Pastor's Message

July 2003

In a recent article in The Parish Paper, the author, Herb Miller, suggested that churches come in two types: “Those that live in the past and those that anticipate the future.” Which direction do you think St. Paul’s Church is facing? Which direction are you facing?

The same article suggests that churches go through growth stages, almost like human beings, as congregations adopt new activities and new priorities at each stage of life. Just as a child dreams of unlimited possibilities, so a new church, in childhood, dreams of unlimited possibilities. As a person moves into adolescence, possibilities remain unlimited, but a focus on a particular career begins to take shape and preparation begins to help the person, or congregation, move in that direction. Just as a person spends these years in education and job training, so a church will establish structures and begin ministries that will establish the “personality” of the congregation in the years to come. In the “prime” of life, between the ages of mid 20’s to mid 40’s, persons and churches will experience their major accomplishments, but beyond the 40’s, the past takes on a greater importance, sometimes even greater than the future.

So what does this mean for a congregation that is more than 200 years old? Miller suggests that there is also a “dream cycle” as well as a “life cycle” in a church. Effective leaders of a church will envision a new dream for the church and help that dream take root in the minds and hearts of the members. As more people connect with the dream, plans, goals and structures are put into place and effective ministries are carried out. For a congregation to survive for 234 years as we have, we must have gone through a number of very effective “dream cycles.” We can probably identify a few of these, such as replacing the log church with a brick church, additions to the church and construction of the Christian Education addition. But we can also see the dream cycle in programs, such as the establishment of a Sunday School and the building of a solid music program with the purchase of our first pipe organ.

But what is our current dream? Where are we today in our “dream cycle?” I would suggest two areas: Children and Youth activities and a growing programmatic emphasis. Adding a full time youth director to our staff in 1998 increased available children’s activities, and a direct result of this was the growing involvement of more young families in the church and overall growth in our Sunday School. Sunday School classes have grown to the point that we have had to utilize all available rooms again and this summer we are realigning ages for our classes, just to accommodate this growth. We have also started some new programs, such as the Men’s Fellowship and most recently our family night, and have seen growth in some of our established programs, such as Women’s Fellowship, Stiegel Roses and even the Softball Team. Have you connected with any of these programs? Are you joining in this dream as it becomes a reality?

And at the same time, we must ask what comes next. In a society where more than 33 percent of households are headed by a single parent, should we be planning a special program for single parents? With the Baby Boomer generation moving beyond the age of 50, health issues are becoming more important for this generation. What can we do to help the growing search to maintain good health for this generation? The fastest growing segment of our population is retired people. How will our church meet that ministry challenge, and what can we do to utilize the time and skills of this growing segment? Even with our excellent youth program and Sunday School, is there something more we should be doing to continue our momentum in this area?

On Pentecost, Joel’s prophecy came true. As the Holy Spirit was poured out on the believers, the Apostles were given a new vision. Even old men, according to Joel, were able to dream dreams. The Holy Spirit was poured out on everyone, and the new fledgling church experienced growth that was even beyond their dreams. What is your vision for our church today? Do you have any dreams for St. Paul’s Church? Talk to your pastor, talk to your deacons and elders and share your dreams. We are in the season of Pentecost when we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit. Let us receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and pray that God would give us dreams and fill us with new vision for our congregation.