There are all sorts of interesting and important things in the works at St. Nick’s. In this thread I’d like to talk about the direction that a year’s conversation with Santa Maria Mission seems to be leading us.
It is beginning to look like the mission of the Episcopal Church in Midland can better be served if we make a few changes in the way some of our programs and structures are set up. We think that doing three things will help to strengthen and deepen our mission in our community:
- First, we are talking about closing Santa Maria Mission as a congregation, and at the same time adding an extra service at St. Nick’s. The type of service this will be (all Spanish or bi-lingual) and its time (Saturday evening or later Sunday morning) will pretty much be up to the folks at Santa Maria. St. Nick’s present service will not be changed, but the full resources of St. Nick’s will be available for the the second service.
- All of the outreach ministries of Santa Maria and St. Nicholas’ will be joined and located in a single place–almost certainly the current Santa Maria location. This new ministry will be an incorporated, stand-alone ministry of the Episcopal Church, and will cooperate with other outreach services and ministries in town to help folks who need our help. This will include initially the Food Pantry, the Angel Threads Ministry, outreach to the schools, the developing companion program with a Diocese in the Dominican Republic, and our work with the homeless. More ministries will be developed as the need for them is identified.
- The Rev. Josie Rose, vicar of Santa Maria will divide her time among three ministries–initial oversight of the new outreach ministries, Hispanic ministry in Midland, and pastoral work at St. Nicholas’. The possibilities that this opens for these ministries is significant, and we are very excited about them.
There are a host of details to be worked out; and it will be a while before all of this is in place, but we are presenting this to both parishes, and our Bishop is supportive of the basic plan. I hope this blog can be a further part of the discussion of this plan, and can help us to move forward.
Please post your reflections, ideas, and questions.
Fr. Jim