Discernment Team

Six hours, seven people, one purpose.

On Saturday, Nov. 10, St. Luke’s discernment team met with the Reverends Doris Westfall and Paul Williams at Trinity Newark to lay the groundwork for this part of our journey toward a new rector. I say “this part” rather than “begin,” because in truth, through these past months together, and through the Congressional Assessment Tool (CAT), the Parish has already begun the work of discerning the direction God is calling us to go.

The discernment team worked together to determine our core values. We used these values to write a covenant — our promise to each other and to the parish about how we will work together to do this work in faithfulness, honesty, authenticity, compassion, and humility.

We are beginning the work of preparing the Parish Profile for prospective priests. We also have set a calendar to meet regularly over the next several months and we have set an aggressive time frame that, with God’s help, will allow us offer a call to the future rector to St. Luke’s by late spring. We have a lot of work to do to make this possible, but we are very hopeful and excited. Please pray for us in this work, for Doris and Paul in their work, and for our future priest. Thank you for your prayers and support! 

Ginny Sharkey
Discerment Team Member