Authenticity

Pastor’s Epistle—June 2022

My wife has a talent for congregational revitalization. It emerged many years ago, when she took a call at a parish that had suffered both conflict and schism. Most folks seemed to think that she would be managing their decline, putting them to bed. But in fact, she helped them to find their own footing, and they remain a healthy congregation today.

So the synod moved her to a larger parish with a similarly traumatic recent history. She worked hard, studied hard, and with a redevelopment grant to help them survive some turbulent times, she led them through the valley to a new and brighter day. She wouldn’t say she rescued them; she would say that she walked with them, alongside them.

She has followed the prompting of the Holy Spirit, working upon this theme, to a new degree and additional work with other dioceses and parishes. And she has elected, on her own time and dime, to help St Peter’s out as well. In the wake of Covid, and other losses suffered in recent years, it seems time to try a new tack, a fresh perspective. Hence the congregational surveys that went out recently: that was step one.

Another step has been for our council to take a look at St Peter’s ministries and mission statement. Do they match up to each other? Are our efforts directed toward our stated priorities? In other words: Do we practice what we preach? As printed in our annual Member Handbook, our congregation’s mission statement stands as follows:

Because we, St Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, are called by God, saved by Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we proclaim God’s message to all people through worship, teaching, serving, and sharing ourselves, our time, and our possessions.

We broke this down into columns on a whiteboard: Worship, Teaching, Serving, Sharing. Then we listed all the ministries and activities in which we as a congregation engage: Sunday worship, Bible studies, matins, vespers, adult education, choir, Piecemakers, confirmation, Sunday school, our plant sale, weddings, baptisms, funerals, blood drives, food drives—you name it, we listed it. The whole board was full.

And you know what we found? Every single thing we do here had its place. Everything we do together aligns with our stated mission as Christians, as a people of God. This was not a foregone conclusion. Plenty of congregations go through this exercise and find lots of fat to trim, lots of wasted energy directed toward things unrelated to their mission.

But we had a place for everything, and everything in its place. We are who we say we are. We practice what we preach together. And certainly this is due in part to the fact that we have a very broad and inclusive mission statement—yet that was by design. When we fashioned our current statement, under the leadership of Pr Krueger, it was understood that faith in Christ encompasses each aspect of our lives, personally and communally.

This is worth celebrating, worth sharing with us all; hence this epistle. Well done, St Peter’s. All that you do, you do for the Lord. Thanks be to God.