Pondering (Re-)Planting

This coming Sunday, October 16, we will kick off our Fall Pledge Campaign, with the overall theme "Giving is..." with a weekly tie-in to our fourfold mission of welcoming all, worshipping fully, witnessing to God's grace, and walking the way of Christ. This Sunday it is "Giving is Serving Jesus" and will focus on the "welcome all" portion of our mission. This is not a "welcome all, and help us meet our budget" mission, it is a "welcome all into the Kingdom of God" mission.

I just ran across the following video talking about planting a church. God-incidentially (rather than coincidentally) he is talking about San Jose! He is planting a church not far away from St. Edward's, called The Garden City Church.



As I listened to this fellow pastor, and his desire that many, many churches be planted in San Jose, it fanned the flames of my passion for us to be one of those "planted" churches. What would that look like? What do the people of our area need? What are their hopes and dreams? What can we as an Episcopal church offer them?

Given this pastor's and the church's more conservative theology (see this belief statement), we are likely not going to attract the same people to St. Edward's as they will attract to their church. We offer a more sacramental, more theologically moderate, and more anciently rooted experience of God's church that may well attract people that would never think of attending Garden City. So, as we continue to travel down this (re-)planting road, may we be awake to and aware of opportunities that God sets before us.

See you Sunday.