To the Saints at St. Paul’s,
Grace and Peace to in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is my prayer that you may know the joy that we find in Jesus Christ our savior.
My installation at St. Paul’s was just a year ago. The day I was installed we’d never know what was about to take place. We still had a greeting time in our worship service, we had coffee hour, and we were meeting with each other in homes. As a new pastor I was excited about getting to know our new congregation and embark on the challenges of being the new guy following the incredible tenure of Pastor Rich.
Not even a week later we would be thrust into the throws of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the Quarantine. March 8, 2020 I was installed and March 15, 2020 was our first online-only service. It was amazing to watch our church rally to support our online worship service. We had people participating in worship in ways they never did before and our online worship service became our number one outreach tool.
We had hundreds of people in the community tuning into worship with us and find peace, healing, strength, and love through our worship. It was truly incredible how despite the unprecedented affects of the pandemic we were able to pivot to see our church grow when many churches were floundering.
It is safe to say all of our ministries grew during 2020. We experienced more people worshipping with us than the previous year. We saw our Bible Study grow, added a Junior Youth Group, growth in membership, served many in need of food and money through food bank, and even saw our giving increase by 2k over 2019.
I hope you were inspired by how God worked in 2020 at St. Paul’s in the midst of a huge storm in life. Let it serve as a reminder for your own life that when you are going through the trials of life God can do something incredible even if it’s not the way you expected.
As we go into 2021 I’m hopeful about what God will do through us. I’m expectant that our unity will grow as we come back together as the vaccines are rolled out. I’m expectant that we will have another great year of growth. I can’t wait to see all that God does in 2021, I’m ready for another excited ride.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Matt