What is The Way of St. Paul at The Church of the Resurrection?

First let’s take a moment to step back and explain briefly what The Way of St. Paul (WSP) is.  It is a new approach to growing healthy congregations. Developed within the Diocese of New Jersey, it is designed to produce growth of all kinds by engaging each and every congregation in high-quality, multi-generational Christian formation.

Here’s how it works. The Church of the Resurrection recruited 11 members interested in forming our “St. Paul Team.” Our team – which includes our clergy leader, the Rev. Ellen Rutherford, was then given cutting-edge leadership training to work effectively both inside and outside our congregation.

We are learning about fellow church members and our neighborhoods and community through focus groups and discussions.  Many of you have been a part of this.  We then designed and executed projects that will meet the needs of both our communities’ as well as fellow parishioners’ desires to grow spiritually – projects authentic to the unique personality of our church. The ultimate goal? To form disciples of Jesus Christ for the 21^st century in the Anglican/ Episcopal tradition.

Forming new disciples and deepening the faith of current members is a great definition of growth and health for any church. We are confident our St. Paul Team projects will deepen the Christian faith of all involved – the team, the congregation, and those who choose to join us in the Episcopal way of Christian life. That means it’s impossible to fail; and our time, effort, and money will bear good fruit in our common life.

Donna Cooper, WSP Team Co-ordinator