Jeff fisher
You now know what a growing church looks
like. A growing church means that after a
few months you look around the church
and think: “I don’t know who all these new
people are.” A growing church means that
you have to open your wallets more because
newcomers are just starting on their journey
of increased stewardship. A growing church
means that someone new might sit in “your
pew” and you must smile at them at the
Peace, not grimace.
Yet a growing church is not growing for the
sake of growth. A growing church is growing
for the sake of Jesus Christ, who changes
lives! Jesus is alive at St. Alban’s and everyone
knows it! And when Jesus Christ changes
lives, then the Body of Christ grows and
breathes into a new creation.
In the last six years, you and I and St.
Alban’s Episcopal Church have grown and
been changed by the Holy Spirit into a new
creation. And after I leave, you will change
even more, becoming yet again a new
creation, through Jesus Christ who makes all
things new.
Thank you for following Jesus Christ. Thank
you for loving me and for loving my family. I
love you – and I will miss you all terribly. Yet
when we are in the Body of Christ, we never
say “good-bye” – we just say “see you later.”
A
ll churches say
that they want to
grow. When parishes
are looking for a new
rector, they usually
put together a “parish
profile” that lists the
qualifications that they
want in a new rector. In
almost every parish profile I have ever read,
one of the qualifications listed is this: “We
want a rector who will help us to grow.”
When you called me as your rector in 2006,
you said the exact same thing: We want a
rector who will help us to grow. You could
probably say a lot of things, positive and
negative, about my ministry among you; but
I believe that I fulfilled your expectation of
growth.
Yet what many churches do not realize is
that a rector cannot solve all their problems
and make a church grow. There is no magic
potion that fills up the pews. A rector can only
help a church grow when the congregation is
willing to change and to try new things and
to invite people in. And you have done all of
those things. For your faithful response to my
leadership, I am eternally grateful.
The phenomenal growth of St. Alban’s
under my tenure did not happen because we
instituted a new program or I went to some
fancy workshop. The “secret” to our growth is
that we have opened up the sacred scriptures
together and learned that we must not be
focused on just ourselves, but we must go out
into the world to do the work that God has
given us to do.
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