Coming this Fall: Re-Vitality at St. Paul’s

Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus,
Many of you may remember the meeting that was held soon after I became your pastor in 2015. We had a discussion about the mission and ministry of our congregation. Out of that meeting, the Board of Directors adopted a practice of goal-setting that focussed mostly on the maintenance of our facility. It has helped us with budget planning since that time.
I had also hoped to help us to develop plans for our life together as a congregation that included goals for community outreach, education, and care-giving. However, I realized that I wasn’t sure how to go about that, so I gave my attention more to the pastoral needs of St. Paul’s and the work that was already going on in our community. I do not regret this, but I have come to believe that this might be a good time for us to take another look the kinds of planning that I had in mind before. Through my work in 2022 with the Synod’s Purpose, Planning Committee, I caught a glimpse of more aspects of the strategic planning process, and then this fall, I learned of a program offered to congregations by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod call Re-Vitality that could help us along.
With the agreement of the Board of Directors, St. Paul’s is now registered to begin the first step of this program called the Congregational Assessment of Development/Decline Status (CADDS) Survey. From October 8-29, we will ask all participants in our congregation to take the time to complete this survey which will be available online and on paper. The survey consists of statements or questions aimed at developing a descriptive “snapshot” of our congregation. It will help us to see ourselves more objectively, so that we can assess our strengths and our weaknesses.
From there, we will embark on studies aimed at helping us to respond to the needs we see in our life together with the prayer that God will help us to grow stronger together in our faith and service.
If you have questions about Re-Vitality, please feel free to speak with Pastor Fraser, Ed Jerke, Kirby Rietze, or David Dransfield.
Please join me in praying that God will guide us through this process and use it to renew us as His people.

In Christ,
Pastor Fraser