Vision and Reformation

Last year in June 2025, St John’s adopted a vision: “God’s grace guides St. John’s to grow as a Christ-centered, inclusive, and active community.” We laid out five goals:

1. growing a culture of Spirit-filled hospitality and inclusion,

2. strengthening a culture of caring,

3. equipping all generations to live out their faith,

4. partnering with community organizations, and

5. empowering leaders.

How are we doing? After one year, what progress have we made? Look for a more complete report coming from Council, but let me make some comments and encouragement here.

First, these goals ask each one of us to do something differently. A “culture of hospitality and inclusion” can’t be created simply by council members and the pastor. You can look around, see someone you don’t know, and introduce yourself. Who can you tell about St John’s ministries, such as the Food Pantry or Shower Ministry? Who outside the church can you invite to participate in something, such as work together to provide a meal at Family Promise (next hosting in November)? A “culture of hospitality” is always helping people feel welcome and cared for; it means putting ourselves second and others (especially people new to the church) first. This kind of cultural change doesn’t happen in a snap, but through hundreds (or thousands!) of small acts of hospitality.

Second, we’re trying to change how we measure “success.” Developing the habit and keeping track of who comes to what takes time. For example, to develop a culture of caring in the first year, we wanted to “create diverse opportunities for authentic conversation and support networks, aiming to engage at least 30% of the congregation with monthly meetings focused on discipleship, shared worship, and support.” This means that 30% of our congregation are participating in Adult Forum, Men’s Breakfast, Women’s Brunch, a Bible Study, Family Promise or Shower Ministry or some gathering outside of worship that encourages people to care about each other. To know if we’re meeting the 30% goal, someone has to keep track and write it down! Every group needs to write down who came and report to the church office to record it. Would you be willing to help report to the church office?

Third, we can more clear about what success looks like. Just because 30% of the congregation is participating in some group or ministry doesn’t mean they are truly caring for each other. We need to do more than show up—we have to demonstrate we care for each other by asking questions that go deeper than “how are you today?” and listening to stories of both pain and hope. Our aim is to show the love that God first showed in Jesus (1 John 4:7-8).

We celebrate the 509th anniversary of the beginning of the Lutheran Reformation on Oct 31. God worked to reform the church then to more clearly focus on Jesus and his saving work. Please pray that God would work now to reform the church to change the culture of St John’s so we could better proclaim Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life!

Trusting Christ will guide,

Pastor Peter