00 All Parish Worship and Community Meal
Write brief description here
Sunday, November 21 | Thanksgiving Outreach Basket Delivery
10: 30 in the Parish Hall
Write brief description here
Sunday, November 27 | First Sunday in Advent – Invite a Neighbor
All Services
Write brief description here
Additional Information for the
Introduction Letter
The “Walk in love” offertory sentence:
Many clergy and officiants use offertory sentences other than, “Walk in love as Christ loved us,” or they use no sentence at all. During your church’s annual giving season, encourage your clergy and officiants to use the “Walk in love” offertory sentence, found in the Book of Common Prayer on p. 343 (Rite I) or p. 376 (Rite II), so that your annual giving theme resonates more richly.
Also,if you do not usually hear the “Walk in love” offertory sentence, adjust the second paragraph in the letter. An alternate version may read:
Our theme this fall at Grace Episcopal Church is “Walk in Love.” These are words you will hear frequently over the next few months during worship at Grace. They will besaid after the announcements and before the offertory. If you are like many of us, though, you may hear them as the signal that it’s time to get quiet again, since we’ve just passed The Peace with everyone around us and heard lots of great announcements about events happening at Grace Episcopal Church.
Please adjust the rest of the letter accordingly, as well.
If you want a longer or different letter:
Consider bullet pointing ministry impact statements before the final paragraph. This could read:
The way Grace Episcopal “Walks in Love” together has profound impact within the church, in our local community, and around the globe. For example, over the past year we have:
hosted 606 local eventsfor our community
sung 385 hymns during worship
fed over 14,614 individual through our food bank ministry
sent our youth and their sponsors to teach Vacation Bible School in the Dominican Republic
We will highlight the increasing impact of these ministries and more within our local church community and beyond beginning Wednesday, September 28, which is also when you will receive your pledge card for 2017.
As you hear more about the increasing impact of our ministries at Grace, we ask you to prayerfully consider how you can increase the impact of your ministry at Grace. Consider this through your prayers and conversations with God. And consider this through your conversations with us about the mission and ministry at Grace Episcopal Church. We are excited about connecting with each of you and we are excited about this year at Grace!
Your Episcopal Church | 123 Your Street | Your Town, Virginia 12345
123-456-7890 |