Reflections

Our Capital Campaign team gathered last Saturday morning for a phone bank. We are in the process of reaching out to all parishioners to schedule in person visits. After some bagels and coffee and some instruction, we split up to various areas around the church so we could focus and have some quiet space to make our calls. After completing several calls on my list, I unknowingly dialed a combination of digits which were the first 6 digits of a parishioner’s land phone number followed by the last 4 digits of their cell phone number. A woman answered and I said “Good morning, this is Bill Burgoyne calling from All Saints Episcopal. We’re reaching out to everyone to see if there would be a time we could meet to discuss our Capital Campaign”. The confused woman on the other end of the line asked where I had gotten her phone number and I said it was right here on our call list. She said “I’ve never even been to All Saints, but I’ve been looking for a church.” I said we’d love to have you come visit us. I’d called her while she was on a shopping trip to Target but she was intrigued by the call. She said she was Catholic and asked whether it would be okay to attend services. I encouraged her to come visit us and reminded her that Episcopalians are “Catholic-lite”. We both laughed as we realized what a strange coincidence this all was . At that point, Amy came into the room and she joyfully engaged in the invitation to our new friend. As we continued our good laugh, we followed with a genuine invitation. Amy obtained her information and quickly followed up with an email sending our new friend a link to All Saints’ website and a picture of the Burgoyne family (in case she did come to church on Sunday so she’d know what we look like and she’d be able to find us.)

 

While sitting in the pew on Sunday morning I looked around hoping to see my new phone friend. I began to think about what my dad used to say at the morning announcements after The Peace. He would encourage everyone to introduce themselves to somebody they didn’t know. He’d remind us that all are welcomed here at All Saints. 

 

Often we cling to familiar groups and faces and this call during our phone bank session was a reminder to me to always be on the lookout for new faces, and make sure that all feel welcome in our church home.

 

It further reminds me that our campaign is not just about the pledges for our physical space but it is about building the real “capital” of our relationships: with God, with fellow parishioners at All Saints and with neighbors in the larger Richmond community.

 

Please be on the lookout for a new face at All Saints as it just might be our new friend who is looking for a new church home - all because of a God-winked mis-dialed number.