May Rector’s Letter

Dear Parish Family,   

In this Rector’s Letter we are talking about the work underway toward our upcoming expansion, honoring our long time janitor and maintenance man Roland Jones, and the current significant challenges that are now facing the entire world-wide Anglican Communion.

Expansion Committee
I’m very excited to let you know that we have gotten the band back together again! The Expansion Committee, chaired by Shea Kirkman, has begun monthly meetings to review the entire plan for our upcoming expansion from back to front. The plans are an investment in youth and children's ministry, fellowship and Christian education ministry spaces. We have a beautifulChurch, which matches the priority and centrality of worship in our Parish life. The planned expansion will be an investment in the other types of ministry spaces that we hope will facilitate long term growth in our ministry to the families of Southlake and the surrounding areas. We are so blessed to have a group of rock stars on this committee, many of whom are in the construction industry. In the coming weeks, they will meet with our youth and children's ministry staff to gather their feedback and then will turn to the entire Parish family, so we're sure to establish all of the right priorities. Standby for more exciting info!

Timeline
What can you expect in terms of timing? We are in the planning phase right now and will be through the summer and fall of this year. Tentatively, we are planning for a Capital Campaign in the spring of 2024. We still have lots of work to do, and there are many variables which could elongate this timeline, but we wanted to let you know what to expect.

Capital Campaign Steering Committee
Our Capital Campaign Steering Committee has also been meeting on a monthly basis. We’ve been trying to discern the level of outside expertise we need to guide us through a potential Capital Campaign. Typically a church hires an outside fundraising consultant to guide a church through the process. So, we’ve been discussing and are bringing in several different fundraising experts for interviews. We’re trying to find what we think will work best for us, given the fact that we ran a full campaign in 2016 and then had to hit the brakes. We’ll keep you posted as more interviews proceed.

Roland Jones
If you’ve ever been here during “off-hours," you’ve probably had the privilege of meeting Roland Jones who has taken care of our property for over 33 years. He started with us in 1989! Recently Roland, who is 86 years old, let us know that he is needed at home to care for his wife Jackie and is ready to retire. Roland did many jobs around the Parish that were often unseen and thus thankless. We are so grateful to him for his many, many hours of service caring for God’s house. The Vestry voted last night to give him a very nice retirement gift and we are trying to find a way to honor him soon. 

Several years ago, we began to develop a relationship with Jose Romero who would come in as a backup to Roland and occasionally deep clean our buildings. Over time, Jose and Roland developed a friendship and I would find Roland showing Jose all of the little ins and outs of our property in preparation for the day when Roland was ready to step down. With Roland retiring, the transition has been seamless. We are in good hands with Jose and we give thanks to God for providing for us. If you see Jose around, please introduce yourself, as he wants to get to know the Parish family. 

Difficulties in the Anglican Communion
Many of you will have seen the news that the Anglican Communion now faces some serious challenges. Recently the Church of England, which is the Mother Church for all Anglicans, voted to proceed with blessing same-sex relationships. When the Church votes to endorse behaviors that the Holy Scriptures explicitly forbid, we are sent into crisis. When the Church’s titular leader, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Rt. Rev. Justin Welby, who laid the crown on King Charles III’s head the other day at Westminster Abbey, leads the campaign for the Church of England to bless what God has forbidden, we have a real problem.

To give a rough sketch of what’s happening, the provinces of the Anglican Communion that are located in the western, developed world are all wanting to redefine God’s revealed plan for marriage and human sexuality. Our brothers and sisters in the global South, in Africa, Latin America, and Asia want nothing to do with this redefinition and are warning that should the Church of England proceed, new arrangements for the entire Anglican Communion will have to be made. The Anglican Communion has approximately 85 million members spreading across 165 countries. The overwhelming majority of these Anglicans are devout, humble, and want to continue the unbroken practice of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church regarding marriage and our teaching on the proper boundaries for human sexual behavior. It’s a very small minority of western folks who seek this significant break with Scripture and tradition.
Essentially, what we went through with the Episcopal Church about 15-20 years ago is now what the entire Anglican Communion faces. There is still time to avoid a meltdown. This summer, the Church of England has to vote a second time to proceed before anything actually takes place. Please join me in praying for wisdom and that we can avoid the inevitable pain that will come, should they vote to proceed.

As we make our way toward the expansion, please know that we welcome feedback and would love to hear from you.  
Many blessings,

Fr. John Jordan