Together as One in Christ
St. James Commitment Campaign 2018
May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 15:5-6
We live in a world that sometimes seems ready to come apart at the seams: where division and dissension are accepted as the norm and our civic discourse is anything but civil. We live at a time when the extremes are becoming more extreme and middle ground is increasingly hard to hold. In other words, we live in a world that is deeply divided and deeply in need of Christ.
Our Eucharistic prayers remind us that as disciples of Christ, we are living members of Christ and heirs through hope of God’s everlasting kingdom. There is a great temptation to rest in this promise and to disassociate from and withdraw from this world. But that is not what Christ did, and it is not what Christ would have us do. Christ willingly went to the cross and died to show the world the depth and breadth of God’s love for this world: he did not turn his back on the world that despised him, rather, he extended his arms on the hard wood of the cross, that everyone might come within the reach of his saving embrace.
As the Body of Christ, Christ would have us extend our arms to the world and not to wait passively for the coming of the Kingdom, but work to hasten its coming. Christ would have us reach out to those who feel lost, marginalized, and despised by this world and minister to them in his name. 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.
This is our mission at St. James: to live fully into our calling as disciples of Christ, loving our neighbors as ourselves, and seeking unity in community, not uniformity. Our mission is to show the world that through Christ, it is possible to live the words of the Afro-American spiritual, “In Christ there is no East or West, in him no South or North, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth,” (1982 Hymnal p. 529). Every member of the St. James community knows that this is a special place where these words truly resonate and that we have a special witness to share with Greenville and the world.
Through your financial support of St. James, St. James can grow this witness to Greenville and to 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. 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 appear in the Church’s accounting system and will be attributed to the giver. These gifts are tax-deductible and you will be provided a statement at the end of the calendar year of the amount of your tax-deductible gift.
How does your financial support enable St. James to live into Christ’s call? Your financial support is used to support facilities, staff, and most importantly, mission. Every Sunday, we open our doors to all who come seeking the living Christ, welcoming the stranger, engaging the seeker, and feeding the faithful by word and sacrament. We worship in the beauty of holiness in a house built by the generosity of the faithful, in vestments and altar appointments given and sewn by the faithful, flowers arranged by the faithful, and we are uplifted by sacred music flowing from an organ which was purchased by and carried in piece by piece by the faithful. Your gifts go to support keeping these doors open, maintaining the beauty of our space and the vitality of our music and worship.
Your support also funds our Christian education programs such as Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, adult Christian education, Youth Ministry and Lenten programs, and helps maintain the facilities they use. In addition, St. James’ campus has become a community center for a number of groups that serve the community. Bridge clubs, twelve step programs, high school sports teams 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. 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: $21,000.00 from our mission outreach budget plus approximately 10% of what we give to the Diocese. Your gifts go to send underprivileged children to Camp Bob at Kanuga, package and send over 40,000 meals to the hungry throughout the world through Rise Against Hunger (formerly Stop Hunger Now), support KAIROS prison ministry, and so much more.
In a world that is increasingly divided and where the embers of hatred glow, I am asking you to stand with me as witnesses that love is the more excellent way. I am asking you to give as generously as you can so that St. James can continue to reach out and minister in Christ’s name. Let’s show Greenville and the world that what unites us in Christ is far stronger than those things that would divide us, and that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, or our love for each other.
Our Eucharistic prayers remind us that as disciples of Christ, we are living members of Christ and heirs through hope of God’s everlasting kingdom. There is a great temptation to rest in this promise and to disassociate from and withdraw from this world. But that is not what Christ did, and it is not what Christ would have us do. Christ willingly went to the cross and died to show the world the depth and breadth of God’s love for this world: he did not turn his back on the world that despised him, rather, he extended his arms on the hard wood of the cross, that everyone might come within the reach of his saving embrace.
As the Body of Christ, Christ would have us extend our arms to the world and not to wait passively for the coming of the Kingdom, but work to hasten its coming. Christ would have us reach out to those who feel lost, marginalized, and despised by this world and minister to them in his name. 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.
This is our mission at St. James: to live fully into our calling as disciples of Christ, loving our neighbors as ourselves, and seeking unity in community, not uniformity. Our mission is to show the world that through Christ, it is possible to live the words of the Afro-American spiritual, “In Christ there is no East or West, in him no South or North, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth,” (1982 Hymnal p. 529). Every member of the St. James community knows that this is a special place where these words truly resonate and that we have a special witness to share with Greenville and the world.
Through your financial support of St. James, St. James can grow this witness to Greenville and to 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. 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 appear in the Church’s accounting system and will be attributed to the giver. These gifts are tax-deductible and you will be provided a statement at the end of the calendar year of the amount of your tax-deductible gift.
How does your financial support enable St. James to live into Christ’s call? Your financial support is used to support facilities, staff, and most importantly, mission. Every Sunday, we open our doors to all who come seeking the living Christ, welcoming the stranger, engaging the seeker, and feeding the faithful by word and sacrament. We worship in the beauty of holiness in a house built by the generosity of the faithful, in vestments and altar appointments given and sewn by the faithful, flowers arranged by the faithful, and we are uplifted by sacred music flowing from an organ which was purchased by and carried in piece by piece by the faithful. Your gifts go to support keeping these doors open, maintaining the beauty of our space and the vitality of our music and worship.
Your support also funds our Christian education programs such as Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, adult Christian education, Youth Ministry and Lenten programs, and helps maintain the facilities they use. In addition, St. James’ campus has become a community center for a number of groups that serve the community. Bridge clubs, twelve step programs, high school sports teams 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. 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: $21,000.00 from our mission outreach budget plus approximately 10% of what we give to the Diocese. Your gifts go to send underprivileged children to Camp Bob at Kanuga, package and send over 40,000 meals to the hungry throughout the world through Rise Against Hunger (formerly Stop Hunger Now), support KAIROS prison ministry, and so much more.
In a world that is increasingly divided and where the embers of hatred glow, I am asking you to stand with me as witnesses that love is the more excellent way. I am asking you to give as generously as you can so that St. James can continue to reach out and minister in Christ’s name. Let’s show Greenville and the world that what unites us in Christ is far stronger than those things that would divide us, and that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, or our love for each other.
Why St. James?
Amanda Davis
Jody Thompson
