Church Vitality

Recently some leaders in my church and I were at a meeting with other church leaders in our diocese who are "kind of" nearby. It was the first such meeting in about 10 years, and it was great to be able to catch up on news together, meet with one another, and be inspired for ministry. Yet, I was also scared as one my parishioners said wonderful things about me. I embarrass easily, and everything that was said caused someone else to say, "No pressure," in a tongue-in-cheek way. Took the words right out of my mouth. Please pray for me.

That being said, I am going to pitch to the Vestry looking into Natural Church Development. I have seen it work in other churches and it is based on good theological and universally testable foundations. The basic idea is to focus on quality and allow the Holy Spirit take care of quantity. I have high hopes for St Francis, as much as they have high hopes for me. But even more, I think we both have high hopes in the promises of a loving God who is the Ultimate Evangelist himself.