St. Margaret's Episcopal Church

Remarks:  January Annual Meeting  (1/24/10)
Doug Mayer, Sr. Warden 



2009 was a challenging and exciting year for St. Margaret's.  Our pledge campaign in the fall of 08 yielded $10-15,000 less than previous years.  We lost members to distant places, we were without a priest, and the local and national economies were not suggestive of wealth.  Our budget required use of reserves, and they were needed to support a half time interim, Ann Kidder.  We cut some budget lines, while holding our commitment to outreach.  We also budgeted for our search for Martha, but we had no idea when she would begin her ministry among us.
We did some important things.  We replaced the window in the sanctuary.  Toddler Play Date took off.  Outreach continued its vital work here and in Haiti.  Godly Play played on.  And the Discernment bunch demonstrated their enthusiasm and energy, doing their work and including others in the parish and community.   
When Martha arrived and met with Erin and me, our first conversation included insistent discussion of the Saturday service.  And now, just about every conversation includes some new idea that we think might advance our mission.  I know we have to do it, but I don't have a clue about what "doing church differently" means.  Except, I think Steve Lane's visit to the Parish Hall to greet the participants watching the service during Martha's installation is part of it.  What a cool, human thing to do - to include everybody.  Saturday service is part of it, as is the Wonder Love and Praise hymnal supplement.  Toddler play date takes our church into the community big time.  And the other groups that we host also connect us to the Belfast area.  
As we go into this year we do it with significantly fewer pledgers than was true for the first decade of this millennium.  But those fewer pledgers pledged more money for what we do - for mission and ministry.  People haven't gone away mad - they've just gone away.  The challenges are church-wide. Truman Fudge remarked a couple of weeks ago that when he started in the mid-70's there were some 25,000 Episcopalians here.  A few years ago the Diocese reported that there were 17,000.  At some Diocesan meeting last fall it was noted that the number now is 14,000.  
Compared to many Episcopal churches in Maine, St. Margaret's is a huge success story; we are doing much better than most churches our size.  It seems to me that our value to our community here is known and strong.   But if a parish doesn't know its own worth, then its value is suspect.  People do what they value, but to value something they need to perceive it as useful and important to them. And with that list of what we do above, we have a good start.  The next step is make this mission and ministry as important to others as it is to us. And with that we can convince others that their participation in St. Margaret's will give them great joy and fulfillment. We must find new ways to reach people.
Martha can lead us to this activity, but she can't do it for us. We all have to be active in demonstrating what we value and how much we value it.  And ultimately we must demonstrate that worship, the spiritual part of who we are, the joyful, thanks - giving people that we are, have much to offer in Belfast, Northport, Morrill, Searsport, and beyond.