As God continues to bless All Saints with more people, no doubt you’ve felt our walls close in a bit tighter. Our church is full of life, but it’s also feeling a bit cramped! Such growth is exciting to be a part of, no doubt, but it can also raise some unsettling questions: How much longer can we all fit in here? How will this growth affect who we are as a church? Will I ever get to know these new faces?

The vestry has not only been aware of these growth dynamics, but also has at the top of its agenda this year the challenge of addressing it well. This is how we’ve been framing the issue: How are we to be good stewards of our growth?

The key word in that question is “good.” We believe that being good stewards of our growth is primarily about remaining faithful to God’s calling upon us as a church. Growth is not the goal; faithfulness to the mission is. How can we do that well in the midst of such growth?

Integral to the process is a twofold task: to reconnect ourselves to our church’s mission—which happens to be the mission of every other local church on the planet—and to identify how All Saints uniquely pursues this mission.

This is why we need to hear from you, our parish. How would you describe All Saints? What do you see is unique about this church in how we strive to remain faithful to our calling to share in the life of God for the life of the world? Feel free to put pen to paper, shoot us an email, or speak to one of our vestry members or clergy.

We also invite you to attend a Parish Forum on Wednesday, May 11 at 6:00 pm to discuss these matters further. A light meal and childcare will be provided. We hope to see you there. And as always, remember to keep praying for our wonderful parish— for unity, expectancy, and faithfulness.