Who We Are

Elevation

Passion Unleashed, Unity Revealed & Joy Rising

During Such Great Heights, you told us that you want to see St. Paul's foster stronger intra-parish relationships, focus on refreshing Sunday worship experiences, and emphasize evangelism. Elevation outlines phase one of our effort to word toward those goals. All members of our parish family are invited and encouraged to participate in Elevation.

These priority action items are meant to complement successful ministries already underway, not to take away from existing ministries at the heart of St. Paul's identity as an active community that's awake to the world and the need for Christ's hope and generosity outside the parish community and walls.

For more information about this adventure, please read the below letter from our Rector in the March Epistle newsletter. You can read Elevation 1.0, as well as the full Such Great Heights Report, by clicking on the links to the right of this page.

Elevation: From Discernment Into Action

Of the things that were immediately clear to me about St. Paul’s, nothing was clearer than that we are a church that hungers for action. We are doers. Lenten Lunches, Micah, Emmaus, Mwitikira, Haiti, Lay Eucharistic Visitors, Altar Guild, Tour Guides, and the list goes on. And this has always been true. It is in St. Paul’s DNA. 

Just the other day I came across reference to a paper being published this summer, “Bringing Social Christianity to Virginia: Walter Russell Bowie, 1912-1923,” which will present a study of how, during Dr. Bowie’s tenure as Rector of St. Paul’s Church, our parish became a hub of spirited progressive ministry, and how, during that time, the parishioners of St. Paul’s “launch[ed] a city-wide campaign for better housing conditions.” This is just the latest example I have learned about, of St. Paul’s long, strong tradition of Christian action, stretching back over generations.

From Discernment

During our recent Such Great Heights movement, we spent several months in discernment, focusing on two central questions, “Who is God calling us to be?,” and “What is God calling us to do?” Naturally, and not at all surprisingly, as we prayed and studied and reflected our way through the summer and fall, our longstanding commitment to action shone through steadily and clearly. St. Paul’s Church is as committed as ever to action in the name of Christ.

What also emerged very clearly through our Such Great Heights movement is that, even while we are determined not to miss a beat, in terms of outwardly-directed Christian action, there is, at the same time, a deep desire to see our parish do some interior work, if you will; or, to put it another way, borrowing from the language of fitness, there is a sense that this a time for us to build our “core strength,” so that, in turn, we are all that much more prepared to carry on with the outwardly-directed action to which we are so dedicated, and for which we are so well known. We want to go deeper together; we want to grow closer; we want a fuller, warmer sense of belonging to and caring for one another.

Into Action

On the sidebar of this page, you will see a link to “Elevation: 1.0," which lays out a plan of action for 2010. Most, but not all, of the plans for this first stage of Elevation are dedicated to the building of our core strength. It is important to understand that this is only the first stage in a series of stages. (“Elevation 2.0,” “Elevation 3.0” will come later.)  It is also important to understand that this is a plan of action for the whole of St. Paul’s Church, for every single member.

On Sunday, March 14, we will celebrate “Elevation Sunday.” The sermon and the entire forum for that day will be dedicated to rolling out Elevation. Specifically, the day will be dedicated to making sure that all the people of our parish are engaged in the plans for the coming year: What sort of small group might you be interested in joining? Would you be willing to welcome visitors to St. Paul’s, and, not just greet them, but actually help them find their place in our midst? Have you ever considered that you might have a call to pastoral ministry? Would you consider joining a “mission team” dedicated to taking the Gospel to the growing number of people now living in downtown Richmond? Those are just some of the plans that we will be putting into action in this first year of Elevation. What part will you play? What ministries will you claim for yourself? What is God’s call for you, for the coming year, at St. Paul’s Church?

Please mark your calendar for Sunday, March 14, and please plan to be in church that morning, as we move from the discernment of Such Great Heights into the action of Elevation. I know God has great things in store for St. Paul’s Church, and great things in store for each and every one of us as we claim our part in God’s future here on Grace Street.

With prayers, and with thanks,
your brother in Christ,

Wallace+