From the Vestry Finance Committee
Dear People of St. James’,
We are halfway through 2026, and the Vestry Finance Committee is glad to share our mid-year update with you. As stated in our Q1 letter, the numbers matter because they make our mission possible — so we want to begin, again, with how your generosity is impacting our community.
Last fall, the congregation adopted a Strategic Vision built on three pillars: Expanding Welcome, Connecting Generations, and Building Partnerships. This quarter, your giving moved us forward on all three.
Expanding Welcome
Lay leadership on full display. Eleven lay leaders represented St. James’ at the Latino Lay Leadership Conference at Camp Allen, deepening their formation as leaders in the wider church. Lay preachers helped us mark key commemorations of St. James’ heritage. Anthony Chapple, Vice President of the Myra McDaniel Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians, preached Thurgood Marshall Sunday. Ari Gandy was licensed as our newest lay preacher and offered a powerful sermon on Pauli Murray Sunday. The Community of Hope assisted clergy in bringing communion to a group at Sage Valley and offering pastoral care across our community. New summer formation series launched in both English and Spanish — a Summer Psalm Series during the Sunday Morning Forum and a Spirituality Group for our Spanish-speaking community, each led by lay members of our congregation.
Worship and community life. Luisa Jewell walked the Rite of a New Name during Sunday worship. Our choir stirred us at the Freedom Schools Commissioning in June. We commemorated Thurgood Marshall and Pauli Murray across our multilingual congregation, and joined the Thomas H. Keithley Lodge at the Round Rock Slave Cemetery for Juneteenth. We observed Pride Month, marking fifty years since the General Convention of the Episcopal Church began to open its doors more widely, and we made plans to be part of the Austin Pride parade on August 22.
Connecting Generations
Children and Youth Ministries We continue training adults in Safeguarding God’s Children to expand the number of people who can support our children’s and youth ministries. We celebrated the Class of 2026 and many other graduations, retirements, and other milestones. The high school youth group, with Rev. Eileen, Will Clark, and college student Elizabeth Gealy, spent a week doing service work in New Orleans. Youth also volunteered at Trinity Center and Neighbor 2 Neighbor this summer. Many of our children and youth participated in camp at Camp Allen, and our own Kole Nolan served as a counselor there. Each year, we make sure that finances are not an obstacle for any child or youth who wants to participate in summer camp at Camp Allen. We have welcomed some new acolytes to the altar party teams.
Hospitality that carries us. The Hora de Café gathers most of the 1:00 congregation around the table each Sunday, and our 12–1 hospitality team continues the same art, bringing us together with food, conversation and welcoming. Our partnership with Chef Ray at St. David’s for First Sunday Dinners after the Late Service makes possible what the hospitality line alone could not. This is stewardship you can taste.
Preserving our history. We have begun digitizing important paper records that tell the story of St. James’, including The Voice newsletters and pre-2000 Vestry records.
Building Partnerships
Luis Fernando Cabrera came home. Thanks to the hard work and advocacy of many, Luis Fernando returned to his family in time to graduate from high school. St. James’ has continued to walk with immigrant members and neighbors through Migration with Dignity vigils, ministry in the midst of detention, court accompaniment, and the ongoing Power of Attorney effort — and in Luis Fernando’s story, we saw again that this work bears real fruit.
A new maternal health partnership. We formally welcomed the Healing Hands Community Birthing Project into our shared campus. This partnership joins Child Inc./Head Start and Welcome Table in making St. James’ a place where community wellbeing is nurtured every day of the week.
Campus ministry continues. On July 1, Rev. Addison transitioned from being St. James’ Curate to being its Associate Rector. That is a first in St. James’ history, being able to keep a curate on staff after the expiration of the curacy grant. Rev. Addison’s work planting campus ministries at Huston-Tillotson, ACC, and beyond continues, and it is one clear way this parish is investing in the generations to come.
Building for the future. The Master Plan Committee, chaired by Rudy Green, reviewed six strong responses to our Request for Qualifications and interviewed finalists as the quarter closed. That work carried into July, when the committee selected an architecture firm — so watch for more on the Master Plan in our third-quarter report.
Your pledges and gifts are the foundation under all of this.
How are we doing financially?
Heading into the second half of the year we are on solid footing, slightly ahead of budget.
The big picture is steady. Income and expenses are each running right at about half of the full-year budget, which is exactly where we would hope to be in June. Pledge attainment sits at about 49% of budget, comfortably within the range we have seen at this point in past years and slightly ahead of last year. Expenses have come in modestly under plan through a cooler May and careful management across every category.
The single biggest reason we are ahead of budget is operating contributions — the one-time gifts and generosity that arrives beyond the number on a pledge card. These have run well ahead of plan and well ahead of last year, and we are grateful for it.
Compared with this time in 2025, we are meaningfully stronger: we have moved from a mid-year deficit to a small mid-year surplus.
Our bank balances total approximately $805,000 across all accounts, including roughly $256,000 in our Rainy-Day Fund. The VFC has begun a longer conversation about growing the Rainy-Day reserve toward a stronger multi-month cushion. This is quiet, unglamorous stewardship work, and it matters for a parish our size.
So we are moving into July financially healthy. And we ask for your continued diligence and generosity — when we give, we put your contributions of time, talent and treasure to work towards our mission.
Ways to give
Thank you, St. James’. Your faithfulness — in pledging, in showing up, in praying for one another — is what makes any of this possible. A few practical notes:
- Automated recurring giving is the single most helpful thing you can do to steady the parish’s finances. If you haven’t yet set that up, Aimee Estep in the church office is glad to help. Visit https://stjamesaustin.org/give/ to learn more.
- Text-to-give is now live for those moments when you want to give in the moment. If you prefer Venmo, you can now give that way through our PayPal donation page as well.
- Planned giving through our endowment is a beautiful way to leave a lasting gift to St. James’. Our endowment now stands at approximately $324,000, and per policy we took our first draw in support of capital projects (repairs following an ice storm) this year, with the principal continuing to grow. The Endowment Committee is glad to talk with anyone interested.
- Gifts to clergy and ministry discretionary funds quietly meet pastoral needs in our community and beyond. These funds are sustained entirely by your direct generosity, and we are grateful for every gift to them.
Looking ahead
A few things on the VFC’s plate for the second half of the year:
- Supporting the Master Plan Committee as it scopes work with our newly selected architecture firm and secures funding, including an application for a Cain Grant.
- Preparing for the 2027 operating budget — including a careful look at compensation, insurance, and reserves and funding the multi-stage Master Plan work.
- Working on our fall Annual Campaign, October 1 through November 1. Please prayerfully consider your 2027 pledge when the campaign begins.
Your Vestry Finance Committee, your vestry, and our clergy are working with great care to support the health of this community. We are deeply thankful for our clergy, staff, volunteers, and every one of you who makes St. James’ the welcoming, dynamic, and generous place that it is.
With gratitude,
Mikal Lewis Vestry Finance Committee Chair
