News

As we close out the year … As this year winds to a close, I simply wanted to shoot you a quick email to remind you of three cool things that happened at our church this year. These are directly related to the investment which our people have made in the mission of Our Lady of Walsingham Anglican Church; so, you’ve got a big part in this. We were able to finally secure a place to hold our worship services! Despite the shut down, and lots of other things that happen we will be kicking off 2022 as a solid congregation of the Anglican Free Communion International! Due to a generous donation from my mom, Kathy Whetstone, to honor my dad, we were able to provide four complete thanks giving meals to families in need in our community! This is HUGE considering our church has not taken much in the way of an offering since the shut down.  The generosity continued into Christmas. Again, despite not really taking up an offering on a regular basis, we were able to partner with another family and provide 10 Christmas meals to families in need this Christmas! Five meals from our church and five meals from one family were able to make sure 10 families did not have the stress of choosing between presents for their children and Christmas dinner. In addition to the meals we were able to provide gift cards to several students to allow them to shop for their family and friends.  Thank you. Thank you for being a part of what God is doing through our church. Your giving to our ministry this year has made all the difference! As we come into these last few hours of the year, I’m wondering if you’d be willing to make a final gift to the mission of our church? We rely on faithful giving from people like you, and your gift today would help us start next year off strong. It would be our honor if you could give a gift as we ring in the New Year!

A message from the Rector: As covid cases are continuing to rise in the Mahoning Valley we are implementing the following safety procedures at the church: We ask all parishioners to take their temperature prior to attending Eucharist. If your temperature is above normal we ask that you remain home and get tasted for Covid as soon as possible. Masking will be mandatory for anyone in attendance. We will have the disposable surgical mask for everyone to wear. We ask that you not wear cloth masks as these are proven to be less effective. We will have the sanctuary set up so that proper social distancing will be maintained. Eucharist will be given in one form only, the Body of Christ. One row at a time will come up for Eucharist. Once that row is complete the next row will be allowed to come up. If you have tested positive or have been exported to someone who has tested positive we ask that you remain home and join us for worship online. Please notify us immediately if you have tested positive so we can provide spiritual care to you and your family and assist in anyway we can. All services will be recorded in their entirety and posted online for you to be able to view if you are unable to attend. In the event that other churches begin to shut down, we will notify you immediately via email, text and social media our plans for remote services. Your Servant In Christ, Brent +

An Important Announcement regarding our January 8, Church Celebration: Out of an abidance of caution and following local and state health guidelines the decision has been made to ask anyone attending our January 8 church celebration to wear a mask regardless of vaccine status.  Currently all hospitals in North East Ohio are at capacity, meaning that they are out of beds. At Our Lady of Walsingham Anglican Church we are committed to ensuring that we do our part to keep everyone in our community safe.  We will continue to monitor the status of the health crisis and make adjustments accordingly. We ask that you continue to pray for our church and community during these uncertain times.  +++++++++ O most mighty and merciful God, in this time of grievous sickness, we flee unto thee for succor. Deliver us, we beseech thee, from our peril; give strength and skill to all those who minister to the sick; prosper the means made use of for their cure; and grant that, perceiving how frail and uncertain our life is, we may apply our hearts unto that heavenly wisdom which leadeth to eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

We are looking for vestry members!! The 4 Roles of the Vestry 1. Protect the Vision The Vestry’s primary role is to protect the stated vision of the parish. Each member of the Vestry should be able to articulate and safeguard the primary visionary direction of the congregation. They should each know the answer to this question: What is it we are trying to do here? How to discern and articulate the Vision that God has for the parish deserves its own blog post, but once the Vision is understood and prayed through, the Vestry should guard and protect it. It shouldn’t change with the seasons or passing of years. 2. Insure the Values The next function of the Vestry is to insure the values of the congregation. That is, while the Vestry may know the direction and what they are trying to do as a parish, the Values question is this: How are we actually trying to live out our vision? What are the means and programs by which we are working toward our Vision? Where do we focus our efforts? What are we going to do now? Adult Discipleship. Worship. Evangelism Ministries, Small Groups. Student Ministry. Compassion Ministry. Local Mission, etc. These are not choices to make…one instead of the other…but areas to build up and maintain. 3. Uphold Financial Integrity The Vestry is also charged with protecting the financial integrity of the church. Through a designated Finance team, the Vestry should scrutinize the finances on a monthly basis. They should provide for an annual audit of all funds; approve budgets and make routine reports to the congregation. They should approve long-term financial contracts and basically act as guardians of the financial life of the parish to insure that the church has a long-term future and is operating in a trustworthy way with all funds that have been given or borrowed. 4. Support the Rector Supporting the Rector is the fourth key role of the Vestry. The Rector is the main agent of the Vestry to accomplish 1, 2, and 3 above. The Vestry’s primary role then is to help the Rector accomplish these things. Vestry leadership is never honorary; they are not rubber stamps for what the Rector decides is best. But they are not either to be ‘devil’’s advocates’ (who needs that!?), the loyal opposition, or representatives of any special interest groups or programs in the parish. The Vestry have one job in a sense: find the Rector to lead the parish in 1, 2 and 3 (above) and support him however they can.