Call for Unity and Fellowship in 2025

 Everyone has them. Nobody wants to be the focus of them. They can be a reflection of our innate sense of justice. Where that is true, the nature of the complaint is a desire for fair treatment of ourselves and/or others. But, in any given community, some complaints are destructive. Those are whispers seeking to create doubts or to tear others down. These types of complaints are damaging and will hurt the speaker as much or more than the target.

As St. Paul’s enters a season of change, it is no surprise that some folks are unhappy.

Change can be scary.
“What if the change makes me uncomfortable?
Is it a good change?
Why do we have to change?
What if I don’t like it?”

Of course, a desire for control or power also drives some of our complaining. We can
only guess at the motivations for grumbling. But, we can clearly see the injury created,
again to the author and the body.

The frequency of complaining about things at St. Paul’s seems to be on the rise lately. I
guess, that is in response to the 2025 Vision and its emphasis on some new priorities. If
you have an issue, please follow the demands of Jesus and discuss it directly with me,
or whomever you are complaining about. If someone complains to you, please gently
remind them to start with the person they are complaining about. We need each other.

Matthew 18:15 “If your brother sins against you, tell him his fault, between you
and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not
listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by
the evidence of two or three witnesses.”

In the 2025 Vision presentation, we started with Biblical priorities as stated in Acts 2:
Biblical Churches do four things:

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Acts 2:42

1. Teaching
2. Fellowship
3. Worship
4. Prayer

We adopted 3 specific goals:
1. To see more people begin relationships with Jesus
2. Each member grows in knowledge and devotion to Jesus
3. Increased number of events inward and outward

In support of the priorities and goals, we discussed plans to redesign the Gathering
Center. The current space is about 20 years old. We are planning to change the
flooring, wall colors, and the layout. We plan to consolidate the books into a
new “Heritage Library” and create more conversation spaces.

We are hoping to increase the use of the East Yard and its prayer circle, swings, and fire pit. We hope to add some additional seating there. We plan to host community events such as family movie nights.

We hope to create a Memory Care and Senior Center inside the building where anyone
from the area can find help and support. We have invested in a very large building that
is only used two full days per week. The opportunity to expand the building use
intersects nicely with our priority to see more people come into a relationship with Jesus
and to see internal growth of our knowledge and devotion to Him.

Healthy Christian churches foster a deep sense of fellowship and community. To
increase this at St. Paul’s we hope to see additional small groups start up. We will also
recreate youth, men's, and marriage retreats and seek to expand the current women’s
ministry to include more ladies from inside and outside the congregation.

In terms of unity with the whole body, we are sending letters to each former attendee.
The letters seek to rebuild relationships and invite the person to visit or rejoin the
congregation. We need to welcome back any that God sends us. We need one another.
We have invited the Maumee Community Church men to join our men’s Bible Study and
have attended theirs as well. We would be delighted to see these folks join us in any
way God directs.

Watch the next few issues of The Communicator for more information on the 2025 Vision.