New folks, new ideas

During the Vestry meeting Sunday in which three new members were welcomed, one of the "new" members (he's served on Vestries before) suggested that we should form a men's group.

He noted that we have the ACW (Anglican Church Women), but we have nothing for the men! The group, he said, could meet once a month, say Saturday morning, for prayer, fellowship and more. The more I thought about this, the more it seemed like a great idea. We are a parish quite widely spread; I think the nearest parishioner to me lives some 10-plus miles away, and I'm not one of the furthest out. Thus Sunday morning tends to be pretty much the only time we ever see each other, and coffee hour the only time we talk. This is not a good way to build a church community, a church family -- even though (I think) we have achieved something of the same here.

He even suggested a name that several others recognized: "The Brotherhood of St. Andrew." I had never heard of it, but a Google search online turned up quite a number of references, such as this one:

The Brotherhood of St. Andrew is named for Saint Andrew, who, according to John's Gospel, after meeting Jesus, went to find his brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah." Then he took Simon to Jesus.

Now, in modern times, as the Brotherhood enters its second century of ministry, the men of St. Richard's Chapter of the Brotherhood are bringing their brothers in Christ closer to God through their disciplines of prayer, study, and service.

Every Saturday morning at 8:00 AM we meet in the Narthex of the church for one hour for both fellowship and bible study. Through this regular meeting, we each individually strengthen ourselves to be the spiritual leaders of our families and our households, to better understand our Christian faith, and to become closer to God through Christ and the Holy Spirit.

I discovered too here that it is an established international ministry with a home page here. Affiliation might not be a good idea under our canons, but the concept is nonetheless there and in my opinion an excellent one. Many years ago I met weekly with a small group of Episcopalians --all now either passed on or relocated elsewhere-- it would be nice to have some such at church.

In any case, this was to me an excellent example of why a regular turnover of the Vestry is a good thing. New folks bring in new, or forgotten, or missed ideas to be considered. They keep us from becoming stale.