Main Pastor's Page
August 2006
I believe we as a church have been called to live out our mission
statement. "To love and worship God, to love and serve one another, to
learn and share God's Word." It is necessary as a church of Jesus Christ
that we live this out in all that we say and do. Not least of all as we
make plans for the future of the congregation. As we look toward
acquiring property or building, we need to see how these activities fit
into the master plan for our congregation. We should not acquire land or
build an addition if it is just something we want to do without a purpose
connected to our mission.
I believe there are good reasons to do both of these activities, if we are
committed to outreach and growth. If we want St. Paul to reach out both
in ministry to the community and in mission to invite people into a
fellowship built around the Good News of Jesus Christ, then we should
acquire land and add on to the education/fellowship/service part of the
building. But we need to be clear as to what this project is about. It is to
meet needs, needs of the community and needs of individuals. We live
near an area with needs that we have only begun to explore. Towar
Gardens has some needy people. So does Whitehills, people with
different needs. There are both physical and spiritual needs that we say
we are committed to meeting.
What are our priorities at this point? If we are going to love and worship
God, we do this by helping those in need. Some of those needy are here
among us, inside our walls. Many are outside and as the economy
struggles I imagine the needs will continue to increase. (I don't think
that will change whoever the governor is.) If we choose to continue to
help those in need we will need expanded space to serve them. That is
loving and serving one another.
If we choose to continue to reach both inwardly and outwardly to share
God's Word we need to look at a way of having a safe and adequate
space for our children for Sunday School classes, and a Youth Room for
learning and hanging out. A safe place to be, for fun activities with
other Christian youth, can fit into both of the latter two points of our
mission. In this day it is not a small thing to have a place that youth can
call their own. It is also not easy to teach children of any age when
space is inadequate. We have many dedicated teachers who continue to
work in crowded spaces for their students and who have to most most
everything each week because their space is taken over for multiple
purposes the rest of the week. I would get tired of that if I were
teaching, as they do.
All I am asking is that we look at what we are doing in this process of
land acquisition or expanding the building. I don't want either if it is
just to please the pastor or satisfy a desire to show off. But if it is to
help people come into contact with the loving God found in Jesus Christ
and to help and teach others about him, then that is what we are called to
do. Please continue to pray about the decisions we are called on to make
in this area. For if we do go ahead it will involve your commitment, as
well as every member of our congregation.
Pat Dever, the Loan Specialist who was here from the
Mission Loan
Fund of our Church,
the ELCA,
said a sobering thing when she
mentioned that if we are to go ahead with such a task as acquiring land
and building, we need to look at tripling our giving. The Church Council
and I are trying to be up front about the level of financial commitment
that will be required. And the only way I believe we will do that is if
you believe in what we are trying to do. That is, if you believe it is for
the mission of our church and of our Lord.
Main Pastor's Page
