Hello –
Starting August 1st we entered a three to five year runway for growth. Our top priority is welcoming new people into our community.
I am working with a clergy coach, Teresa, who has successfully supported mainline churches such as ours in growth. Further, she once lived in Marin so knows the culture in which we are called to proclaim the Good News.
One key to growth is to deliberately have what Teresa calls “Low Barrier Events,” where you don’t have to know when to sit, stand or kneel in order to participate. Here are three events coming up:
1. Contemplative Worship at 6pm this Sunday. Please come this Sunday to check out this 25 minute worship service with the late afternoon light coming through the stained glass windows. Cathy and Tanner have developed a lovely, quiet service where beautiful words land deep in an atmposphere of quiet. Come this Sunday both because they are ready to lead you and because Chloe and I, who have been there nearly every week, won’t be there. Come ,experience it, and imagine whom you might invite next.
2. Mary Show and Tell, Saturday, November 7th. The RenewalWorks Group will be leading a weekend experience like the Road to Emmaus experience we did together in the spring. On the Saturday of the weekend the campus will be filled with a variety of beautiful art about Mary, the mother of Jesus. It will be like a museum with a curated experience. It will be designed to make it as easy as possible to bring a friend and show them our beautiful campus.
3. Christmas Concert and Sing Along, Monday, December 20th. Mike Struck will lead our choir in a half-hour of beautiful music followed by a sing along with all kinds of holiday favorites, sacred and secular, in Duncan Hall. Hot cocoa and munchies will be served. Price of admission is can of food to go to Ritter Center. This is a great event to bring friends and neighbors and share with them the joyful and good humored conviviality of the St. Paul’s family.
These events are not being offered in isolation. They are supported by conversations where we are developing a common vocabulary to equip us with short and truthful accounts of what we love St. Paul’s. Further, people like Judy and Stuart are thinking about ways to increase our visibility in the community. With Teresa’s guidance we will be taking on the best practices for church growth. By God’s grace, we have so much that people are hungering for, if they only can find a path to us and hear a call to go deeper.
We can do this. Remember, churches that intend to grow, tend to grow. In the light of Christ, may it be so for our beloved St. Paul’s.