From the Rector

Dear Friends in Christ,

I just got home from a Vestry meeting very excited about something I heard there. Earlier this week, a small group convened by two current and one incoming vestry member (Erika Johnson, Michael Anderson, and Kristin Tovar) gathered in Room 10. This is a group of evangelical members who have joined Saint Philip’s in the Hills recently or are learning more about the community. One couple who attended said they had been part of Saint Philip’s for only three days!

17 people gathered to talk about what brought them to Saint Philip’s. They shared stories about where they were coming from and where they thought God was leading them. This was a group that skewed young but was by no means only young. It was a group that was diverse, excited, and faithful.

It’s easy to get caught up in the doom and gloom of church these days. If you take a minute or two out of your day to read the news stories about mainline church attendance you get a glut of “churches are dying” stories.

That story is a dead one.

Churches are as alive as the folks who join them. They are as alive as the new members they welcome. They are as alive as they are willing to grow and change. They are as alive as they are willing to seek and serve Christ.

Churches are alive when they commit to being the Body of Christ.

Make no mistake, there are indeed sad stories in the church across America. Churches are closing for lack of new people. Churches are withering because there are no children in the pews. Churches are choking on old buildings, dusty unopened Bibles, and stale preaching. There are sad stories across the church.

This is not one of those stories. This last year, Saint Philip’s welcomed 95 new people into life here (the most since 2007). Last month we confirmed 28 people into the faith (the most since 2000). These folks represent a church that is alive in Christ—that is a Body that is growing, changing, and more.

Someone said to me the other day, “You can feel something amazing happening. There are so many signs of life.”

That, to me, is the good news we need coming through this pandemic. There are so many signs of life in a world that seems stuck. There’s so much that is amazing if we can bear to look up from our tired old stories of dying churches.

Sitting around us, next to us, and in us every Sunday is the new story of what God is doing. That’s the living story. And it’s an amazing one. When I look out on Sundays I see so many signs of life and I, too, can feel something amazing is happening.

As we go into the annual meeting season, this is a time when we can be proud of where our parish is, prayerful about what’s next, and thankful for all that has come before. Our story is a living one that we’re still writing, that God is guiding, and that we can rejoice to tell.

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Robert