St. Gabe's Stewards

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St. Gabriel's Stewards

This group supports our administrative and grounds management functions. We are supported by very talented, dedicated parishioners and we appreciate all of their time and effort.

Communications - Facebook Page
Communications - Newsletter
Communications - Website
Bulletin Boards
Congregational Growth & Development
Finance & Administration
Finance Committee
Memorials Committee
Victory Gardeners
Creation Keepers
Holy Mowers
Landscapers
Sacred Sweepers

Join us as we share a few words about each area with you. We are proud of all of our teams and hope you find the information helpful in determining an area for your ministry calling. Feel free to contact the parish liaison for any area you may have an interest in supporting. Find. Feed. Fill. Go St. Gabe's! Keep our legacy of giving strong!

Communications - Newsletter

The St. Gabriel's Herald is a compilation of information for the upcoming month gathered from various resources. To do a good newsletter, Lori needs information on all meetings, events, and issues for each month. The newsletter comes out on the first of each month. The deadline for submitting items to include in the newsletter is the 25th of the month prior to our release. Please email any information you have to Lori. We are always open to suggestions, ideas, and materials. If you have any questions, please also feel free to contact Lori directly.

Communications - Website

Our original website was created by Bob Milledge when St. Gabriel's first opened its doors. Sheena Lawrence then maintained the website with diligence and creativity for over twelve years. We are so appreciative of the tremendous legacy of Sheena's website management. Following in her footsteps with a new design this year is a daunting task. We hope you like the new design as we continue to move forward with various media (audio is here and video is coming). We are always open to suggestions for improvement and new areas that can benefit our parish, the church at large, or our local community. Please submit any suggestions, photos, or content to our parish administrator. Once received by our administrator and reviewed, she will forward the information to our website support staff for posting to the website. Please be aware that the website is updated on Sunday afternoon every week with content that is received by the previous Friday evening.

Bulletin Boards

Our bulletin boards are the hub of many of the activities at St. Gabriel's. They are located in the hallway just before you reach the Parish Hall. There are four main groups of information you can find on our bulletin boards: Community Happenings for our church and the Episcopal Church at large; Sign-ups (altar flowers, Food Pantry, Refreshments, and activities), What is Coming Up (movie nights, member wedding or baby showers, and more); What We Are Up To, (focuses on individuals or groups within our church). Life at St. Gabe's is always growing, moving, and changing. To see just a glimpse of our active parish, peruse the boards as you traverse the hallway. Items can be added by the parish, or through the church office. Items are generally left up for 30-60 days. If you have questions about putting something up on the board, please contact our parish administrator.

Victory Gardeners

The concept of a garden came from Rosemary Bennett in late 2009 in conjunction with her Girl Scout's Gold Award. The idea was to create a garden that would produce vegetables and fruit for the South Hall Food Pantry as well as flowers that could be used for our Sunday floral arrangements. The garden was dedicated in the Spring of 2010 in honor of Billie Mayfield and Tony Rothschild. It produced a bumper crop in 2010! The ongoing mission of the garden is to continue to provide fresh produce for those in need in our community.

Those Who Maintain Our Spaces and Places

We are so grateful to the teams who maintain our spaces and places indoors and outdoors. If you have something you wish to leave or donate to the church, please contact the appropriate individual in charge of the area before you leave your item(s). Our teams can assist you with placement of items for the best possible results for the church and all of the groups we serve.

Communications - Facebook Page

St. Gabriels is on Facebook! Take a look at our new layout. This is your chance to participate actively or follow from afar. When you "Find Us on Facebook", you can see instant updates, connect with friends, post pictures, or let your church family know what's on your mind. Join us on Facebook today.

Congregational Growth and Development

Inviting and welcoming new families into St. Gabriel's is the role of all church members. A personal invitation to coffee after church or even for a followup lunch is a great way to include our newest members. The Newcomer's Brunch is also another avenue to personally greet new members and families. The committee for this brunch meets semi-annually to plan and host the brunch. This gives everyone time and opportunity to welcome new members in an informal way and to introduce them to each other while forming new friendships at church.

We also participate in several local area festivals and events by providing a "hospitality table" as a fun way to share the benefits of membership at St. Gabe's. If you know of an event in the local area, let us know so we can continue to share our good work and ministries in the local community.

Finance Committee

The Vestry is the group with the primary fiduciary responsibility for St. Gabriel's. The Finance Committee offers another layer of oversight for the finances of the church. This group typically meets monthly to review specific questions or issues with regard to finances and to make recommendations to the Vestry. The Rector, the Treasurer, and the Vestry liaison are standing members of this committee, along with 2-3 other lay members with an interest in finances.

Memorials Committee

The primary purpose of the Memorials Committee is to make recommendations to the Vestry regarding gifts given in loving memory of a deceased congregant, a deceased family member of a congregant, or in honor of a living person. When gifts are financial in nature, this committee has the role of discerning the wishes of those donating as well as the needs of the church, to research the costs/expenses in acquiring the item or service, to determine the placement of the gift, and to make recommendations to the Vestry. Financial memorial gifts go into a separate Memorials designated account (assigned individually for each memorial donor) until expended after the committee completes its research and recommendations to the Vestry. Upon approval by the Vestry, one or more of the Memorials Committee members may be asked by the Vestry to execute the approved purchase. When the memorial gift is an object, it is also the committee's responsibility to determine the suitability of the gift for St. Gabriel's and the placement of the object(s). Our committee members meet when occasions of memorial gifts arise. If you would like to be a part of this important ministry, please contact our parish administrator for more information.

Creation Keepers

Creation Keepers was formed about 2 years ago at the request of the Bishop. Each parish has been asked to look for ways to 'green' the church building and grounds. So far, we have replaced the regular light bulbs in the nave with CFL's, switched to ceramic coffee mugs instead of of styrofoam cups, turned one hot water heater off, and lowered the temperature on the other. Oakwood City is now picking up our garbage for free and also allowing us to recycle for free. We need additional ideas to improve our environment. Please contact Jean Pugh if you can serve on the committee or have any suggestions.

Holy Mowers

We have teams that rotate on an "as needed" basis to maintain the appearance of our property. This consists of mowing the lawn, edging, weeding, and general upkeep. We have several lawn mowers, rakes, gloves, and materials for our hard-working volunteers. This is such a worthwhile ministry for those who love the outdoors, meeting new people, and supporting the church. Maintaining the lawn only takes about two hours per team.

Sacred Sweepers

A sacred sweeper can be a team of two or an entire family! This ministry consists of all of the duties necessary to keep our church a clean and happy environment. You don't have to bring a thing. We supply all materials, including the sacred vacuum! Being a sacred sweeper requires about two hours of your time and the more 'sweepers" we have, the less "sweeping" you will do! This ministry is appreciated by everyone, including Gabby!

Landscapers

A few times a year, particularly for special occasions, we have a parish cleanup day. This ministry consists of planting new flowers, mulching and weeding. It is a fun ministry and a rewarding one as our volunteers take pride in our grounds. New ideas are always welcome to spruce up the church grounds!