Shalom Anglican

 Momentum... Meet our new grandson John Michael Clark! Momentum is a funny thing in church planting. It's when things feel good. There are new faces and new things happening. There seems to be an excitement around the community. I think over the last month we've experienced some momentum. It's interesting that this has happened now because for most of the last month we had to meet in the basement of the church while the sanctuary was being repainted. This created some inconvenience and "funkiness" to our Sunday and Christmas services. But at the same time... it also created some momentum.  In all this I'm reminded of something St. Paul said, " So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth," (1 Corinthians 3:7). Whatever has been happening, I'm thankful for what God is doing and how he is causing our little church plant to grow. Updates: A huge praise was that our daughter Elena Clark gave birth to John ...

Friends of Shalom,  As we come to the end of 2025, I am truly amazed and so grateful for all that our Lord has done and continues to do in our church. The best way to describe this year for me would be “holistic growth.” We’ve seen this in terms of new folks checking out Shalom (many new to faith), we’ve grown deeper in Christ as a church, and we’ve grown as a community in our relationships with one another.  Merry Christmas! Here are some highlights from 2025. Three adult baptisms. We regularly have people new to Christianity or who haven't been to church in years join us on Sunday. Two catechism classes with a total of twelve adults. Inside giving growth by almost $2,000 a month. Our average Sunday Attendance has grown from 30 to 45.  We collectively gave $1,500 for our lenten offering to Scarlet Road (a local non-profit that works with survivors of sexual exploitation). And we volunteered to help with several projects as well. Two weddings and Two engagements! W...

Young Adults The church we rent was recently painted. We're so grateful to be able to partner with All Saints Academy!  One of the exciting things about church planting is that as we open our doors for Sunday Eucharist and scatter gospel seeds in our community we don't always know which ones will grow up. We don't always know who God will allow us to reach. In many ways this reminds me of my wife's garden. Last spring she planted a bunch of different veggies some took and some didn't. It was a surprise to see as we moved through the growing season. One of the surprises in planting Shalom has been the number of young adults we have seen find a home at Shalom. I wasn't expecting that and it has been a true joy! We've already had two weddings with a third one this summer. We've had three babies born and one more coming in a month. We also have several single young adults in their 20's and 30's who are a part of our church. Please continue to pray fo...

 Our First Confirmation! On September 28th we celebrated our first confirmation at Shalom Anglican! We had seventeen folks confirmed by our Bishop, Jake Worley, and celebrated afterwards with a potluck. It was a beautiful liturgy and I think we all sensed the presence of the Spirit and left deeply encouraged!  Confirmation is an ancient liturgical rite where those who have been baptized and catechized publicly affirm their faith through confessing before the church their baptismal vows. Then a bishop of the church confirms and commissions each person through the laying on of hands to be strengthened by the Spirit for ministry in and out of the church. As you can imagine it took a little while to confirm seventeen folks in one service but it was sweet to watch as the church prayed for each confirmand during the Bishop's prayers. This is a HUGE step for us as a new church. When I see this picture I think of how Paul speaks of the church like a body in 1 Corinthians 12. Each...

 The simple but radical work goes on... End of summer camping at Cape Dissapointment As I sit down to write, my heart is heavy by the news of Charlie Kirk's assassination, another school shooting (only a few weeks after the last one), remembering 9/11, the continued death toll and suffering of civilian Palestinians in Gaza, and other headlines. Of course we know these are more than headlines, they are real people who are image bearers and victims of violence. In the face of moments like this I often wonder what I should be doing as a local pastor. Do I get on the socials and attempt to give a word of comfort or challenge like other pastors I see? Should I change my plan for Sunday and try to address all that's going on in people's hearts? What do I do? When we began sensing a call to church planting again the Lord gave us the name Shalom Anglican. Shalom means peace, flourishing, and a holistic sense of well-being. It has to do with seeing people enter into a peace with G...

 Grieving but grateful...  Robert Michael Steinbach Sr. 9/7/1946 - 7/28/2025 This is has been my response to people as they've asked me how I'm doing.  On July 28th my Dad's spirit left his failing body into the presence of the Trinity. My heart is heavy because of the finality of death. I can no longer see him or talk to him. Now I wait to go to him.  But I'm also grateful for his life. He had an amazing testimony which I shared about briefly at his memorial service . He was a gift to all who knew him. He was my Dad and I loved him dearly.  Needless to say July was a blur. I made two trips back to Maryland. The first was to see him and support my mom in his final days. The second was a week long trip after he passed for his memorial and committal service. I'm settling back into work and processing my grief as well as looking forward to the end of summer and some fall planning. Updates: While I was gone our church stepped up and handled the Sunday service. I'm g...

A Personal Update This last month was very full for our family. It began with our youngest son Asher proposing to his girlfriend! We couldn't be more happy for Asher and Angel and their upcoming wedding next summer. This means that a year from now Beth and I will officially be "empty nesters." I'm still not sure how I feel about that and will definitely need some therapy to process it all 😅. In mid-June we took a trip back to Maryland with our oldest daughter, son in law, and granddaughter.  We spent a few days enjoying Baltimore. This included time with Beth's family, an Oriole's game, the best crab cakes on the planet, and a few "snowballs." Then we spent time with my parents and my sister who live in Annapolis. My dad is going through some health challenges and it was a blessing to be with him and bring his great granddaughter around to lift his spirits.  Shortly after we got back we began planning and putting the final preparations together for ...