STEWARDSHIP
Dear St. Luke’s Family,
Thank you for your love, care, and generosity for one another, the world, and St. Luke’s. This year we want to acknowledge our blessings and our role as stewards of God’s abundance with a ‘Season of Gratitude” - a year for us to thank God and celebrate the blessings and grace with which we have been so richly blessed. As we begin this time of celebration and gratitude, we want to invite you to prayerfully consider how you can share your gifts -- your time, talent, and financial resources – to ensure that St. Luke’s, our beloved church home, continues to thrive as we open ourselves to the grace, love, and peace found in relationship with God through Christ Jesus and extend an invitation to share that transforming love with one another, our community and the world.
2026 is going to be an exciting year for St. Luke’s. Through our strategic planning process, we heard the big steps that you believe will enable St. Luke’s to thrive. Your input is front and center in our strategic plan, Growing Together: Our Vision for the Future of St. Luke’s (available on the website), and in our 2026 Financial Plan for Mission. To that end, with your faithful and generous support, the Vestry intends to…
• Expand our Youth Director position
• Add a contract communications/marketing position
• Add additional paid singers and establish a junior choir
• Add a full-time Sexton position
• Provide a 3% Cost of Living Adjustment for our staff
• Fund Missions as a part of Operating Budget
We are very excited about these bold steps that will help grow our children and youth program, better share the good news of St. Luke’s, improve the care for our buildings and property, enhance our wonderful music program, fairly compensate our amazing staff, and enhance our commitment to missions. These actions will require us to increase our pledge revenue by 26% or $87,325 over our 2025 pledge levels.
With this letter, you will find a document detailing our 2026 Financial Plan for Mission (Budget) and Pledge Cards (Financial Resources & Time and Talent). We ask that you read the document carefully and prayerfully. I hope that will join the Wardens, the members of the Vestry, our Rector, and me in making a generous commitment to joyfully and boldly share your time, talent, and financial resources to ensure that St. Luke’s, our beloved church home, continues to thrive as a community that shares Christ’s transforming love with one another, our community, and the world.
Faithfully,
Greg Murray
Stewardship Chair
Your gifts of time, talent, and financial resources are what make St. Luke’s thrive as a community that shares Christ’s transforming love with one another, our community, and the world.
• Annual operating contributions provide over 70% of the revenue necessary to sustain St. Luke’s
• We project that it will cost $1,571 per day in 2026 to support our Rector and talented staff, sustain and grow our missions and ministries, and keep the lights on.
• Every gift, regardless of size, makes a difference and helps St. Luke’s thrive.
Big Plans Ahead
Through the strategic planning process, we heard the big steps that you believe will enable St. Luke’s to thrive well into the future. Your bold vision is front and center in our strategic plan, Growing Together: Our Vision for the Future of St. Luke’s, and our 2026 Financial Plan for Mission. To that end, in 2026, with your faithful and generous support, we want to…
• Expand our Youth Director position from 5 hours per week to 10 hours per week to better support our children and youth - $9,000 increase in Children and Youth expenses for 2026
• Add a contract communications/marketing position (5 hours per week) to help spread the good news about St. Luke’s and free Rev. Ashley to focus more of her time and energy caring for and ministering to the St. Luke’s community - $10,000 annual cost
• Add additional paid singers and establish a junior choir to enhance our incredible music program - $1,800 increase in Music expenses for 2026
• Add a full-time Sexton position to better maintain our buildings and campus grounds - $35,000 net increase to the operating budget for 2026
• Provide a 3% Cost of Living Adjustment for our Rector and staff - $8,800 increase to Wage expenses for 2026
• Fund Missions as a part of the Operating Budget to truly show our commitment to loving our neighbors, sharing our ‘first fruits,’ and making a tangible commitment to missions year after year – 2% of our total operating expenses in 2026 and rising to 10% over time
We are very excited about these bold steps that will help grow our children and youth program, better share the good news of St. Luke’s, improve the care for our buildings and property, enhance our wonderful music program, fairly compensate our amazing staff, and enhance our commitment to missions. These actions will require us to increase our pledge revenue by 26% or $87,325 over our 2025 pledge levels.
Taking these visionary actions will require each of us to make a bold investment in St. Luke’s — joyfully sharing our time, talent, and financial resources to ensure that St. Luke’s, our beloved church home, continues to thrive as a community that shares Christ’s transforming love with one another, our community, and the world.