". . . and Fostering Spiritual Growth"

Our congregational mission statement ends with those words: "and fostering spiritual growth."  "We are a warm and caring community of faith . . . fostering spiritual growth."  Those aren't just words, and that's not just something extra that the church can do when we feel like it.  We have a responsibility - and obligation - to provide and promote activities that nurture spiritual growth in the lives of people of all ages (not just children!), and to encourage people to actively participate in those activities.  There is not one single person in any church anywhere who doesn't need to continue to work on continuing to grow in their spiritual walk - not you, not me, not anybody.

Spiritual growth is, first and foremost, about our relationship with God.  Jesus highlighted two commandments from the Old Testament above all others: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mark 12.30 / Matthew 22.37; quoting Deuteronomy 6.5) and "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12.31 / Matthew 22.39; quoting Leviticus 19.18).  More than anything else, spiritual growth has to do with growing in our faithfulness to that first commandment, and by extension to the second commandment.  The love we extend to our neighbors is rooted and grounded in the love we have for God.  Spiritual growth has to do, first and foremost, with developing and nurturing a life-giving relationship with God.

There are big changes afoot here at Mason First Presbyterian Church, as we seek to deepen our commitment to that last part of our mission statement (". . . and fostering spiritual growth") and as we seek to grow in our fidelity to Christ's first commandment ("you shall love the Lord your God . . .").  A tremendous amount of work has been undertaken over the course of the past several months by the Christian Education Committee and the Director of Christian Education (and, yes, yours truly) as we have vigorously engaged questions about how we might improve and enhance our overall spiritual offerings and commitment.  Dozens - maybe hundreds - of hours have been spent thinking, praying, discussing, deliberating, debating, reading, talking, sharing, learning, growing, and above all, seeking to discern the will of God for this congregation here and now.  As a result of these deliberations, there are a number of changes that are being implemented - right now, this very minute!  Here are some highlights:

The Christian Education Committee is being reconstituted as the Spiritual Growth Committee.  Practice saying it a few times: "Spiritual Growth Committee."  It's going to take some time to get used to this new name.  Call it "SG" for short.  The name is being changed for several reasons; two that I can think of are: (1) the phrase "spiritual growth" will hopefully remind us that we are all called to grow in our spiritual walk (in other words, spiritual growth is not just for children and youth!); and (2) the word "education" implies head knowledge, while "spiritual growth" is a more holistic term, involving our whole being.  Remember - Jesus talked about loving the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength - so there is an emotional dimension, a spiritual dimension, an intellectual dimension, and even a physical dimension to all of this.  Clear away whatever images you may have of "Christian education" - it's not just for children and youth, and it's not just book learning.  Think less about a "school" metaphor and more about a "garden" metaphor.  We are all - every single one of us - planted in the garden of God, and the work of the committee is to help us grow in that garden, to help us all grow to become as strong and robust and healthy and vibrant and joyful and Spirit-filled as we can possibly become.   That's no small challenge!

The purpose and responsibilities of the Spiritual Growth Committee have been completely re-written.  Most of the committees within the church have an official list of responsibilities, and many have clear statements of purpose.  We have gone back to the drawing board and completely re-written the C.E. - whoops, I mean S.G. - committee's purpose and responsibilities.  It has been at least ten years since the work of this committee has been so extensively reviewed.  This is not a small edit; this is a complete re-write.  The new purpose statement reads: "The purpose of the Spiritual Growth Committee is to foster and facilitate the spiritual growth of members and friends of the church of all ages in a manner that is consistent with the Reformed tradition and the ethos of the Presbyterian Church (USA)."  That statement intentionally includes reference to both members and friends of the church, intentionally specifies people "of all ages," and intentionally emphasizes the distinctiveness that we hold as Reformed (and always reforming) Presbyterians of a certain theological tradition that differs from numerous other Presbyterian traditions that exist in our country today.  The whole list of committee responsibilities has also been re-written.  The resulting document is similar in some respect to the old description - but it's a whole lot deeper.

The Spiritual Growth Committee now oversees the work of four sub-committees.  We have broken the work of the Spiritual Growth Committee down into four distinct demographic segments, by age: (1) preschool and elementary; (2) middle school; (3) high school; and (4) adult.  Each of those four segments has their own particular unique needs, the new sub-committees will be responsible for fostering and facilitating the spiritual growth and development of those different segments in the congregation, and each segment has particular needs and issues that differ from the other three segments.  This will ensure that each age group is being adequately addressed at committee meetings.  There has habitually been so much work for the Christian Education Committee to do that some age groups have received very little attention by the committee (adults in particular).  This also allows for involvement by volunteers who find themselves drawn to one of these segments more than the others.

The Director of Christian Education is now the Director of Spiritual Growth.  As an outgrowth of all these conversations, we are changing the title of this important position.  Soon there will be a completely re-written job description as well.  By the time we are done with this work, we will have a list of responsibilities for the committee and a list of responsibilities for the Director that will complement each other better than they have in the past.

We have a new vision for youth ministry in the church.  In the course of our conversations and our learning this summer, we discovered some truly wonderful denominational resources regarding effective youth ministry that have somehow escaped our notice until now.  Among those resources are not one but two vision statements for youth ministry that the committee has adopted.  These vision statements are intended to guide us in our ministry with youth to make sure that we are staying true to the reason why youth ministry exists in the first place - to help youth grow to become faithful servants of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

There is more - much more - that could be said about the bright future that awaits us, as we embark on this renewed quest to promote spiritual growth in the lives of all people in this congregation.  For more information on any of these new directions, please talk with Bonnie Friend and Margaret Doolittle (Spiritual Growth Committee co-chairs), Lori Pollitz (Director of Spiritual Growth), or me.

God doesn't call any of us to remain "as we are."  God beckons us - God challenges us - to grow in our walk of faith.  We have a renewed commitment to create a multitude of ways to help you do that.  God calls us to be a "community of faith . . . fostering spiritual growth."  With dedicated commitment from our staff and from our many talented volunteers, and with faithful participation on your part, we will all grow deeper in our Christian walk.  We will grow in our love for God, and by extension, our love for our neighbors.

Peace and blessings,

Bill