The 2024 budget was prepared on a pro forma basis, including rector costs for the full year. To cover the operating deficit arising from higher costs, we have budgeted an additional draw from the Endowment Fund. It is not likely that this will be required, as savings arising from using supply clergy during the transition will reduce the operating deficit.

Our approach to worship incorporates a Eucharistic-based liturgy. We follow the Book of Common Prayer Rite I and Rite II according to the church season. Music is an integral and inspirational part of our worship, utilizing both The Hymnal 1982 and Lift Every Voice and Sing II hymnals. We also feel it is important to have our church school children join our services after their instruction and for them to participate in varied ways. We offer Sunday services with Eucharist at 10 a.m., noonday prayer service on Wednesdays, and an evening contemplative prayer service monthly. Special services are conducted for Holy Week, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. On New Year’s Day we renew our Baptismal Covenant. All who seek a relationship with God, wherever they may be on their spiritual journey, are welcome at our church and at God’s table.

One of All Saints’ strengths is the number and vigor of ministries we have through which one can explore and reinforce one’s faith, especially for a parish of our size. It begins with worship that is participatory, inclusive at all ages and across many roles, from music to Altar Guild to lay minister home visits. But we also go out to spread God’s love and “do the work He has given us to do.” As one parishioner put it, “We chip in when and where needed.” We have a mission to which we adhere. When combined with our Gospel-informed ethic and culture of welcome, the ministries provide a strong basis for engaging with parishioners (and others) wherever they may be in their faith journey.

We do food and fellowship very well—yes, for its own culinary and caloric virtues, but also for its welcome and shared experience, for its strengthening of parish community, and as a jumping-off point. Although there are aspects that we know we can improve, we understand and steadily execute outreach in its multiple facets—(a) in the sense of “in-reach,” individually and collectively supporting and being present for our fellow parishioners, especially those in need; (b) in the sense of helping others in need in our local communities and beyond; and (c) in the sense of enhancing our presence in the community through engaging with senior breakfasts, music, theater, history (with our 150th anniversary in 2023), Scouting sponsorship, etc. Over the years we have shown ourselves to be adaptive, open, and flexible in approach, as we were during the pandemic, but also consistent in our commitment, ethic, and sense of mission.

While we can celebrate and thank God for our successes, we also recognize and embrace the need for improvement, especially in regard to our home community. There is a strong desire to develop our Christian education on all levels. All Saints’ presently holds a weekly lay-lead Bible study class that a small number of parishioners attend. Other adult education programs have been too infrequent and fleeting since the pandemic. Our youth have no formal curriculum once they move on from Sunday School, and our recent confirmands participated in  abbreviated, non-structured preparatory classes.

Our once very vibrant and active Youth Group has dwindled over the years. After our last Youth Group leader stepped down to focus on other ministries, no one has been called upon to lead our youth, to the detriment of our teens and families. It is vital we build up this ministry again, to engage our youth and to keep our current families at All Saints.

Like most churches today, we want to attract new families and grow our faith community, since it is our intention to live out our mission: “All Saints’ Episcopal Church strives to be a growing Christian community that welcomes, nurtures, and nourishes people of varied cultures, backgrounds, and ages.…” But the call is there to foster our current home community as well. We pride ourselves on being a welcoming parish, and yet solicited feedback indicates a lack of communication, leaving members seeking more information and opportunity for input. The challenge lies in balancing our desire for growth and outreach while nurturing our current members on their faith journeys.

All Saints’ embodies Christ's teaching through inclusivity, compassion, and empowerment by fostering a welcoming environment within our church and our Scotch Plains/Fanwood community. We strive to grow together in our faith while seeking to evolve and develop our present, and future community, centered in love, fellowship, unity, and service.

The Rev. Canon Joan Mason

Transition Ministry Officer Diocese of NJ

jmason@dioceseofnj.org

609-460-5408