Pastor’s Page
“Rejoice in the Lord … Again I say Rejoice!”
Dear friends,
Frankly it seems impossible that another year has arrived, but such is the truth. Last year I hit a monumental birthday and celebrated with some lifelong friends … humans I have been friends with for SIX DECADES. That seems really weird to acknowledge.
But if you want to really get focused in on time, St. Paul’s United Methodist Church has now been around for 170 years. It was in the middle of the 19th century that faith leaders decided that Thorofare needed a church in the Methodist tradition. A faith rally … a revival … brought people together at the site that we all know of as St. Paul’s United Methodist Church of West Deptford. From those early gatherings people believed that having a thriving church where God and Christ were worshiped mattered. They invited friends and family to help establish a church and then one building was constructed.
With the arrival of the 20th century the church here had grown and a new sanctuary was needed. The church we know today was built in that first decade of the last century. Those faith leaders knew that this community needed a strong church, and they built a building to draw more people to worship. By the middle of the century a Sunday School wing and fellowship hall were added because more people were coming. St. Paul’s was strong!
St. Paul’s is still strong, but we live in different times. Our Sunday School wing is no longer filled with children after church on Sunday, even though we have teachers willing to teach. Many of our pews remain empty week after week although our attendance is amongst the highest of United Methodist churches within a 20-mile radius from West Deptford.
Just before Christmas I made a snow angel on the church’s front lawn. If you saw the video you saw my joy, but I have that same joy when I think about St. Paul’s United Methodist Church. I rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS because of this church and because of God’s love.
What we need to consider with the start of the new year is how to strengthen our church by bringing in more friends. By inviting more families. By being activists just like this church’s activists from the past.
Once upon a time it was just a preacher from the Paulsboro area who rode up on horseback or in a wagon or carriage, but today it is you and me. Our church needs each of us to always share the church’s posts on our Facebook streams. I know some of you don’t have FACEBOOK but if you are on FACEBOOK just hit share to everything we post. It would be great if you wrote something along with the shared post, but in sharing you will expose our church to your collection of online friends.
And the hardest thing we need to do is to continue to invite friends to come to church and experience firsthand the joy we have when we’re together. Our love for God and Christ.
We are each a builder of the future success and potential growth of St. Paul’s. The work is ours to take on and I hope we take it on with joy in our hearts!
Blessings,
Pastor Dave