Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Winter 2013 Issue | Page 27

Multi-year Mission focus for St. Matthew’s
Norm Hyde
St. Matthew’s, Richmond has long viewed itself as a
“sending church.” Mission is woven into the DNA of this
parish. In fact a former rector, the Rev. Tad de Bordnave,
founded Anglican Frontier Missions after serving at St.
Matthew’s. But parish leaders were seeking to engage the
entire congregation in mission in some form or another.

In 2010, St. Matthew’s
created a mission task force
to seek a future direction
for the parish. The goal of
having every member of the
parish serve in some mission
activity came out of that
eight-month study period,
said Sue Rickman, chair of
the Mission Committee.

The first year of the
mission plan involved
training. Through special
classes and a Lenten
teaching series, every
member of the parish
attended at least one
teaching on evangelism or
apologetics. But finding a
way to engage everyone
in actual mission work was
tougher.

“Over the years we’ve
put lots of mission trips
and mission opportunities
around Richmond on the
table,” Rickman said. “But
we wanted everyone to be
engaged. Most of these
activities only directly involved a few dozen of our members.
Our congregation spans many generations, which presented
quite a challenge in our committee’s goal to have everyone
participate ‘hands-on’ in a mission activity.”

The breakthrough idea came after months of discussion
and even some discouragement, Rickman said.

“That’s when we said ‘what if we took five, six or seven
of the mission opportunities that we’ve been involved in over
the years and brought them to the church itself, to carry out
on a Mission Sunday after an abbreviated service?’”

And that’s what the parish did. On Sunday, September 23,
there was an abbreviated single service for the entire parish,
featuring a baptism and Holy Eucharist. Then everyone rolled
up their sleeves and began working on mission projects. Each
member of St. Matthew’s chose one of the following projects
to participate in: building table for CARITAS (Congregations
Around Richmond Involved to Assure Shelter); making bag
lunches for CARITAS clients; designing squares for Young
Lives quilts; writing cards for missionaries and shut-ins;

sewing new clothes for Ethiopian children; and assembling
“Bags of Grace” (zip bags of snacks, water and toiletries with
a Scripture verse for the homeless). Members of the parish
also took turns praying in the chapel during the project time.
The celebration concluded with everyone gathering together
for lunch and the drawing of the winner of raffle for a quilt
created by members of the
parish, which generated $756
toward future mission work.

“When we first started
this mission committee two
years ago, we thought we’d
put a variety of mission
opportunities out for
everyone to get engaged,”
said Rickman. “Parishioners
got involved, but we didn’t
see the response we’d
hoped. By bringing it home
to the church itself, it really
caught fire.”
(Above) Ann Shibut (left) and

It also tied in neatly
Laura Allin display some of the
with a new foreign mission
clothing made for Ethiopian
opportunity for the parish.
orphans at St. Matthew’s
A mission team – including
Mission Sunday.
St. Matthew’s rector, the
Rev. Chuck Alley, and five
(Left) David Vachet sands
other parishioners – visited
one of the tables built for the
Ethiopia in September
CARITAS furniture ministry.
to offer guidance and
support installing an
irrigation system. Former
parishioner Mike Rogers and
his wife Amy founded an
organization called Langano
Harvest Foundation. The Rogers felt called to foreign mission
work several years ago and spent two years in the Langano
community in Ethiopia. The foundation works to bring
modern agricultural practices and clean water to this povertystricken area. You can learn more about the foundation by
going to langanoharvest.org.

“Not only were we able to engage our entire parish, but
we’ve found a new foreign mission focus for our parish in
the past 24 months,” Rickman said. “Our goal is to continue
bringing these mission opportunities back to the parish a few
at a time. And we’ll have another Mission Sunday next year for
our annual St. Matthew’s Day celebration in September.” t

Winter 2013 / Virginia Episcopalian

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