Pastor's Message

November 2005

This is a time to dream – not a time to retreat. Even though your pastor will be leaving at the end of November, our consistory wishes to convey to the congregation that we will continue to move forward. Some decisions have already been made regarding interim ministry and first steps have been taken to start the search process. There will be a natural tendency to sit back and take a “wait and see” attitude toward the future until your new pastor arrives. That is not completely inappropriate because your new pastor may have different skills and talents that will lead the church in new directions. But it is also important to use the interim period as a time to dream dreams and have visions for the future (see Joel 2:28). As you gather and articulate your dreams you will be able to provide helpful guidance to your new pastor.

I would suggest four areas where St. Paul’s Church needs to develop a vision for the future. First, and most important, is that we begin to offer a contemporary service. I have suggested a “seeker service” but this is something that can be developed along whatever lines generate the most interest and response. I know that a number of our members are very interested in a more modern style of worship and some have already started attending worship at other churches where this type of service is offered. St. Paul's UCC needs to begin a contemporary service, not only to retain our current members, and not only to offer a service that would be more attractive to youth, but as a means to reach out to more people in the community, particularly those who do not have a church affiliation. Right now St. Paul’s Church is strong enough to be able to start a third service. This is the time to do it, as a positive step, rather than wait until later when it becomes necessary, and when it may be more difficult.

It may be possible to have a contemporary service on a Sunday evening, as I had suggested, or on a Saturday evening, as some churches do it, or by rescheduling our times on Sunday morning a third service can be added. For example, we might have worship services at 8:00, 9:30 and 11:00, in which case we would want to have Sunday School at 9:30 so that folks could attend any of the services (before, during or after Sunday School).

Third, and this is very important, the church needs to add an associate pastor. Leading two worship services every week, plus the usual priestly functions (baptisms, weddings and funerals) and my strong emphasis on visitation and home communion has taken all of my time and energy. I cannot see that it would be possible for one pastor to add the responsibility of a third service, especially if it is every week. Remember, in the last newsletter I observed that there are a number of smaller UCC Churches in Lancaster that do have an associate pastor. It really is time for St. Paul’s Church to take this step forward.

And finally, we need to ask the question – how will we pay for this? As the church grows, income will grow and some of this will simply happen. But we have not studied our stewardship and been willing to discuss our church giving openly. I realize that our Pennsylvania Dutch heritage makes us reluctant to discuss such things (even I am uncomfortable bringing up the subject) but that is not Scriptural. The Old Testament frequently and clearly teaches that we should tithe, which means giving 1/10th of our income. Jesus talked about money, love of money and materialism more than any other topic, except perhaps the Kingdom of God, and he was known to even watch people giving their offerings and observe how much they gave (see Mark 12:41). The first agreement between Paul and the Council of Jerusalem was that Paul would take an offering for the poor in Jerusalem. There are some very good resources to help a church study stewardship – it is time to start addressing this topic in our congregation.

There are many other things which could be included in our vision as St. Paul's UCC moves into the future. I hope my suggestions will help start the discussion.