January 28, 2008

Dear friend in Christ,

A unanimous vote at our 2008 annual congregational meeting paves the way for us to seek qualified applicants for the position of full-time Director of Youth & Family Ministry.  Almost two years ago our faith family met for visioning and discerned that our number one priority is bringing our Sunday School families from the parking lot into the sanctuary.   Many of our Sunday School students come from non-member families.  We hear God’s call to invite them to become a living, worshiping part of this community.  Our newly reinvigorated children’s choirs, using the Royal School of Church Music curriculum, are part of our full-court press to woo families to a commitment that goes beyond Sunday Church School attendance. 

Our faith family’s home is the Jersey Shore, about an hour east of Philadelphia and about an hour and a half south of New York City.  We are abundantly blessed with almost 250 infants, children and youth, from the youngest Christians on the cradle roll to seniors in high school.   More than 30 Holy Trinity young adults attend college. Others are in the local work force.  We have a solid Christian education program, staffed by dedicated and talented volunteers.  However, we want to offer deeper spiritual nurture to our members in the first third of life.  We seek a full-time Director of Youth & Family Ministry who will become a significant member of our existing ministry team and a primary leader in achieving this goal. 

We are a diverse congregation whose members span a wide range of age, social background, religious heritage, and professional affiliation.  We are blessed by the presence of “cradle Lutherans,” committed Christians who have crossed over from other denominations, and those who experience Holy Trinity as the first meaningful faith community to which they have ever belonged.  We are convinced that God requires unity, not uniformity among us.  We are a rich mix of different people with a common passion for hearing and becoming Good News.  The treasure of the Gospel, the joyful news of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, is the gift we want to pass along to our children above all else. 

Holy Trinity’s strengths include a broad base of committed and highly competent lay leaders.  The role of all the staff (and not just the pastors) is to follow the Holy Spirit’s lead in enabling the saints to share their God-given gifts with the community and to identify, nurture and call forth the talents which will help our congregation perform its mission in the world, including the loving Christian nurture of our children and youth. 

We are seeking a Director of Youth & Family Ministry who is faith-filled and enthusiastic (literally, filled with God!), able to articulate his or her faith, comfortable with and committed to children and youth. We expect this person to share a life-giving vision of youth and family ministry and to help us realize it.

If you would like to meet us, we’d like to hear from you!  Blessings in your search for the best place in which to share your gifts and passion for ministry with those in the first third of life.

In Christ, our hope,

The Reverend Mary Virginia Farnham