To nominate yourself or someone else, please complete this brief form.
Dear St. John’s,
We would love to invite you to consider nominating yourself or someone else to serve on St. John’s vestry. What is the vestry, you may ask? It is the governing body of lay people—a kind of church board of directors—that meets monthly with the Rector, Lisa Wiens Heinsohn, to discuss, pray, dream, vision, learn, and make decisions about the church. It oversees the Rector and is a crucial part of church leadership. Vestry meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month (skipping July). We vote for nominated candidates during our annual meeting, which will be January 26, 2025. Newly elected vestry members serve for three years—until the Annual Meeting in 2028.
Anyone who is a pledging member, who supports St. John’s mission, and who has been actively engaged for more than a year can serve. The next three years will be of critical importance in the life of St. John’s – a time when Rena Turnham’s sustainable mission work will come to fruition; a time we will collectively discern about St. John’s future.
Here is a more detailed description of Vestry Duties. If you are interested in learning more about serving on the vestry, please contact our Senior Warden (like a President) Doug Mensing (dougmensing@gmail.com), Junior Warden (like a Vice President) Heidi Weaver (hweaver@envirobate.com), or our Rector Lisa Wiens Heinsohn (lisa@stjohns-mpls.org). We hope to have a slate of nominees by November 1.
Another terrific opportunity is serving as an Episcopal Church in Minnesota Convention Delegate! Delegates attend the 36-hour Annual Convention, always a Friday-Saturday in the fall. These are sometimes in the Twin Cities and sometimes in broader Minnesota; all expenses are paid by the church. Convention is the legislative body of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota and votes upon policy matters of the church. At Convention, we collectively listen for the Holy Spirit’s leading of the church; hear the Bishop’s annual address and that of other prominent guest speakers from the broader Episcopal Church; become inspired by the great things happening in our sister churches; and have great food and fellowship with one another.
Convention Delegates, like Vestry members, serve a three year term. They also attend quarterly ECMN Council meetings to keep up to date what is happening in the church. Other than these quarterly meetings and annual Convention, there are no other duties.
Please let Lisa Wiens Heinsohn (lisa@stjohns-mpls.org) know if you are interested in serving as a Delegate by November 1.
