October Newsletter

 Friends of Shalom,

Through the years, I've had many friends who are teachers. And what they've all told me is that the first few years of teaching are the hardest part because you have to prepare ALL your lessons from scratch. Of course there's curriculum to pull from, but each lesson must be curated and put together. Once the new teacher has those lessons worked out and developed, the following years are much easier. 

In many ways, the early years of a church plant are like that. Like a new teacher, a church planter has to develop many "lessons." We have to work on websites, discipleship plans, policies, statements around key practices/beliefs of the church, etc. And that's the work I've been doing over the last month and it will likely continue for some time. Of course this work only makes sense if you have a "class" to teach. I'm so thankful that we have one! Over the last few months I have consistently heard from our folks how much they love our church and how much they're excited for the future!

Updates

• I finished our app which you can find on all the platforms. Just look up "shalom anglican" and you'll find us. We are also podcasting all our Sermons, Weekly word, and Introduction to Anglicanism content on our app. You can also find us on apple podcast and spotify under "shalom anglican." 
• I restarted the "weekly word" which is a five minute devotional I release each Wednesday. You can find it on our app, website, or podcast. 
• We're heading into our fifth week of Catechism classes and they're going amazingly well. We have 18 adults and 2 youth participating and a few other drop ins as well. 
• We have two musicians who have a growing vision and desire to pour into Shalom. 
• This Sunday 10/20 is our first Baptism! We have one infant and 5 kids getting baptized! 
• We've had the privilege of having an assisting priest for a few Sundays. Fr. James Swynford is an ordained ACNA priest who is living in the area while in between priestly callings. It's been a huge blessing to have him assist me in the service the last few weeks.
• Beth and I attended our annual synod for the Cascadia Diocese. It was an encouraging time to reconnect with other priests, church planters, and to hear about what God is up to across Alaska, Washington, and Oregon. Thankfully it was held in Portland so we got to visit with our daughter Miriam and our granddaughter Laura as well as our son Sam who all live down in Oregon.

Prayer Requests

• This last month I experienced quite a few moments of deep discouragement from the enemy. Please pray for protection. 
• I'm starting to feel like I can't keep up with things. Pray that I can continue to give tasks and responsibilities away and continue to identify new leaders. 
• I'm beginning a 9 month spiritual journey through the Ignatian exercises. I have a spiritual director guiding me through this. The exercises are a series of daily prayer times of connecting with Jesus through the scriptures. Please pray for the Lord to meet me afresh!
• Continue to pray that our Lord will bring new folks to our church! 

Thanks so much for your friendship and prayers! 

For the Shalom of Kitsap,

Rob and Beth

Our podcast graphic!