A few months ago, the Vestry held a Parish Forum to inform you of how the Vestry is moving forward in stewarding our growth. As you know, two initial decisions were made: to develop our current property, and to begin actively pursuing church planting. We believe that moving forward on both decisions, though bold to do simultaneously, will only continue to breathe fresh life into our parish family, pushing us to step out of the boat of our comfort zone and into the waters of the unknown where God will surely surprise us once again.

It is important to keep in mind, though, that progress along both fronts will look differently. As it pertains to the development of our property, the path forward is expectedly a bit clearer: the formation of ministry teams, the hiring of an architect, the design phase, the fundraising phase, the building phase, etc. While we’re still not sure what the specifics of each step will look like, we at least have a general idea of the steps that are coming. You will begin to hear more about these initial steps in the next few months, especially at our Annual Parish Meeting.

As it pertains to our decision to pursue church planting, the way forward is less clear because there are innumerable ways we, as a local church, can be about the work of church planting. We are tasked with discovering the way that makes the most sense for who and where we are as a church. How does God want us to be involved in the work of planting churches? Answering this question will be our first step in the process, which means we’re in a season of exploration, discerning what the next steps should be.

Considering this, we are delighted to announce that the Provincial Canon for Church Planting in the ACNA, the one who oversees the church planting initiatives of the entire province, the Rev. Dan Alger, will be leading us in a Parish Forum on Wednesday, January 31 at 6:00 p.m. Please make it a priority to come and listen to his thoughts on church planting and ask him specific questions about how we might discern what God has in store for All Saints and church planting. We hope that our time with Fr. Dan will begin to sharpen the focus for how we as a church can become a church-planting church.

But above all, remember that our primary goal is neither to build a building or plant a church, but rather to become a community that shares in the life of God for the life of the world. And as we continue to make that our first task, we also commit to stay alive to those characteristics that have brought life to so many of us, what we call our personality:

• Spiritual Formation in the Anglican Way
• Healing Hospitality
• The Church as Family
• A Heart for Service
• Financially Generous and Responsible

Our mission and personality are what we’re about as a church, and we cannot lax in that commitment. Along the way, praise God if we get to develop property, if we get to plant churches, but woe to us if we do those things to the neglect of the mission. Pray that we remain vigilant in these exciting times!