How can we share our fantastic church?
Posted by David Wofford, Welcoming Team Co-Chair
Please share your thoughts on how St. Paul's can be a more welcoming and inviting place to you. What can we do to be more inviting to other parishioners, friends, visitors, young families and singles, the more "mature of us", people in need of spiritual nourishment, those looking for Christian fellowship, strangers? We are very lucky to have a fantastic church - not only our bricks and mortar but our wonderful people too!! We have something to be very proud of....how can we share this with others?
In determining what will draw and hold young adults and young families to St. Paul’s, it does little good, I believe, to have those of us over 40 speculate about it. I believe that we need to go to people in the 18-40 age group, where they live their lives (colleges and grad schools, workplaces, playgrounds, coffee shops, etc.), and ask about their needs and desires that might conceivably be met by St. Paul’s. I believe that the Episcopal Church—in particular, St. Paul’s—has a moral advantage among many young adults because we are both by practice, and officially, inclusive of people who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and (I hope) transgender, as well as those who identify as straight, in the life of the church. Also, we are becoming more and more ethnically diverse, and I believe we welcome that. Again, a moral advantage among many young adults, I believe.