Skip to main content

March Newsletter

Simple Pastoral Ministry

Our Family!

Something that I'm reminded of on an almost weekly basis is how much people appreciate simple pastoral ministry! In our day, people can get online and find polished platforms, excellent teaching, and never ending Bible resources for free. But what they can't get is a pastor who will sit with them and listen to what's going on in their life. What they can't get is a pastor who will remember their name, pray for their needs, and offer spiritual direction for their souls. 

I recently received a message from someone who had been to our church a few times but then ended up attending another church on and off. 

"I just wanted to tell you what a joy it was to be back in Shalom's service again today. This morning you welcomed me with a hug and remembered my name. That meant so much to me. I've decided I want to make Shalom my home church and want to learn more about how I might get involved."

Another person I met with recently, who is new to Shalom and new to the faith, kept thanking me as it was the first time they had met one on one with a pastor. 

In each of these situations I didn't do anything fancy to get them to come to our church or make our ministry more attractional. It was just simple pastoral ministry that made the difference. As we plant Shalom I'm seeing over and over how being a parish priest in my community is my primary strategy to reach new folks. 

Updates:

  • Beth and I got to have a Sunday off a few weeks back to enjoy a weekend with all our kids, their spouses. fiancé, and grandkids! Our service was led by volunteers from Shalom who did a great job. 
  • Table Groups have officially launched at Shalom! We have 4 groups beginning to meet this month. 
  • We had a rich Ash Wednesday service!
  • We've had a few new visitors stick around and are exploring our church.
Prayer:
  • Pray for our baptismal candidates. We have 1 adult and 4 babies being baptized at our Easter Vigil.
  • Pray for our Catechism class that starts 3/22. We'll have over 10 adults joining us for this round. 
  • Pray for Holy Week services. 
  • Pray for our women gathering for an evening of fellowship as well as a group going to our Diocesan women's retreat. 
  • Pray for several folks going through some very difficult challenges. 
Thanks for your prayers and support!

For the Shalom of Kitsap,

Father Rob 


Comments

Post a Comment

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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

July Newsletter

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 ...
Post a Comment
Read more