This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker
Dear St. Paul's Family,
Evangelism ... what does it mean to you? Is it a word you embrace and live into OR one that makes you apprehensive? Evangelism doesn't have to be a big and grandiose gesture. In it's most simple form it is sharing a story of your faith with someone who expresses interest. Yes, it's about inviting people to church. It's even MORE about inviting people to Christ.
The Commission on Evangelism of The Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana is hosting a series of 6 Diocesan-wide Zoom (& Facebook) events beginning on September 9th (at 5pm CDT) utilizing The Episcopal Church and Virginia Theological Seminary's Embracing Evangelism video series. Someone YOU KNOW is hosting the first event (see below, hint ... it's ME!).
I would like to invite, encourage, beg, and implore you to consider attending any or all of these events. In the interviews I have been conducting with many of you (so far), almost all of you DREAM of a St. Paul's church community with more people, more families ... more. As I preached in a sermon a few weeks ago, God will perform the miracle and send us more, BUT we must also come alongside and do the work.
Will you do the work and join me in this series? It may be the first step, of many, in growing our church.
You are in my prayers.
Blessings!
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226
Boiler Update
The work of replacing our previous boiler with two small, efficient, wall-mounted units is almost complete. I (Mother Michelle) spoke to the technician today. He was happy to share how much better and more cost efficient this new system will be. Praise God for our ability to make this much-needed upgrade to our heating system, before it became a crisis!
(Old boiler is pictured first, on the left, taking up most of the room; New boiler without face panels is pictured second, on the right, mounted directly on the wall.)
Virtual Coffee Hour Enticement!
When our season of social isolation first began, I NEVER imagined it would last this long, and into the foreseeable future. While I know we all prefer in-person communication ...
What will entice you to join our Sunday Virtual Coffee Hour @ 10:15 via Zoom?
Need Some Morning Prayer?
Our Thursday weekly Morning Prayer recommenced yesterday and it was only missing ... YOU! We are a small but dedicated group and would LOVE to have you join us. We currently meet via Zoom and are now also live streaming on our Facebook page. Please join us!
Vestry Minutes/Packet
Our vestry minutes, including Priest Activity and Treasurer’s Reports, are posted monthly on our website. Please review them as you wish. https://www.stpaulslaporte.org/leadership
By Law Revisions
On October 20th, St. Paul's vestry will vote to adopt/not adopt a set of ByLaw Revisions for St. Paul's Episcopal Church as summarized below:
Total Vestry Membership (reduce vestry size from 9 to 6 members over a period of 3 years);
Correct incorrect Diocesan Canonical References; and
Allow for the possibility of a Virtual Annual Meeting.
Per our current ByLaws, these revisions will be presented to the vestry at the September 15th meeting and are being shared with the parish several times prior to the 10/20 vote.
Linked here are the current ByLaws (dated June 2013) along with the full document citing each specific ByLaw Revision. (If you have any troubles accessing the document, or simply need a printed version, please let Mother Michelle know and a copy will be mailed to you.)
The rationale for reducing vestry membership is to more closely align the number of vestry members with our current congregation size. With a 2018 Average Sunday Attendance (ASA) of 38, having 11 people on vestry means almost 1/3 of the congregation is in leadership, at all times. It is our hope to free up a few people to possibly engage in other ministries within the church. WHEN our church grows, through our Embracing Evangelism studies and initiative, we can always vote to increase the number again!
The rationale for the other two changes (corrections to invalid references and the possible need for a Virtual Annual meeting in January) seem obvious given our current circumstances .
Please feel free to reach out to myself or Sandra with any questions or concerns.