Skip to main content

May Newsletter

 Alleluia! Christ is risen!

The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! 

Palm Sunday begins outside with the liturgy of the Palms.

This is our Eastertide acclamation and how we begin each service through Pentecost (June 8th). It's meant to orient us to the reality of our resurrected Lord who is reigning now. Easter isn't simply one special Sunday, but a whole season of being drenched in the joy and glory of Jesus' victory over his own death and now ours as well! If you find yourself drifting from the power of the resurrection that we celebrated on Easter, here is a link to my message on Easter Sunday to stir up hope once again!

I have to say, this last month was simply AMAZING! God has been so good to us. Here are some highlights.

Updates:

  • We held our first Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil) and it was a rich time of worship that culminated in a Taco Potluck on Saturday night with most of our church joining in! Through these three services as well as Easter Sunday we had almost our entire church participate in all our some of the services through reading Scripture and other ways of participating in the liturgy. 
  • On Easter Sunday we had our largest attended service yet at around 80 adults and kids. The highlight was a baptism for a father and his special needs adult son. It was a baptism I will never forget! There were tears of joy all around. 
  • I recently talked to a father who told me his teenage daughter who has not yet expressed faith has been considering getting baptized!
  • Last Sunday we were blessed by our newest lay preacher who delivered an excellent sermon. I also trained up a new volunteer to serve at the altar with me in distributing communion.
  • Over the last few weeks we've had repeat visitors as well as a new visitors join us on Sunday. 
  • During Lent our church collected a total of $1,500 for Scarlet Road which is a local organization that works with survivors of sexual exploitation. 
    Easter Sunday

  • We recently had two non-Anglican churches in Kitsap give us one time offerings which totaled $5,000! 
  • I was able to get away for a personal retreat for silence and solitude as well as join other clergy from our diocese for our annual clergy retreat. 
  • On a personal note, this last month we were able to host our oldest son Sam and his fiancé Sola during Easter. We were also able to celebrate with our daughter, granddaughter, and her husband over Mother's day weekend. 
Prayer Requests:
  • At the end of May I'll be attending our Provincial Church Planting training over in Edmonds, Wa. Please pray that the Lord will guide me in this next season at Shalom. I feel like this training is timely for this moment. 
  • Please pray for the healing of one of our members who has had several surgeries and is in recovery.
  • Please pray for one of our core families to be able to find a home in Kitsap as they desire to remain here but are finding it hard with the high prices.
  • I also continue to covet your prayers for protection from the powers and principalities (Eph. 6:12) both personally and for Shalom! 
  • Please pray for the salvation and discipleship of those who have been visiting! 
  • Please pray for the salvation of someone who recently called me and is interested in Christianity. We talked for an hour and a half! 
Thanks again for all your support and prayers!

For the Shalom of Kitsap,

Fr. Rob Steinbach


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

August Newsletter

 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...
Post a Comment
Read more

December Newsletter - Year End Report and Year End Giving

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

October Newsletter

 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...
Post a Comment
Read more