St. James Mission Team, Quito, Ecuador, 2018
St. James Commitment Campaign 2020
ἀγάπη
Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the Law and the Prophets.
BCP p. 324
Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the Law and the Prophets.
BCP p. 324
St. James is all about love (in Greek, ἀγάπη): you can experience it in our worship; you can hear it in our singing; you can feel it in our fellowship; you can see it in our service to others. Love is at the heart of all that we do, for God is love.
God calls us to extend that love by opening our arms to the world and to serve the in-breaking Kingdom of God as disciples of Christ. Jesus reached out and ministered to those who felt lost, marginalized, and despised by this world. He would have us do the same. Christ would have us seek justice in his name, standing with and advocating for the persecuted and oppressed, giving voice to the voiceless and confronting the conscience of the nation. Christ would have us protect the widow and the orphan and bid the stranger welcome. Christ would have us be his hands and heart in this world so in need of healing.
Our mission at St. James is to be a community of ἀγάπη (love); to live fully into our calling as disciples of Christ, loving our neighbors as ourselves, and living in harmony and peace with one another. Our mission is to show the world that humanity’s highest calling is to love (1 Cor. 13:13). St. James is a special place where we embrace love, understand that authentic Christianity is always grounded in love and, as Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has said, “If it’s not about love, it’s not about God.”
Through your financial support of St. James, St. James can grow this witness to the power of love in Greenville and the world. We are in our pledge gathering season and each and every financial commitment to support St. James and its ministries makes a difference.
How does your financial support enable St. James to live into Christ’s call to love? Your financial support is used to support facilities, staff, and most importantly, mission.
Every week we open our doors to all who come seeking the living Christ, welcoming the stranger, engaging the seeker, strengthening the faithful, anointing the sick, and feeding the flock thorough word and sacrament. In our worship, Christ’s resurrection and his Gospel of love are proclaimed and we are strengthened to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). We worship God in a house built by the generosity of those who have gone before, in vestments and altar appointments given and sewn as offerings to God, flowers arranged to celebrate the beauty of creation, and we are uplifted by sacred music flowing from an organ which was purchased and carried in piece by piece by the faithful. Your gifts go to support keeping these doors open for all, maintaining the beauty of our space, and celebrating the best of our Episcopal and Anglican liturgical and musical heritage as we worship God in the beauty of holiness.
Your support also funds our Christian education programs such as Sunday School, vacation bible school, adult Christian education, youth ministry, lenten programs and bible study, and helps maintain the facilities they use. In addition, St. James’ campus is a community center for a number of groups that serve the community. Bridge clubs, twelve step programs, high school sports teams and booster programs, counseling services, immigration services, college club service projects, and local arts programs all use our campus as home base as they minister to the community. Just look at our parish calendar: St. James is engaged in or hosting community ministry on a daily basis and on most days, multiple ministries! While many churches are closing their doors to these programs and mothballing their space, your gifts enable St. James to continue to reach out and welcome the community to our campus.
St. James’ mission outreach budget is by far the largest of any church our size in the Diocese. We give over $25,000.00 in direct financial support every calendar year. Your financial gifts help send underprivileged children to Camp Bob at Kanuga, provide over 30,000 meals to the hungry throughout the world, support KAIROS prison ministry and Canterbury Counseling Center, stock the food pantry at United Ministries, support vocational training at Project Host, expand the reach of scholarships through Education Equals Hope in Ecuador, provide choral scholarships for Furman music students, support ministry on college campuses, the Episcopal Church’s Millennium Development Goals, and so much more.
How can you help? There are three different ways to support St. James financially: through pledging, through plate offering, and through special gifts.
The most beneficial for our planning purposes is a financial pledge. A pledge is a written commitment to support St. James financially for at a certain amount for the next budget year. Pledges are critical to our ability to do ministry because in addition to carrying out the work Jesus has given us to do, we are also called to be good stewards of the gifts we are given both by scripture and canon law. We cannot spend more than we receive, so planning what we have to spend on ministry is largely a function of pledges received. If you have pledged previously, I encourage you to do so again. If you have never pledged, I encourage you to consider doing so this year. The more commitments we secure, the more we can do in Christ’s name.
Plate offerings are financial gifts outside of a pledge that are placed in the offering plates during a church service or mailed to the office. St. James has a number of financial supporters who prefer not to pledge but are generous givers to the plate offering. Please know that if you choose not to pledge, we are still grateful for every gift.
Special gifts can be given at any time by any giver. Often these gifts are given over and above a pledge or a regular plate offering on a special occasion or for a special reason. Sometimes these gifts are given at the end of a calendar year for tax purposes, out of thanksgiving for God’s gifts, or as a memorial for someone who has died.
As long as the giver of the gift (pledge, plate offering or other) is identified, the gift will be attributed to the giver. These gifts are tax-deductible as provided by law, and you will be provided a statement at the end of the calendar year of the amount of your tax-deductible gift.
This stewardship season let us build on St. James’ legacy of generous, joyful giving to better equip us to do the work God has given us to do. I am asking you to give as generously as you can so that St. James can continue to reach out in love and minister in Christ’s name. Let us by word and action proclaim to Greenville and the world:
God is Love, let heaven adore him;
God is Love, let earth rejoice;
Let creation sing before him;
And exalt him with one voice;
God who laid the earth’s foundation,
God who spread the heavens above,
God who breathes through every nation:
God is love, eternal love.
