Full Parish Profile | OTM Questionnaire

St. David’s is currently seeking a full-time rector to reside among us and join us in extending God’s welcome, particularly to our agnostic neighbors, young families, and an influx of island newcomers. We hope to find someone who embodies inspiring, inclusive celebration in the Episcopal tradition and provides empathetic pastoral care. The salary is 100% of the Category E mid-point for the Diocese of Olympia; health benefits are extended to the priest’s family. Housing is included.

What We Wish For

Our community has a deep longing for a priest who is one of us, living and working in our midst full time. We hope such a person will help to grow our congregation, especially among younger generations, providing stability and financial viability for the future. As one member insightfully phrased it, “Part of ministering to older parishioners is bringing in younger ones.” A sense of continuity is reassuring and invigorating, and we value our church as a locus of multi-generational engagement and fellowship. Our island has also seen an influx of new residents during the pandemic; we hope to invite them to join us in worship.

We also wish to open our doors to agnostic friends and neighbors, and to those from other faith traditions. Many of us raised in other spiritual or secular traditions have found that the Episcopal church can become a home for seekers of intellectual bent and progressive ideals as well as those drawn to the age-old rituals of the Anglican faith. We look forward to offering once again the kinds of programs that invite the wider community under our roof.

We are eager for expanded educational opportunities for all island adults and youth. As of this writing, we are forming an Education for Ministry cohort. There is much to be done to envision and craft a program for our older children who will soon grow beyond the Godly Play curriculum. We would like to build at St. David’s a space where kids know they can bring all of their challenging questions and emerging identities and be held and treasured in community.

We wish for warm relations with the Lutheran congregation that has shared our facilities for the past decade. We share personal friendships and many points of confluence, and Winter 2021 has found us coming together for Christmas services and Lessons & Carols. We want to be generous, sensitive to their needs for space and access, and seek opportunities for joint fellowship.

The St. David’s community would very much like to return to two services—we have traditionally celebrated Rite I at 8:00 and Rite II at 9:30, though some of our families with young children and other congregants would support beginning even later. We see this transition in leadership and emergence from pandemic restrictions as an opportunity for conversation about adjusting our worship times to accommodate the needs of the congregation.