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Dear Church Family:

Two years ago we began a dialogue about the possibility of a sabbatical for 2014. The twenty four month gap between those initial conversations and the reality of this week’s departure is nothing short of amazing for my family. Your willingness to send us so openly is an act of authentic grace and unconditional love. The generosity of the church, and Lilly Endowment, has opened a door that we soon walk through. I have no idea what awaits, none of us do. However, I am beyond excited to step into it and believe that God will give us what is needed to absorb the experience in anticipation of returning home to tell the story.

I have complete confidence in the Pastoral Staff, Support Staff, and Lay Leaders as they guide Tabernacle through the summer. God has blessed us with an abundance of servant leaders and I thank each of them for their willingness to carry the additional responsibilities that will be required over the next three months. I leave this week with a heart full of gratitude and tremendous hope for our future together. I also look forward to returning home again, on the other side of sabbatical, with renewed energy and passion for what will inevitably be a continued season of spiritual and numerical growth.

Mary Oliver, the Pulitzer Prize winning poet, in “Six Recognitions of our Lord” articulates the return home in this way, “‘I go back to … my own house, my own life, which has now become brighter and simpler, somewhere I have never been before.” The Light that is guiding my family out into the world isn’t waiting for us….out “there”. Rather it is here at home and it has guided us as we’ve walked with you over these last ten years. The light will go with us into the world and it will also remain with you. It will bring us home again and I believe that all us will see everything more brightly when we come back together.

Thank you for receiving us. Thank you for sending us. Thank you for receiving us again on the other side. We love you.
Yours in Christ,

Sterling Severns
Pastor

In this final article about the February dinners, we take a look at the responses to the third questions asked by all of our facilitators—“How does the community see the church?”  Your participation in these dinners was important to the Campaign Leadership Team to make sure that what we have in mind for Tabernacle’s spiritual mission is a close match to the thoughts of our current congregation.   We have grown over the past several years, and we want to be sure that both our newer and longer term members have a voice in our approach to change.   Thinking about how we fit in our community is certainly a key consideration in our plans.

There are two consistent responses to the question about how the community views our church across all of the dinner notes:

• We really aren’t sure how people around us view the church today.
• We believe that we need to take a more active approach to engaging our community in the activities of our church.

Probably the most obvious spiritual mission that our neighbors can see is our commitment to the development of children via the Childcare Center.  They see the red and white strollers rolling up and down the streets, and they see children playing the in the playground.  There are Childcare Center graduates that live not far from the church—those children and their families know us as a positive contributor in our  community.

We serve our community each week through our Clothes Closet and Food Pantry assistance.  We distribute Thanksgiving Baskets every November to about 100 of our neighbors in need.  You suggested that we look for new ways of serving our neighbor in all age groups.

You also said that we should find new and creative ways of inviting those near us to learn more about Tabernacle.   Including neighbors in occasional “coffeehouse” type music events may provide a cordial way to get to know more of those who live nearby.  Inviting our neighbors to various events at the church throughout the year was also suggested.

Finding ways to keep the neighbors informed as we launch our physical changes and continue to grow our activities that enable us to realize our vision is crucial.  Continued participation in the neighborhood association is one of those avenues of communication within the local area.  We will look for a variety of ways to keep our progress updates available to our neighbors in the months and years ahead.

Again, we thank all of the sponsors for the Discovery Dinners, as well as all of the participants for braving the cold to share your thoughts and ideas!  This was a key initial step for our God-Sized Vision campaign.  As we progress in this campaign, we will make every effort to maintain a high level of communication with both our congregation and our community.

We welcome your questions as we move forward with our God-Sized Vision campaign.  You will find a Vision Campaign Questions mailbox and blank white cards near the sanctuary to write down your questions.  Please use these cards as a way to communicate your questions, and we will be certain to respond either by phone call and/or article in the TAB.  Be sure to write down your name and phone number on your card if you prefer to receive a personal phone call.

The questions below were received after our Vision Event on May 4th.

Question A: 
Has the church discussed borrowing money in regards to this (these) projects? (Especially in regards to pledge commitments)

Question B:
Are we going to take out any loans or look into that possibility with the VA Baptists if we don’t get all of the funds by the end of the 3-year period or do that to begin construction early?

Answer: 
The Church will not borrow funds (from banks or the Virginia Baptist Foundation) to finance the construction; however, we may consider borrowing against the commitment amounts. This type of funding would have to be approved by the Church and analyzed carefully.

 

Question: 
Will you be beginning projects as money comes in or waiting until the full 2 million comes in?
Answer:
We will wait until the total commitment amount is known before deciding how to proceed, including possible phasing.

We sincerely appreciate your interest in the success of this campaign.  Do not hesitate to ask any question that you may have!