This note is the second to talk about “serving here.”

“Serving here” includes those ministries of St David’s that serve both our parishioners as well as others outside our church. Examples include outreach, pastoral care, communications, shepherd groups, ministry with children, ministry with youth, ministry with seniors, and adult discipleship among others.

Last week we talked about serving here as we do today. There certainly is great value in the serving ministries mentioned above.

But are these ministries sufficient to serve the needs of the Parish, much less the surrounding community? What more might we need to do to achieve an “optimal” ministry in 2008?

One clear shortcoming in “serving here” today can be seen in our direct clerical ministry to families and to persons who are sick or in crisis. Our Rector conducts worship, adult education and a variety of other community wide tasks. Our Deacon is dedicated principally to communications.

So, our ordained resources to support families and individuals in crisis are limited. We are especially limited in our ability to respond to persons who are not in acute distress but who need support and care over an extended period of time.

We are blessed to have a strong layled pastoral care ministry. And we are able to respond with clergy in acute crises. But we are limited in our ability to serve the families or individuals who are struggling but not yet in an acute situation.

A major need of our Parish is the addition of a priest to the staff who can concentrate on directly serving parish families and individuals in need. This need is recognized by those lay leaders providing pastoral support as well as by parishioners who are not served as we would wish to serve them.

We have seen by adding a Youth Minister to the staff how that portion of our parish has become energized and is attracting a greater percentage of our youth. Having an individual focused on one area allows us to build the relationships needed to serve that group.

Likewise, focusing a priest on pastoral care and family ministry would allow us to serve those groups better. The cost of adding an additional priest to staff is about $125,000 per year.

Next week we will end this series with a discussion of the alternative futures available to this parish.