Rector Report 2025
2025 was a year of saying yes. Yes to God’s many invitations. Yes to starting something new. Yes to believing in future possibilities.
In his book Improvisation: The Drama of Christian Ethics, Anglican priest and theologian, Samuel Wells frames Christian life as improvisational theater, focusing on "Yes, and..." as a way to accept God's grace and build on it. He argues that this approach treats moments as "gifts" rather than "givens," enabling the followers of Jesus to creatively respond to the current moment by building on established, faithful habits.
I have often felt over the last year that is what is happening here at St. Barnabas. This current St. Barnabas community is responding to the invitations of our time by drawing upon the faithful practices of those who have gone before us.
Over this past year, we have remembered again the leap of faith of the founders of our St. Barnabas community – those who saw a way to create a new church in Montgomery for future generations: gathering to worship, responding to tornados and community needs, and building a church from the ground up. As we launched our Capital Campaign, Planting Seeds for the Future, we have been blessed by the generosity, wisdom, and gifts of so many people. I am overwhelmed by what we have accomplished through your faithfulness and vision. In 6 months, we have raised over a million dollars (we are getting close to our goal of $1.2 million!). Through these gifts and with the incredible support of Bishop White and the Diocese of Southern Ohio, in October, we purchased the Bove Family property to the north adding 1.5 acres to our current property. We are beginning a season of visioning about what comes next as we continue to grow and find ways to serve the community and create space for future generations to call home.
The gift of this past year included many hours of conversations with our vestry, leaders, and members as we lived into the first year of a five year strategic plan. We continued to nurture the spiritual growth of our congregation, we expanded our ministries and are engaging more deeply with our neighbors and surrounding communities while strengthening our financial and human resources.
To this end, we hired the Rev. Greg Williams as our new curate (assistant priest) in July and were excited to host his ordination to the priesthood which was a joyful and deeply spiritual experience for our congregation. His presence among us is already bearing fruit as we have launched a 20’s and 30’s something group and been blessed with the spiritual formation and pastoral care gifts he brings to our community.
Rev. Greg helped us in leading confirmation classes for both youth and adults this fall. 20 of our members were confirmed and received when Bishop White joined us for a visitation on November 9th.
Our children, youth, and family ministries continue to thrive. Our children bring joy and energy to our congregation in worship, in pageants, and in the relationships that are growing between our generations. Our youth inspire us by their faith and acts of service. Their leadership is evident in a multitude of ways whether as acolytes, ushers, musicians, storytellers or Sunday School helpers. Our youth mission trip to the Church of the Transfiguration in Western N.C. was one of the highlights of my year and the dedication and love our young people demonstrated in doing what they could to help in the post-Helene recovery efforts continues as a personal source of hope and inspiration. Our faith compels us to action in the world.
We have launched several new ministries of care that support not only our members but the wider community. This year, we have commissioned new Stephen Ministers and leaders to offer pastoral care to members. We have added a ministry called Creative Connections in partnership with the Giving Voice Foundation, which offers care for those suffering from dementia and a support group for their caregivers each week on Wednesdays. We also were blessed by the leadership of Barbara Burke, Kit Meade, and Bruce Bollman who have been hosting a grief support group to accompany those who have lost a beloved spouse or partner. Our Becoming Beloved Community team offered a 10 month series called Sacred Ground in which some of our members committed to work on racial justice and healing in our communities and in the world.
We also expanded our Outreach Ministries – as more people became food insecure this year, we increased our support for 3 different food pantries in tangible ways helping them expand their ministries. We continue to serve alongside Operation Give Back including supporting their second summer camp activities for young people as well as Dinner and the Bible this year. We also have continued our long time ministry to Findlay Street – 7 Hills Neighborhood House in the West End with crock pot cooking classes, summer camp, and a daily food rescue ministry (68,000 pounds of food for those in need!). We once again partnered with Habitat for Humanity to build houses and support Rock the Block events. Matthew 25 and Kairos continue to be wonderful ways for our congregation to serve in love and faith.
We launched Realm Connect, our new database, app, and member portal to keep our congregation connected throughout the week. It was a huge initiative for our staff but we have been thrilled to see groups using it to connect, members reaching out to one another through the online directory and signing up for parish events and volunteering. Look for a print version of the directory coming very soon!
In addition, we had our most successful stewardship campaign to date with pledges of $634,000 for 2026 as we celebrated all the big and small ways that St. Barnabas is sharing God’s love with all people. At Christmas we had 650 people join us for our Christmas Eve services. We also partnered with other Montgomery churches in a Quiet Christmas Service on December 21st and we hosted a menorah lighting for the City of Montgomery alongside Rabbi Samantha Shapera.
Throughout this year, we kept saying yes, yes to welcoming new people, yes to new partnerships, yes to giving what we have towards God’s mission, yes to allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us into the future. And we said yes to each other – in a world divided we keep turning towards each other with open hearts and trusting that if we let love be our guide we will be blessed. Paul writes to the church in Corinth all those years ago and reminds them of the power of saying yes.
“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Corinthians 1:20-22)
May God who has begun these good works in us, continue to empower us by the Holy Spirit to live into our yeses in the year ahead. I am so grateful for all of you and your faith and love that guides our community into the future.
Join us for the St. Barnabas Annual Meeting
Sunday, February 1 | 9 a.m. | Sanctuary | Livestream Available
Please join us for the Annual Meeting of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church. We’ll come together to celebrate the past year and to look forward to the future.
During the meeting, we will hear updates about the life and ministry of our Parish as well as our financial health. It is also a time when we elect leaders to serve on our vestry (board). We will be electing 3 new leaders for 3 - year terms. Learn more about our new vestry candidates here.
