We invite you to discover...

Seeking our next rector

What We Know… In preparation for our search for a new rector we engaged well-known church consultants to help us answer the questions, “What’s important to us?” and “How ready are we to accept change?” About 130 parishioners — almost 100% of our average worship attendance — responded, most taking the time to write comments about their hopes for and concerns about the future of our church and the next person called to be our spiritual leader. The members of our parish told us their top four goals:

• Make necessary changes to attract families with children and youth to our church.

• Develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to reach new people and incorporate them into the life of the church.

• Strengthen the process by which members are called and equipped for ministry and leadership.

• Develop ministries that work toward heal ing those broken by l i fe circumstances.

To learn more, please contact

Church of the Nativity Northborough, Massachusetts

Canon Rich Simpson Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts 37 Chestnut Street Springfield, MA 01103 Office 413.737.4786, X 117 RSimpson@diocesewma.org

A Regional Faith Community... The Church of the Nativity is a regional faith com-munity. Although many of our parishioners live in the town of Northborough, the majority live in the surrounding towns of Shrewsbury, Westborough and Berlin, and the cities of Marlborough and Worcester. Northborough (usually just spelled Northboro), lies at the eastern edge of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts thirty miles west of Boston. Though primarily residential (pop. 14,500), the town en-joys considerable variety with a historic district, large apple orchards, a retail mall and an industrial park serving major corporations like National Grid and Iron Mountain. Noted for its excellent grade schools and regional and technical high schools, Northborough has ready access to a network of major highways in-cluding the nearby Mass Turnpike (I-90). Benefit-ting from easy highway access and a reputation of uniqueness within the Episcopal Church, Nativity serves the faithful in Northborough and a larger community as well.

Might God Be Preparing You For This Special Task? We’ve been praying for that man or woman whom we believe God is preparing even now to accept this challenge. Might you be that special person that God is calling?

September 29, 2015

Who We Are: Why we’re unique... The Church of the Nativity could be considered unique within the larger framework of the Epis-copal Church. This is due, in large part, to the ministries of our three previous rectors whose shared traditional and orthodox core values have shaped our church into who and what and where we are today. Nativity enjoys an invigorating balance of three faith traditions:

• Catholic, celebrating the universal love of the Father and upholding the historic em-phasis on the Sacraments.

• Evangelical, believing in the witness of the Holy Scriptures to contemporary life and the importance of individual commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

• Charismatic, recognizing the gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives and the life of the Church.

Where We’re Going... • We recognize God is calling us to grow,

both spiritually and numerically.* • Our youth and young adult ministry, small

groups, Christian education, stewardship, and the development of lay leadership all need major review.*

We invite you to discover... Who Will Help Us Get There... We seek a turnaround agent, a unique spiritual leader whom we believe, even now, is being prepared by God to lead Nativity and guide us in achieving our ambitious goals. We, in turn, are prepared to support our next rector spiritually, financially, and communally. We believe our next leader will strive to pos-sess the attributes of 1 Timothy 3.

• Be a person of prayer and integrity, con-stantly seeking God's vision for our church and its ministry.

• Be a risk taker for God’s sake, willing to take on challenges and face failures, being led by the Holy Spirit.

• Lead and inspire us with humor and open communication to face our challenges and follow God's leading.

• Preach Bible-based sermons and lead Spirit-filled and joyful worship.

• Understand our desire to build God’s king-dom and equip all of us to evangelize and disciple those around us.

* We recognize that the above goals may require bold, discomforting change.

What We Believe… • We believe in the Great Commission, of

reaching out to our communities to spread the word of God through ministry, evangel-ism, and baptism.

• We also believe in the importance of mak-ing faithful followers of those under our care.

Pentecost Picnic God Rocks! Concert Sunday School Kickoff