'Measure Your Heart'
Yes, a personal relationship with Christ is vital to spiritual health, as are moments of individual reflection and prayer. But it is just as fulfilling to be apart of the community of Christ, which gives us the chance to come together in worship, and offer each other spiritual support, encouragement, and fellowship. It gives us the ability to reinforce our own belief in Jesus Christ every single week, while helping to strengthen each other’s faith as well.
A strong, healthy church doesn’t just benefit ourselves, though. It
allows us to organize our time and our talents to reach out to people outside the church doors as well – To spread the Gospel and offer help to those in the community that need it the most.
Keeping the importance of the church community in mind during the planning process, the St. Paul's Vestry has created a Lenten program that we'd like to call Measure Your Heart. During a series of meetings throughout Lent, we will come together and discuss the fundamentals of building and sustaining a strong, healthy church. We will celebrate St. Paul's strengths and express our gratitude to those that have made St. Paul's the wonderful community it is today. However, we will also look at the church with a critical eye, and discuss what our congregation could do better - and how we can adapt to changes in the community and world that could potentially challenge the parish's survival. We are sure the series will yield a great deal of intriguing viewpoints and compelling discussion, and we hope everyone can be a part of it.
When we ask you to "measure your heart" during this Lenten season, we would like you to consider your relationship to the church, and the degree of your passion for helping in the success of this special community. Our hope is for each one of us to realize the importance of Saint Paul’s in our own lives, and commit ourselves to ensuring its revival. We hope you will decide to join us on this journey.
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together,
as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
- Hebrews 10:24-25
'Measure Your Heart' Kick-Off
Saturday, February 21, 2009
The Reverend Kara Wagner Sherer, St. John's Church of Chicago
The Lenten series 'Measure Your Heart' began on Saturday, February 21, with a presentation by guest speaker Pastor Kara Wagner Sherer of Chicago. Reverend Sherer was a tremendous help and inspiration to the Vestry as this program was in its early planning stages, and we were glad to have her with us.
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We will offer two opportunities to meet for the first discussion session, in an effort to fit the needs of as many people as possible. Please join us on Wednesday, March 11 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., or on Thursday, March 12 from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m.
The discussion will continue on Wednesday, April 1 at 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., or on Thursday, April 2 from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m.
This is a very important time for the future of St. Paul's, and we invite your enthusiastic participation.
After a brief introduction from Junior Warden Brian Gadbois regarding the current state of the church, Pastor Sherer began by listing the twelve features of a successful, vibrant church community, as outlined by author Kennon Callahan (Twelve Keys to an Effective Church, Small, Strong Congregations). Callahan's list, she stressed, isn't a checklist that all churches wishing to be successful must follow, step by step; rather, it serves as a general guideline, and would provide an excellent starting point for St. Paul's Lenten period of self-evaluation.
Callahan's twelve keys to an effective church include:
1) Specific, precise missional objectives; 2) Pastoral and lay visitation;
3) Corporate, dynamic worship; 4) Significant relational groups; 5) Strong leadership resources; 6) Streamlined structure and solid, participatory decision making; 7) Several competent programs and activities; 8) Open accessibility; 9) High visibility within the community; 10) Adequate parking, land, and landscaping; 11) Adequate space and facilities 12) Solid financial resources.
Next, the congregation was asked to rate St. Paul's performance in each area on a scale of one to ten, followed by a discussion about which aspects demanded our most immediate attention.
This presentation marked the first step in what we hope will become an ongoing resolve by the people of St. Paul's to re-evaluate our individual places within the church and our church's place within the community. We hope not to dwell on our church's current weaknesses and financial hardships as impossible burdens, but as wonderful opportunities to evoke real, positive changes within the parish. While the great amount of work that needs to be done at St. Paul's can seem daunting, it is certainly not impossible - especially with a genuine willingness to reform and an optimistic outlook for the future.
So in the end, Pastor Sherer left us with a challenge. She asked us to make sure our passion for the church's future doesn't wane in the coming weeks and months, but instead continues to grow stronger and stronger. She asked us all to begin setting aside a bit of our time to brainstorm ideas for dynamic and new projects that St. Paul's could undertake, both amongst ourselves and for the outside community.
Of course, brainstorming is only the beginning. It is our hope that these individual thoughts and ideas will lead to insightful and intriguing discussions with each other during our next meetings, and ultimately lead a newly revived parish to act in the very near future.
