Whoever is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much. Luke 16: 10

Here at St. John’s we’re embarking on the next phase of our multi-year capital campaign. And do we need it! To walk around outside the building is to risk falling stones. To look around the sanctuary is to see peeling paint, falling plaster, plywood covering the lower third of our precious Black Madonna window.

Like most venerable city churches, we have decades of deferred maintenance to contend with, and we urgently need to begin the next phase of our building restoration.

We finished one phase of our campaign in 2007: the basement renovation. We are thrilled with our basement, now bright, cheerful and busy, the pre-school tenants filling the place with life and energy all week, the Church School enjoying the space on Sundays.

We raised over $500,000 to redo our basement, and I found that miraculous. We appealed to parishioners to double their pledges for three years – in other words, to continue to pledge at the same level to the operating fund, and to give the same amount to the capital campaign for three years.

An astonishing number of parishioners were able to do that, and some did more. And I want to tell you how some people raised their extra pledges.

• One of us did a triathlon and donated all his pledges to our capital campaign.
• One of us cancelled a trip she’d planned to Ireland, and gave that money to St. John’s.
• Somebody re-financed her house and gave the savings to the campaign.
• A couple of women, inspired by the triathlon guy, ran a 10K and, likewise, donated their pledges.
• One of us said he would raise his pledge in exchange for free childcare from another. People were creative, and people were sacrificial, and we did it!

Never have I been more inspired or humbled. Never have I been more grateful or more proud to be rector here. Our success felt to me like an affirmation of the Scriptural promise, all things are possible with God.

The upcoming phase will provide much-needed repairs to the front facade of the sanctuary and tower, our and other priority stonework and re-pointing. Mortar isn’t sexy. But it’s essential. And these repairs will allow us to re-plaster, repaint, repair our beautiful stained glass, and make our building safe, comfortable and more attractive for our own use and that of the community.

To help determine the scope and priorities of the campaign, a building needs assessment has been carried out by Menders, Torrey, and Spencer, with whom we have worked on previous phases of our renovation. This will allow us to apply for grants, and move ahead to address our most urgent problem: the north elevation, which includes the preschool entry and suffers severe deterioration.

We will have more news about the campaign in the weeks and months to come. Please consider prayerfully how you can contribute to our efforts with your time, your talent, and your treasure. We can do this, my dear friends. We must, and we can. I have faith. I have faith in all of you, because of your own faithfulness. Whoever is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much.

Faithfully,

Anne