Bishop's Action Appeal
This is an annual Diocesan Appeal for a one time gift in addition to your regular weekly offering. Your faithful and generous support of the life and work of your home congregation is of first importance. Many of us are able and will want to make an annual gift in addition to our weekly offering. This year we are inviting your support to cover the costs of at least four weeks of Vacation Bible School, the parish placements of three postulants and four other students, to build up our Diocesan Enduring Fund , or to support the ministry or a project of your Congregation, Diocese or the National Church.
Vacation Bible School
The Diocese has a long and proud tradition of imaginative Christian outreach to children and youth that includes the heroic work of the Van Girls, Sunday School by Post, teams of local university students giving VBS leadership on reserves and in our cities, towns and villages as well as the efforts of Crosstalk teams. We already have received requests from St. George’s, Prince Albert and Ascension, Arborfield for 2018 VBS, and hope to send a team to Cumberland House and Fort a la Corne as well as to provide some weekend children’s programming in the La Ronge area. We need $7,500 annually to continue to support three to five weeks of Vacation Bible School in the Diocese.
Summer Students
Sponsoring Summer Students gives young people an opportunity to experience life and ministry in the north of Saskatchewan and invites them to reconsider their faith, vocation and ministry. Many of our priests have served summer internships in which they discerned their vocation to ordained ministry and received valuable hands-on training for ministry. The Rev. Jeremy Boehr served at St. Alban’s Cathedral as part of his training through Wycliffe College. This year we have a bumper crop. Three seminarians: Michael Lyons, Jordon Draper and David Butorac will spend the equivalent of three months of full time supervised work in the Diocese. Samuel Landry, Karis Tees, Hannah Fisher and Andrew Griffin met the Rev. Wilfred Sanderson and Theresa Sanderson last year and their visit comes out of their interest to learn more of the Sandersons’ ministry and context. The students will assist with Vacation Bible School and help out in a variety of parishes as they come to learn something of rural and indigenous ministry in northern Saskatchewan. The cost for the three seminarian internships and the visit and work of the four other students is $65,000.
Diocesan Enduring Fund
The need for a Bishop and Synod Office Staff to lead, serve and support the Diocese and its parishes has never been clearer. We need to raise some $40,000 more annually to secure the position and ministry of the Bishop of Saskatchewan. The Diocesan Enduring Fund is currently valued at $120,000. Income from the Enduring Fund is used to support the general operations of the Diocese. Any appropriation of the capital requires the special approval of the Executive Committee. Our medium term goal is to increase this fund to $500,000 (and in the long term, to $1,000,000) in order to provide an additional $20,000 in annual income for the Diocese.
Parish Ministry or Project
You are invited to consider a onetime gift to your congregation or parish in addition to your regular envelope offering and in support of its mission and ministry or a particular project identified by Vestry.
* Please make cheques payable to:
The Diocese of Saskatchewan
1308 5 Ave E
Prince Albert, SK
S6V 1E2