Exerpts from the Newsletter
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Hello dear people,
“By 2028, Calvary will…”
This phrase begins the four goals set by our mission and vision team earlier this year. Last month, I outlined those four goals. This month, and for the next few months, I’ll be focusing on each goal, what it means for Calvary, and how you can get involved!
By 2028, Calvary will be physically and spiritually inviting. Physically inviting speaks to Calvary’s property committee, and spiritually inviting speaks to Calvary’s worship & music committee. These two committees joined together recently to brainstorm what that could look like, but they need your help!
One part of imagining what could be done at Cal-vary to become more physically and spiritually inviting is to visit other houses of worship and learn. What do our neighbors do to welcome others? How does the wider Hauppauge community connect spiritually with God in their worship? In what ways to other congregations get involved in worship on Sunday mornings?
So I’ll offer an encouragement you won’t often hear from a pastor: Just one Sunday this summer, go worship somewhere else! Pick up a “spiritually inviting” and “physically inviting” questionnaire at church, or reach out to me for a digital copy, and bring that with you to another house of worship. Maybe while you’re on vacation, you can go to church. Maybe you’re curious about what those megachurches are up to. Maybe you want to know what Calvary, as a worship-ing community, can learn.
In the fall, the property and worship & music committees will come back together, revisit what they have already brainstormed, and gather the learnings from our congregation to come up with a list of ideas for the future to help us meet our goal of being more physical-ly and spiritually inviting. Some have already asked, “What’s being planned?” And while I am someone who is full of ideas, nothing is planned yet except to learn! This all is the work of the Spirit moving through us, and I am just as excited as you are to see where this leads.
With excited hope for the future,
Pastor Zach ☩
