2024 Stewardship Form
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Stewardship 2024 – We Serve the Lord
Beloved in the Lord,
You are the LIGHT of the world.
Matthew 5:14
Christ is the LIGHT of the world. The Church He established is the heart of that LIGHT. Our parish of St. John the Baptist exists to shine His LIGHT to the people of Tampa. Our parish is defined by five core values—Love, Worship, Community, Learning, Service. Sharing the good news of Christ’s love and LIGHT that comes from knowing Christ is the most important work we do. Our parish is thriving in so many ways. On most Sundays our church is filled to capacity with standing room only. Our parish loves to worship. We come together in fellowship both in the parish and the greater Tampa Bay area. Our parish loves our community. We offer Bible studies and Orthodoxy 101 classes throughout the year as well as a daily devotional called “The Prayer Team.” Our parish loves to learn. We have dynamic ministries for just about every demographic. Our parish loves to serve.
Everything we have—our time, our talent, our treasure—are all gifts from God. How we take care of them is the heart of stewardship. Stewardship is not only about money, but about our whole lives and what we are doing with them. It’s about what we offer to Christ, and the Church is His vision for how we bring the LIGHT of Christ to the world. This is how we can be the LIGHT of Christ.
In a world that is changing constantly, what we can say for certain is that the work of the Church—spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, seeking and saving the lost, and serving our fellow man—will never change. And the call to each Christian, to be the LIGHT of the world, will never change either.
LIGHT is the one quality we share with the Lord. In John 8:12, Jesus says “I am the LIGHT of the world.” In Matthew 5:14, He says “You are the LIGHT of the world.” God’s desire to share His LIGHT with us is His covenant with us. Our desire to share in this LIGHT with Christ and to share this LIGHT with the world is our covenant with Him. Each year, we renew a “covenant” with the Lord through our stewardship offering to our parish. We invite you to renew yours.
With love in the Lord,
+Fr. Stavros N. Akrotirianakis, Proistamenos
George Mitseas, Stewardship Co-Chairperson
Chris Kyrus, Stewardship Co-Chairperson