Changes to the neighborhood - Rector's Rambling for January 27, 2019

In the top right corner of the picture above we see, in a shadow, the outline of St. John’s Church.  Obviously, the use of color in the buildings in the center are meant to draw your attention to them.  I want to as well because in the next year or two the buildings depicted in this picture will be occupied by new residents within walking distance of St. John’s, and it will be our mission to reach out to them to join us for worship and ministry.

If you have driven up John R recently you see that the construction is well underway for this development in Brush Park called City Modern.  Old Victorian structures restored and surrounded by newer buildings to be apartments and condos.  It is an exciting renewal of our neighborhood that for many decades has been derelict.

As we are finishing our construction in the Ministry Center, and then the undercroft, we will be open and available for use by groups living in this new community, and more importantly, we will be challenged to reach out to the new residents to welcome them into our midst and help them to grow in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Paramount in our reaching out will be inviting our new neighbors for worship – it is what the church primarily is about.  But we are also developing ministries to help in their needs for daily meaningful living which will also initiate a relationship with those in the community.  A financial planning course to get out of debt is being scheduled using Dave Ramsey’s program.  Healthy cooking classes will resume in the spring for those on a fixed income.  A casual speaker series at a coffeehouse is being discussed, and of course we host six Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week from which people have joined the parish.

We look forward to developing new opportunities to interact with our new neighbors to bring them into our fellowship