Dear Friends in Christ,

When I ask the students of St. Francis House why they come here and why they stay, they respond, “because of the people, the community, the worship and the spirit of the house.”  St. Francis House, for many of them is a place where they find home, both literally and figuratively.  We currently have five students living here who love it because they are living in an intentional community of people who are seeking to find Jesus in their lives.  We also have 25-30 students, staff and faculty who regularly attend worship on Sundays and Wednesdays who come because they, too, find a community where they can be on the journey of finding God, exploring their faith, and discovering their place in the body of Christ. 

Since the beginning of the semester, the students, the board and I have been doing some good work about where St. Francis House is and where we are going.  We have more and more new students coming through the door each week for our Sunday worship and dinner and we are having regular discussions, bible studies and prayer times together on Monday nights as well as our Wednesday noon worship and Wednesday evening Taizé prayers.

As the community looks forward we are all on the same page as we talk about bringing in more students so that we can spread our ministry here and grow the Episcopal presence on campus, doing more outreach with the community, creating a sister chaplaincy with other student chaplaincies around the world and doing our part on working on the Millennium Development Goals so that we can do God’s work in the world around us.  This is a big vision, and I know that we have the passion to make it happen.

Our hope is that you can join in this vision as well.  By supporting the house this year and in the years to come, you are supporting this vision of growth, outreach, ministry and service for the students and for the community.  I ask you to consider giving generously to the house a year end gift to help us move forward in this vision.  I hope that if you have given to us in the past, you will be able to increase that gift and if this is your first time giving, you will give prayerfully and intentionally to help us in our vision. 

I also ask you to prayerfully consider becoming a pledging partner to the ministry of St. Francis House. Our community of students and other community members have made their pledges to St. Francis House for the year 2008, and I’m hoping that you, too, can make a pledge to support us in the coming year.  By pledging, you are giving us the opportunity to better budget our resources and to be good stewards of what God has given us.  Please join us in this vision and in our journey forward as we continue to do God’s work in the world.

Blessings and Peace,

The Rev. Shannon Ferguson Kelly
Chaplain, St. Francis House