Dear People of St. James’,
2024 has been a challenging year in so many ways, but it has also been a time that has reaffirmed our need to be together as a people in Christ, walking in hope and perseverance. There are not a lot of multicultural church communities out there with the resilient courage and faithful and inclusive vision for ministry, grounded in a unique history as a black Episcopal church. Fragmentation is always the temptation in tumultuous times, but my well-founded hope is that the people of St. James’ will have their lives meaningfully transformed by one another in ways that manifest God’s dream for our world.
We have done some bold things this year. We expanded our Spanish-speaking staff with the addition of a full-time associate rector, The Rev. George Porter. This was a move that we made just in the knick of time in order to strengthen our faithful resistance to a public culture of anti-immigrant rhetoric and action. In this time, we will need to be engaged in a lot of organizing and legal work, and we can also expect the demands of pastoral care and felt transitions as people move or figure out how to minimize their vulnerability to increase. Thank goodness we have built up our team for this moment! As a community of faith that seeks to be faithful to the most vulnerable, St. James’ is determined to work together alongside our beloved siblings of the Spanish-speaking community to provide spaces of care and spiritual nurture, and to do the practical things demanded by the times.
We also welcomed a Curate, The Rev. Addison McMillan, who is helping us realize some of our longings regarding re-establishing connections with the Huston-Tillotson University community, ACC, and young adult ministries. This was an unexpected opportunity, which came out of several years of seed-planting conversations with our bishops. It did require us to go out on a limb to provide some additional funding for this work, although we are also benefiting from the incredible generosity of the Quin Foundation and the Great Commission Foundation of the Diocese of Texas. My hope is that when the Quin Foundation grant runs out in June 2026, we will be able to work with the Great Commission Foundation and increase our own funding so that Rev. McMillan can continue this good work. Experience tells us that it takes 3-5 years of consistent and dedicated leadership to plant a new campus ministry, and I have a lot of confidence in Rev. Addison and his growing team.
As this year comes to a close, we are a little behind on pledges and also behind expectations on unpledged income. Over the last quarter, we have reduced expenditures so that we might deal with some unexpected expenses and that unexpected opportunity for ministry (curate) I mentioned above. If you can help St. James’ by paying off your pledge by December 31, 2024, and considering an additional end-of-year gift, you will put us in a stronger position to meet the considerable challenges of 2025.
We go into 2025 rejoicing because God is doing something new and wonderful through the people of St. James’: building a bastion of hope, a space of safety and comfort, and a place where we can write a new story of the people of God. Thank you for being a part of God’s story in this place!
Rev. Eileen
