Chairs: Ray and Sue Rowell

Vestry Liaison:  John Cantwell

Purpose:  To encourage our parish in reaching out to others by providing prayer, encouragement, and financial support for ministries of selected committees.  

Mission Narrative

 The Great Commission the early Christians received from our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8) was to present and represent him in their home town, Jerusalem, beyond that to Judea, beyond that to Samaria, and beyond that to the ends of the earth.  In today’s terms for us, the counterparts of that geography would be Northeast Georgia, the rest of the Diocese, the rest of our nation and the rest of the world.

A church that exists for itself is not being faithful to the Gospel. Grace-Calvary was not established simply to be a place where people could come for worship and to be taught and be ministered to by a priest.  Certainly it was all of that.  But beyond that, from the outset it became a place where people ministered to one another.  In due course, Grace-Calvary became a beacon on a hill, reaching out beyond its property lines, not only participating in ministries to the local community but starting up new ministries within the community.

 Our Lord’s gospel of love and hope is attractive.  People are attracted to a church that is making a difference in the world around them.  They are not attracted to a church that appears to be complacent or self-concerned or self-absorbed.  And so the Lord added to our numbers, and Grace-Calvary grew in His wisdom and love.

 In due course, the Rector and the Vestry adopted the National Church’s 50-50 guideline, of spending no more on ourselves each year than we have spent on others.  The church was so small that it was not possible to do this in one jump.  It was decided to go about it by increasing the amounts dedicated to outreach by one percentage point of total income each year up to the 50% level.

 Mission Statement

 The mission of the Outreach Committee is twofold:

    †   To provide leadership and encouragement to members of the congregation of Grace-Calvary in personally reaching out to others in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ; and

    †   To provide prayer, encouragement and financial support for the ministries of selected organizations engaged in His service, in our local community, our diocese, our nation, and to the ends of the earth.

Ministering to one another is a way of life at Grace-Calvary.  So is ministering to others beyond our church family, freely giving of our time and talents to those who are in need.  When we lack the necessary time or the specific talent, or if distances are too great, we do what the Good Samaritan traveler did when he gave of his available time to take the wounded man and leave him with a nearby innkeeper who had the talents and the premises needed, and he paid for the cost.  That’s outreach: we give of our time as we are able; and we give financial support so that needed personal expertise, facilities and supplies may be made available.

Where do we stand?  

"Inreach", our outreach to one another, abounds.  Ours is a warm, giving community. Volunteering, our giving of our person and our time to others outside our walls, abounds too.  Through our Outreach Cycle of Prayer, we pray for our community during our Sunday services for the missions we support at home and abroad.

Annually, we invite representatives from those missions to join our parish ministries at a ministry Festival

When it comes to our purse, we were doing well against our commitment of giving up to a 50% guideline until the year 2000, we we peaked at nearly 30%.  Since that time, we had to decline, abruptly so in 2004.  For the year 2006, we have budgeted income of $257,430, of which $40,838 (almost 16%) is identified as being given to outreach.  Of this latter amount, $25, 718 has been set aside as our Diocesan assessment.  $1, 287 for the National Church's plan to support theological education seminaries, leaving a remainder of $13,833 to be spent by the Outreach Ministry.

In 2005, the Outreach Committee spent almost 52% of its budget on the  poverty condition (food, clothing, homelessness, counseling, abusive behavior, substance abuse, et.), 41% on Christian  education and evangelism, and within the community, environment and relief.

Geographically, 80% of the Outreach Committee's spending was local agencies served by Grace-Calvary, with 10% spent in the rst of the diocese and 10% on missions overseas.

We welcome your input

If you have any ideas, suggestions or questions, please contact any member of the Outreach Committee:

Harriet Beech 

Miles Beech

John Kahle

John Cantwell

Chrissy Garrison

Margaret Parsons

Pamela Rand

Linda Hill Jordan

Joann McCann

We meet most first Mondays at 6pm in the Parish House.  We welcome visitors.  

Minutes of June Meeting , 2008

Financial Commitments for 2008

For information, please contact the Parish Administrator Carole McCollum