God has blessed St. Paul’s, and He has used each one of you to do it! We’ve achieved our goals for ministry in 2006. We have all the programs in place that we need for the foreseeable future and the staff to guide those programs. By God’s grace and the generosity of your pledge, we’ve secured all the previously existing ministries of the parish and added new ones. Our music ministries are flourishing, and our 300th anniversary celebration will provide us with musical opportunities for both the church and the wider community that we’ve never had before. We have an energetic and dedicated team of Sunday School teachers to lead our Christian education programs for children of all ages in even stronger ways. Alan Gates has not only been able to begin establishing urgently needed Youth Ministries for our teens, but also is exploring new directions for worship through the monthly Offerings service. We’ve been able to expand opportunities for fellowship, adult Christian education and spiritual formation through Wednesday Night Live and our new Sunday morning Rector’s Forum. The 300th Anniversary Committee has developed a rich and varied series of programs for the celebration of our life as a church since 1706. All sorts of people help to provide pastoral care to our parishioners. And beyond all this, we’ve expanded our outreach to those in need during the past year, and this coming year we hope to inaugurate a new long-term mutual mission relationship with a church in Latin America.

St. Paul’s is as strong and vibrant as ever. We’ve made amazing strides on virtually all fronts. You can almost feel the enthusiastic energy throughout the parish; who knows, perhaps rivaling the enthusiasm of our beginnings, 300 years ago! God has blessed us, but as always, God blesses us in order to make us a source of blessing to others. Other congregations and ministries to people in the Diocese of Rhode Island need our help so that they can become stronger, too. That’s why we’ll be increasing our contribution to the Diocese – to shoulder our part of the responsibility for ministries of the Gospel in Rhode Island. God has blessed St. Paul’s so that through St. Paul’s others can be blessed, as well.

Therefore, St. Paul’s needs three things from you. First, the church needs you to participate in the excellent array of programs and opportunities for personal and spiritual growth that we’re offering. It’s one thing to have all these programs in place. It’s quite another for you to benefit from them by joining in. Second, the church needs your help. I could as easily say that you need to help the church, because we always grow stronger by doing. Jesus didn’t just call us to come and grow, but to come, grow in faith and serve. No one should ever feel that the church doesn’t need your help. There is something here for everyone to do. We simply ask that you let us know how you feel that you might be able to pitch in and when you’re available. Third, the church needs your tithe your pledge of a proportion of your money – to help pay for the costs associated with our life together and shared ministries. So St. Paul’s challenges each parishioner and household to participate, volunteer and pledge your tithe. Trust – Love – Give. That’s how God will bless others through you.

Affectionately in Christ,