The Next Big Thing

FROM THE RECTOR

It has been a while since our parish took on a huge project like providing health care for underserved populations or helping vulnerable women break free from the cycle of abuse, addiction, and incarceration. Although I am grateful that we are not a church that dwells on the past—one that spends most of its time and energy celebrating what we accomplished years ago—I do think it is helpful to keep in perspective the capacity of our congregation to do great things. Over the years, St. Paul’s has proven that we have the ability to recognize a need in the wider community and use our financial, relational, and inspirational resources to meet that need in a lasting, transformative way. As a parish, that is who we are and what we do, and that it a story worth telling.

For as long as I have been your rector, the vestry has wondered what big thing we will accomplish next. Every year when we get together for our retreat, we spend some time imagining what God might be calling us to do. Will it be a preschool or an afterschool program? Will we expand our feeding ministries? Will we provide sanctuary to families at risk of deportation? Will we find new ways to support people who face incarceration for unpaid fines or missed appointments? Over and over, we ask the questions, but nothing concrete ever takes shape—not because our dreams are misplaced but because our next big thing cannot come from a boardroom or a vestry retreat. If our history has taught us anything it is that our greatest work in the community arises from deep, reciprocal relationships with people in need.

We helped give birth to Community Clinic, 7Hills Homeless Center, and Magdalene Serenity House. Each of them is doing incredible things in this community, but none of them started on a flip chart or a conference call. They started because people in our parish took the time to get to know other people with unmet needs. Those relationships led to shared concerns. The stories we heard became dreams for the future. The places and programs that held concentrated energy and enthusiasm began to stretch and grow through increased participation. Eventually, someone dared to ask whether something big was possible, and that question spread throughout the parish community until providing the answer became central to our identity.  

For the last two and a half years, our ability to stretch and grow has been limited. We have dedicated a great deal of time and effort simply to being the church in a time of great restriction. Instead of imagining what the future will hold, we have needed to ask whether we can gather safely or whether our feeding programs will do more harm than good. The ministries that lead to meaningful relationships within the congregation and throughout the wider community have been harder than usual. Although the effects of Covid-19 are still real and the likelihood of a local spike in cases will continue, we have settled into a fairly consistent way of pursuing the ministries that matter to us and to others. And that means that it is time for us to wonder again what big thing God will call us to pursue next.

Over the last few months, I have noticed that the vestry is beginning to ask that question again, and I am energized by it. I find ministry far more enjoyable in a season of hope and possibility than in a time of struggle and limitation. Like the vestry, I am eager to identify our next huge project and find a way to make that dream a reality, but I also know that we cannot hatch that plan in a meeting or in a newsletter. If you want to know what St. Paul’s will do next, the best place to find it is delivering meals alongside volunteers from St. James Missionary Baptist Church on Tuesdays or sharing Communion with the women at the NWACCC on Sunday evenings or helping people work through their outstanding warrants with prosecutors at one of our warrant clinics.

I do not know what our next big pursuit will be, but I can guess where we will find it. It is hiding in plain sight in the same place it always has been—in the relationships that we must develop with people out in the community. We know that we have the ability to do something big, but we also know that our efforts will only multiply to that effect if they are done in partnership with others. If we want to tackle our next big project, the right place to focus is on the programs that are already sprouting meaningful relationships. Start by showing up and helping out and listening to others. Share what you see and hear with those around you. And let your dreams begin to grow until they take hold in the hearts of others. Then we will know what is next.  

Yours Faithfully,

Evan D. Garner