2024 Stewardship Campaign—Thank You!!
On reflection, 2023 was a huge year for St. Andrew’s. It marked the return of our choir, the first full year with our permanent musicians, and the first year of our public concerts offerings. We welcomed a new staff member (Silkie Hur) and entered into a new community partnership (Santa Barbara Music Club). We established a significant social media presence. We said goodbye to our longtime Preschool ministry and its leader Cindy Oliver then celebrated the arrival on our campus of More Mesa Children’s Center with a whole new staff. We adopted a new Vision, Mission and Values statement, and embarked on developing a five-year strategic plan. We changed how we did our budget to better reflect our financial conditions. We initiated a Membership Committee and introduced several new events—a Blessing of the Animals Service, an Annual Pancake Breakfast, a Christmas Workshop, a fun new table for Pacific Pride, just to name a few. If there was a theme for the year it was “building a foundation for the future.”
We believe 2024 will be a year of building on the hard work of 2023. We have direction and solid leadership to move forward. What will the worship and the choir look like this time next year? What sort of improvements to our campus will we initiate? What new members will we welcome into our midst? What sort of new, creative ideas will our committees be working on? These are questions that inspire hope and excitement and a sense of the possibilities that lie ahead.
When we introduced our 2024 Stewardship Campaign, we invited you to join in building this exciting future at St. Andrew’s with your time, talents and treasures: you responded faithfully! Thank you! It is a good sign for our future that we are all invested in it together. Your commitment to St. Andrew’s confirms that our church offers something of real value. The Spirit is present among us and is calling us into the future.
If you are wondering what more you can do, please consider serving on a committee or doing a term as an elder or deacon. It takes a lot of hearts, hands and minds to bring vitality to a church week after week.
Finally, if you are planning on pledging but haven’t had the opportunity, please bring your pledge cards to church by December 31st. This will help us with our budget for 2024.
In gratitude for your generosity,
St. Andrew’s Stewardship Committee
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