Skip to main content

September Newsletter

 The simple but radical work goes on...

Beth and I were able to get away
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 God and live out that peace in society in such a way that involves justice, mercy, and wholeness for all. Of course this is accomplished through Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1) who is the prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6) and the one who has broken down the dividing wall of hostility between us (Ephesians 2:14). So we keep looking to him!

When I think about what I should do after my initial anger, grief, and hopelessness fades I come back to the simple but radical work of planting a church. The truth is that as we exist in our community offering word and sacrament week in and week out we are acting as an outpost of the Kingdom and seeing the Lord bring his shalom to us and through us. 

Please continue to celebrate and pray for us as we seek to plant Shalom Anglican in our troubled times. 

Updates:

  • One of our core members invited a co-worker who has been coming consistently and last week came up for prayer.
  • One of our members decided to make some t-shirts for the church which has acted as a fun community building thing for us. 
  • A couple recently got engaged and I'll be doing their wedding in November!
  • We have a couple who has been coming 6 weeks in a row who are excited about growing in Christ and joining the church.
  • We are having our first confirmation service on 9/28!

Prayer:

  • Please pray for a few new families interested in Shalom. One I met with outside of church and one who visited recently. 
  • Please pray for a woman I met out in the community who saw my collar which began a conversation about her faith journey. Pray for salvation and that she joins Shalom.
  • Pray for our 3rd Catechism class that just started last night. We have 7 folks who have signed up!
For the Shalom of Kitsap,

Fr. Rob 



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

June Newsletter

My wife and I have been building a garden… well, mostly my wife ;)  I underestimated how much work it would be.  We had to get stones out of the soil, lay down Beth's Garden mulch, then build a fence to keep the deer out. After that there was ordering dirt, wheelbarrowing the dirt, building planters, filling the boxes, and finally planting. This got me thinking about the work of ministry and specifically the balance between working hard, but then trusting God with the growth. In our garden we are working hard, but after we do our work we can’t make the plants grow. That’s outside of our realm. This partnership we have with God that began in Eden is a hard one. It seems like we’d rather just work hard and make it all up to us… or throw our hands up and just “let go and let God” to do it all.  But neither is how it all works. We do work hard. We do build. At the same time, only God brings the growth!  We see this in a wonderful text in Paul’s first letter to Corinth. T...

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 Sund...

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...