As a Matthew 25 congregation, one of our priorities is nurturing congregational vitality. By some measures, we are indeed a vital congregation:
- We had almost 500 people worship with us in person on Christmas Eve, numbers not seen since before the pandemic!
- Giving has been robust with a budget for 2026 of $710,000, including $99,000 for Outreach programs.
- Adult Sunday School attendance is growing, and our children and youth programs are strong and getting stronger.
- New Outreach initiatives are providing more opportunities for service.
- New members are joining, 11 last year, with 4 more prepared to join in the coming weeks.
- We had fresh voices contribute to our Advent devotional with meaningful reflections.
Those are all signs of a healthy congregation. Yet, in other ways, we are less vital than we might be:
- Too few people are engaged in any activity outside of Sunday worship.
- Worship attendance continues to trail pre-COVID weeks.
- While we are welcoming new members, the pace of growth is slower than before the pandemic.
- There are increasing segments of our neighborhood and community who are unchurched and with whom we have little contact.
No numbers can accurately reflect our spiritual vitality as a congregation, so it seems fair to ask:
- How vital is your spiritual life at the dawn of this new year?
- Are you growing in faith and being challenged to find new ways of being faithful, or are you comfortable with where you are with little desire to do more?
- Have you invited anyone to participate in a ministry of Covenant in the past 6 months, whether it be worship, an outreach project, or a Christian formation opportunity?
- Are you helping to make the church more vital in any way?
- Is the church meeting your needs and providing opportunities for you to share your gifts?
At its retreat last weekend, the Session discussed the challenges posed by John Cleghorn in his book, Building Belonging: “Can we make church home again in all the ways people hunger for it – not places where consumers receive services, but where a diverse community of faithful stakeholders (I would say, ‘disciples’) have a passionate coownership of a great undertaking?” What might it take for us as a congregation to live into that vision? What might it take for you to be part of making that vision a reality?