Hymnal 379
God calls us to extend that love by opening our arms to the world and to serve the in-breaking Kingdom of God as disciples of Christ. Jesus reached out and ministered to those who felt lost, marginalized, and despised by this world. He would have us do the same. Christ would have us seek justice in his name, standing with and advocating for the persecuted and oppressed, giving voice to the voiceless and confronting the conscience of the nation. Christ would have us protect the widow and the orphan and bid the stranger welcome. Christ would have us be his hands and heart in this world so in need of healing.
Our mission at St. James is to be a community of ἀγάπη (love); to live fully into our calling as disciples of Christ, loving our neighbors as ourselves, and living in harmony and peace with one another. Our mission is to show the world that humanity’s highest calling is to love (1 Cor. 13:13). St. James is a special place where we embrace love, understand that authentic Christianity is always grounded in love and, as Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has said, “If it’s not about love, it’s not about God.”
Through your financial support of St. James, St. James can grow this witness to the power of love in Greenville and the world. We are in our pledge gathering season and each and every financial commitment to support St. James and its ministries makes a difference.
How does your financial support enable St. James to live into Christ’s call to love? Your financial support is used to support facilities, staff, and most importantly, mission.
Every week we open our doors to all who come seeking the living Christ, welcoming the stranger, engaging the seeker, strengthening the faithful, anointing the sick, and feeding the flock thorough word and sacrament. In our worship, Christ’s resurrection and his Gospel of love are proclaimed and we are strengthened to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). We worship God in a house built by the generosity of those who have gone before, in vestments and altar appointments given and sewn as offerings to God, flowers arranged to celebrate the beauty of creation, and we are uplifted by sacred music flowing from an organ which was purchased and carried in piece by piece by the faithful. Your gifts go to support keeping these doors open for all, maintaining the beauty of our space, and celebrating the best of our Episcopal and Anglican liturgical and musical heritage as we worship God in the beauty of holiness.
Your support also funds our Christian education programs such as Sunday School, vacation bible school, adult Christian education, youth ministry, lenten programs and bible study, and helps maintain the facilities they use. In addition, St. James’ campus is a community center for a number of groups that serve the community. Bridge clubs, twelve step programs, high school sports teams and booster programs, counseling services, immigration services, college club service projects, and local arts programs all use our campus as home base as they minister to the community. Just look at our parish calendar: St. James is engaged in or hosting community ministry on a daily basis and on most days, multiple ministries! While many churches are closing their doors to these programs and mothballing their space, your gifts enable St. James to continue to reach out and welcome the community to our campus.
St. James’ mission outreach budget is by far the largest of any church our size in the Diocese. We give over $25,000.00 in direct financial support every calendar year. Your financial gifts help send underprivileged children to Camp Bob at Kanuga, provide over 30,000 meals to the hungry throughout the world, support KAIROS prison ministry and Canterbury Counseling Center, stock the food pantry at United Ministries, support vocational training at Project Host, expand the reach of scholarships through Education Equals Hope in Ecuador, provide choral scholarships for Furman music students, support ministry on college campuses, the Episcopal Church’s Millennium Development Goals, and so much more.
How can you help? There are three different ways to support St. James financially: through pledging, through plate offering, and through special gifts.
The most beneficial for our planning purposes is a financial pledge. A pledge is a written commitment to support St. James financially for at a certain amount for the next budget year. Pledges are critical to our ability to do ministry because in addition to carrying out the work Jesus has given us to do, we are also called to be good stewards of the gifts we are given both by scripture and canon law. We cannot spend more than we receive, so planning what we have to spend on ministry is largely a function of pledges received. If you have pledged previously, I encourage you to do so again. If you have never pledged, I encourage you to consider doing so this year. The more commitments we secure, the more we can do in Christ’s name.
Plate offerings are financial gifts outside of a pledge that are placed in the offering plates during a church service or mailed to the office. St. James has a number of financial supporters who prefer not to pledge but are generous givers to the plate offering. Please know that if you choose not to pledge, we are still grateful for every gift.
Special gifts can be given at any time by any giver. Often these gifts are given over and above a pledge or a regular plate offering on a special occasion or for a special reason. Sometimes these gifts are given at the end of a calendar year for tax purposes, out of thanksgiving for God’s gifts, or as a memorial for someone who has died.
As long as the giver of the gift (pledge, plate offering or other) is identified, the gift will be attributed to the giver. These gifts are tax-deductible as provided by law, and you will be provided a statement at the end of the calendar year of the amount of your tax-deductible gift.
This stewardship season let us build on St. James’ legacy of generous, joyful giving to better equip us to do the work God has given us to do. I am asking you to give as generously as you can so that St. James can continue to reach out in love and minister in Christ’s name. Let us by word and action proclaim to Greenville and the world:
God is Love, let heaven adore him;
God is Love, let earth rejoice;
Let creation sing before him;
And exalt him with one voice;
God who laid the earth’s foundation,
God who spread the heavens above,
God who breathes through every nation:
God is love, eternal love.
Hymnal 379
Why St. James?
Amanda Davis
Jody Thompson
