Help 4 Kids Florence
A new ministry initiative

St. John’s, in partnership with other churches and members of the community, is embarking on an ambitious and most worth-while project to provide food for the weekend to hungry children in our community.  The planning has begun, and meals will be provided to children beginning in August for the 2013–2014 school year. 

Since St. John’s already has a relationship with Delmae Elementary School through the Kids Hope USA mentoring program, the plan is to start the project at Delmae and provide weekend food for approximately 400 at-risk students.  God willing, the project will expand to other schools in FSD 1.

Click here to read about this endeavor in detail, including an action plan, specific needs, and ways in which parishioners can participate.

Parishioners are also invited to make a financial pledge to the project.  For convenience, pledge cards are enclosed with the May issue of the parish newsletter and are available in the parish office.

Read about history of Help 4 Kids at http://help4kidssc.org/.

 

222nd Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina

Photos and reports
available online


St. John's, All Saints (both of Florence), and St. Matthew's (Darlington) churches combined resources to host this year's diocesan convention.    The opening Eucharist was held at the Francis Marion University Performing Arts Center on March 8, 2013 and was followed by a reception in St. John's fellowship hall.  Several pre-Convention workshops were offered at St. John's on Friday prior to the Eucharist, a SKYPE conference on grandparenting ran concurrently with the Convention on Saturday, and the business of the Convention was conducted at the Performing Arts Center.

Thanks to the efforts of dozens of parishioners from the three host parishes and the uplifting of many prayers, both days were met with immense success.  The opening Eucharist was particularly powerful and inspirational.  Bishop Lawrence commented that we "hit it out of the park."

Two photo galleries, Bishop Ackerman's sermon, Bishop Lawrence's address, and several Convention reports can be viewed via the diocesan website.

 

 

News from the
Caleb King Family

Many parishioners will remember Louise and Caleb King, medical missionaries from our diocese who having been working in Rwanda.  We received a newsletter from Caleb, Louise, and their children last month.  Read it in its entirety here.

 

Sermons Available Online

The Sunday sermons will be available online beginning on July 29.  Click "Sermons" in the list of contents above to access them.

 

Newsletter Available Online!

The parish newsletter is now at your fingertips.  Go to the Newsletter page to find the latest edition.

 

Youth Newsletter Online

Click here to view the latest edition of St. John's Youth Newsletter.

Youth Group Meets on Sundays in the youth building, Sept.-May.

4:00-5:30 ... Middle School

5:30-6:30 ... Dinner & Worship (all)

6:30-8:00 ... High School

See the Youth Newsletter for more news, calendar, and meeting schedule changes.

Organist Vacancy

St. John's has an opening for a parish organist.  The position is 10 hours/week and is available immediately.

The Music Ministry of this traditional Episcopal parish includes an annual concert series, annual regional choir workshop, summer choir camp for area choir members, and a 28-voice adult choir.

Duties include accompanying weekly choir practice and playing for Sunday services and all special seasonal liturgies, funerals, weddings. 

We are seeking a competent musician with solid keyboard skills and a background in traditional/classical repertoire. A bachelor degree in music is preferred. 

Dedication to his/her ministry, a strong work ethic, excellent organizational skills, and the ability to work collaboratively are essential to the continuing development of a rapidly growing, vibrant music ministry.

The organ is a two-manual 9-rank Moller. Built in 1939, it underwent extensive renovation in 2000. 

Applicants are asked to send a resume, references, and audition tape/CD to Tammy Williams, Minister of Music, at St. John's Episcopal Church, 252 S. Dargan Street, Florence, SC 29506 or twilliams@stjohnsflorence.org.

 
 
Letter from the Rector

 

Dear Friends,

 

Many of you have heard about the allegations that have been made against our Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Mark Lawrence.   It has been a topic of much discussion and has been written about extensively in the local press and on our diocesan website. For those of you who do not know, Bishop Lawrence is being accused of actively trying to lead our diocese out of the Episcopal Church. I do want everyone to know that I, as your rector, prayerfully decided not to make any public statements about these events until I had the opportunity to meet with our Wardens, Pierce Campbell and Allie Walker, and our Vestry. Rest assured that I am in full support of Bishop Lawrence.  Our Wardens and Vestry are also in support of our Bishop. If you would like to know more about these recent events, you can read all about it by clicking HERE.  If you want to see the accusations themselves, you can click HERE.

 

To bring everyone up to speed, this past Tuesday, October 11, the clergy of our diocese met at St. James Church on James Island to hear Bishop Lawrence explain his understanding of where we currently are in the process and to pray for the situation.  Joy Hunter, our diocesan communications coordinator, has a good summary of our day together which you may read by clicking HERE.   A National Associated Press article about the day can be found HERE.  What we don't know is who is making the charges against our Bishop.  The Rt. Rev. Dorsey Henderson, who is the president of the Title IV Disciplinary Board of the National Church is on record as stating that the charges came from within our diocese. You may read his press release HERE. 

 

Under the new Title IV canons (church laws), now in effect in the National Church, any accusation presented has to be investigated as if it were true.   It is also my understanding that our Bishop could be inhibited (suspended) by the Presiding Bishop without any due process or even so much as a hearing, once the Disciplinary Committee presents formal charges. At this point, there are only allegations against Bishop Lawrence.   Also of interest, under the new canons that just went into effect, the accuser can remain anonymous until formal charges are made.   You may read more on this by clicking HERE.  The present situation with our Bishop and our diocese is the reason we as a diocese passed resolutions at our Diocesan Convention saying that we would not accede to the new Title IV canons.

 

To close, please know that we here at St. John's are going to continue to attempt to live into our Mission Statement - To Know Christ and to Make Him Known. Also, please feel free to call or e-mail me or our Wardens if you have any questions or if you need further clarification about any of this. Brothers and sisters, Christ is blessing us richly here at St. John's and I have every confidence He will continue to do so as we continue to "dedicate ourselves to the apostles' teaching, the fellowship, to the breaking of the bread, and to the prayers" (Acts 2:42).  Please keep Bishop Lawrence, our diocese, and St. John's in your prayers. Know that you all will be in mine.

 

Christ's blessings,

Ken Weldon, Rector

 

October 25, 2012

 

Last Published: May 18, 2013 8:27 AM
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