By The Very Rev’d Marcus A. Kaiser, Dean & Rector
“And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.”
–Joel 2:28-30 (quoted by St. Peter in Acts 2:17-19 on the Day of Pentecost)
As a middle-aged man, it’s hard to know what I’m supposed to do–dream dreams or see visions. Whatever it is, I wonder if this might be one of them. It started as a “wonder aloud,” a “wouldn’t it be cool” statement. It started maybe a year ago. Over the course of a few weeks, I had several conversations with several folks, and I heard myself saying the same thing. I’ve always been taken by the idea of a church that could operate all its internal ministries on half of what it brought in and could send the other half out to build up the Kingdom of God outside of its walls. I know of one church that did that once. Just one. Somehow, as I made what seemed to me a passing remark, a few others started to talk about this vision – what if half of the financial resources of this parish could be spent on other churches, other ministries, other missions that spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
To be fair, we’re doing okay in that regard. In our current budget, if we include the amazing work done through the Charles Simeon Institute, about 11% will go to work that builds up the Kingdom outside of St. Peter’s. Still, if we think of that as the mouth of a Pac-Man character if we look at a pie chart, we’re a long way off from 50% (I did the math… it’s about 39% off).
Riding a wave that started from my unguarded musing, some of our staff and key leaders developed an initiative we’re starting this Sunday, the GREAT COMMISSION PLEDGE. Don’t get me wrong in this, ours is a generous congregation, and our operating budget is fully funded by our regular pledging. Might you be able to give another $5 a week or $100 a month, or really anything. This isn’t just an ask to increase our missions and outreach budget, it’s a chance for you to tell us how important this is to you. Anything pledged and given through the Great Commission Pledge will go to increasing the external giving of St. Peter’s in the coming year. You can read more information on the pages in this newsletter, but think of this as an opportunity, not an obligation.
Call it a dream, call it a vision, heck – call it a folly… but I have found that whenever the Holy Spirit keeps bringing something to mind, I’m better off going with Him than against Him. Even more, when the Holy Spirit seems to start a wave out of a ripple, riding that wave is way more fun than letting it go past. So, we’re asking, does this seem right to us and to the Holy Spirit, for this congregation to be known as one that puts its money wherever the Word of the Lord might be? Dare we believe the Lord when he promised, “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth...”? I pray our answer is a resounding 'yes!'