As I hope you are very well aware, this Sunday is the Parish Picnic, the day on which we rally together to begin a new program year. We will celebrate with the return of our wonderful choir, a ministry fair, the unveiling of our newly redesigned Godly Play classroom, and a picnic. Later that evening, we will launch our new 5:00 Sung Mass for our growing college ministry. The day promises to be full of joyful new beginnings!
There is a possibility of rain on Sunday morning. (But weather, like the human heart, is fickle.) If it rains, we will still share a celebratory morning, with all of our festivities moved indoors. (A picnic indoors is a little like camping in the living room, not what you imagined, but still sweet and memorable.) Of course, the most important piece of our celebratory morning is your presence, rain or shine. I look forward to seeing you on Sunday!
The Parish Picnic is the perfect day on which to invite a friend to church. The leaflet has been designed especially for visitors, containing everything necessary to participate in the liturgy. The ministry fair will highlight many of the ways we love and serve the Lord in this place. And, the picnic will provide a wonderful opportunity to get acquainted with folks we haven’t gotten the chance to visit with before. If you have a friend you have been considering inviting to church, this is the week to extend the invitation.
A few weeks ago, a group from Good Shepherd attended a workshop by Fr. Chris Corbin in which he shared some of the preliminary data from his Trajectory Study on the Episcopal Church. While the data is still being interpreted, a few points are crystal clear. One of the most salient take-aways was this: the most powerful mechanism for church growth remains personal invitation. Across traditions, churchmanship, and geographic locations, personal invitations consistently drive increasing membership. And so, we must work together to continue our parish’s growth.
A number of you have remarked to me that you have noticed an increased number of visitors these last several weeks, many of whom have returned. This good work is already happening. You are already telling the story of God at work in this place, making all things new again. As the program year kicks into gear, keep it up! Invite a friend to sit beside you on Sunday morning. Share one of our posts on social media. Talk about the church you love when you share a cup of coffee with a neighbor or coworker. Every time you do this, you work with God to answer our daily prayer that God will grow this place for the sake of the Gospel. You are a prayer in the midst of its own answer.
My friends, the best is yet to come. We have so much about which to be hopeful. I am so excited to see what God will do with us and through us this year. It will be glorious.
See you in Church!