Baptism and Discipleship - Rector's Rambling for January 30, 2022

     Today we have scheduled our 162nd Annual Parish Meeting immediately following the 10 AM Service.  It will be held in the church.

Due to the current mandate forbidding coffee hour and meals, imposed by the dioceses in the lower peninsula of Michigan, we are not able to have our regular luncheon before the meeting,  Therefore we will get right onto the meeting following the postlude.  The agenda consists primarily of review of the 2021 financial report and an explanation of the budget passed by the Vestry for 2022, as well as the election of new members for the Vestry.  Reports from organizations in the parish are printed in the Annual Parish Meeting for your perusal.  If you have a question about, or want to give kudos to, any organizations be sure to approach their leadership.  I am sure every group would be happy to have additional people aboard.

Our parish register lists the first baptisms held at St. John’s, held on November 11, 1859.  Back on December 26th of 2021 we did baptism number 7,290.  I count it an amazing blessing to have administered 163 of them in the 21 years I have been your rector.

As we will discuss at the Annual Parish Meeting we will discuss the importance of a two-pronged emphasis of this parish: discipleship and evangelism.  Discipleship is learning to live the Christian faith through education, worship and fellowship.  This equips us to live in a world that is increasingly antagonistic to biblical Christianity. 

Evangelism is sharing the truth learned and lived through discipleship with those around us - our neighbors, coworkers, friends, family and strangers as well.

And by God’s grace, and God willing we will add more names to the register as we add souls to the Body of Christ