Our church quite frequently hears me declare the Scripture lesson that Paul wrote in two of his letters, “REJOICE in the LORD! Again, I say rejoice!”
When I talk with our church members about St. Paul’s, all I ever hear are rave reviews! Our pews are fuller now than they were six months ago! People love coming to worship! It’s great seeing all the kids in church! The music is so good!! We love each other and welcome everyone!
Yes, St. Paul’s is an amazing church! We are continuing to counter the trend of churches in our area by actually having new people coming to church rather than no one attending. This morning I was with a pastor who said that on the previous Sunday the only people in the Gloucester County church he pastors were his wife, another couple, a single individual, and himself. FIVE people in a church that has been part of the community for more than a half of a century.
We have an awesome website, www.stpaulsalive.org, and a daily FACEBOOK presence featuring live messages. Almost all of our worship services are streamed online and one of our Bible studies is exclusively online.
This is all great news, but I am still concerned about our future and where this awesome church will be in ten years. We need to do everything we can to let people know what they will find IF (that’s an important word) IF they can find us.
Church Street in West Deptford is not a busy highway. St. Paul’s does not have flashing lights nor a beacon directing people to our doors. People have to deliberately seek us out or be invited to come to church by someone “in the know.”
One easy way that we can all help let the world know about St. Paul’s is by reviewing our churchgoing experience on social media review sites like YELP, GOOGLE, FACEBOOK, and TRIPADVISOR. A five star review on YELP along with a positive review stating how unique our church is and how welcoming to ALL people just might lead a new family to check us out.
Obviously, you need to go online to make a review, but it is not that hard. If you have young folks in your family, I know that they can help you post a review. I believe our church family has the capacity to post 100 reviews on each of these sites before summer arrives. It takes maybe up to 10 minutes to do it, but what a WOW factor it would be to someone who searches for churches in the Gloucester County community to see 100 or more reviews from different folks all showing their love for St. Paul’s. Can you do it? I hope so!
Pastor Dave