Dear People of St. James’,
It is bittersweet to write to you to let you know that Amber Sarpy, St. James’ Children’s Minister, will be leaving our staff at the end of December to follow in her mother’s footsteps to expand her ministry of Christian counseling, pastoral care, and outreach through The Clear and Blameless Word Ministries. This is a wonderful opportunity for Amber, but we are sorry to see her leave the staff.
Over the past year, Amber has built up a great team of volunteers, and she has built community among children and parents alike. Today, we have, not one, but 3 Godly Play classes in 2 languages happening on a regular basis. This has been a long-time goal for us, and our hope is to take the foundation that Amber has built and continue to build upon it.
It is not easy to find a Children’s Minister who has the spirituality, the skills, and the intercultural savvy that we need at St. James’ and who is willing to work part-time. So, instead of scrambling to find someone by January 1, we are talking with a couple people who have already shared leadership with Amber about helping us build a bridge to the next phase of this ministry. This will allow us to do a proper search while maintaining what has been built.
We want to celebrate the amazing work that Amber has done with us over the last year, so please join us at 10:30 am and 1 pm on December 18 to pray over her for this next phase of her journey and to celebrate her ministry during the reception time from 12-1 pm. She will still be with us for Christmas services, but we feel that December 18 will be a better time to celebrate the gift that Amber (and Mateo) have been to our community of faith.
Rev. Eileen
