by Dr. Judy Stack, Minister for Welcome and Connection
On Sundays when we use Rite II from the Book of Common Prayer, the Eucharist is followed by a prayer in which we ask God to “send us now into the world in peace.” The idea of “going in peace” derives from texts in both the Old and New Testaments, and “peace” in Hebrew is shalom. But the word shalom means much more than just lack of violence or aggression, and even more than gentle calmness.
Shalom is the word that describes things being in harmonious right relationship and flourishing. Like the creation when it first began. So when we pray to be sent into the world in peace, we’re asking to be sent carrying harmonious flourishing and to bring that to the world.
Two and a half years ago, about six months into my time as the minister for welcome and connection, Fr. Jered gave me a task. With the election on the horizon, growing division within our communities, and a post-pandemic national crisis of isolation and loneliness, Jered wanted me to lean into one of the things that the church historically has done best: build community. How could we help people become more deeply and authentically connected, both within our congregation and also within our neighborhood?
Our church was already doing a good job of welcoming people, and we’d want that to continue. It was essential that we always think about how we could better “welcome all people into this community of faith” and through that to expand the reach of the message of God’s unconditional love. But expansion without growth in depth of relationship risks becoming “a mile wide and an inch deep.” And that is not the life that Jesus calls his church to.
To respond to this acute need both within and beyond our walls, we started some new ministries and activities and strengthened or reinvigorated some existing ones. We started with simple activities and building on existing strengths, and expanded to more challenging endeavors.
- We began the “Connectors” ministry In March 2024 to encourage and empower parishioners to reach out to visitors, newcomers, or anyone who seems disconnected at a St John’s event and engage with them to not only extend authentic welcome but also begin building relationships. These folks were the core of the team that made the Mariann Budde event so successful.
- We started Pups and Cups in June of 2024 as a way for the neighbors who literally pass by our doors everyday to get to know each other and build community. Now each Tuesday during the supper hour we have between eight and twelve people stop with their pups to get a treat and share their love of dogs and the neighborhood, and even folks who don’t have dogs know about Pups and Cups and tell me regularly “it is so great that you guys do that.”
- We had a summer “Garden Conversations” reading group in 2024 in which we read books about how to deepen friendships and build stronger community. You can read more about the fruit of that in an upcoming article by Terri Fishel.
- We intentionally developed deeper relationships with the Ramsey Hill neighborhood association starting in 2024. This good relationship allowed us to work together collaboratively to respond to the events of the last nine months. We have become regular hosts for the architecture lectures of the Summit Avenue Preservation Association. We are a meeting space for neighborhood groups and a valued neighbor and community partner.
- We began MakerSpace in spring of 2025 to provide a place where parishioners and neighbors could engage in creative work in a supportive and encouraging space. The activity (twice a month) consistently has eight to twelve participants working on various projects, but the real draw is the conversation and community that is building.
- We started our quarterly “Sip and Sing” events to help build community among our many music loving neighbors. These have been very much appreciated by the participants, and the event last January was an extremely needed and powerful time of sharing hope and strength when things seemed precarious and dark.
- This summer we held the Spiritual Practices for Discernment class to help folks go deeper with their own spiritual life while developing relationships that will continue to nurture that journey.
In the past year, the Spiritual Life Groups became part of my ministry area as a ministry of “connection.” Many of these were already flourishing but some were in need of reinvigorating. We created a Spiritual Life Groups Steering Committee that meets quarterly to explore ways the groups can collaborate and to help strengthen these important centers of deepened connection and relationship. Several recently dormant groups, particularly the Young(ish) Adults and LGBTQIA+, have found new life and are becoming key spaces for newer folks to connect into the life of the parish. And this fall we are looking to coordinate the formation of several small groups to further facilitate folks deepening relationships through shared conversation and spiritual practices. Look for emails regarding this or contact me at [email protected].
But we have not focused solely on going deeper. In the beginning of 2025, I was tasked with greatly expanding our visitor reach and follow up. These efforts resulted in nearly doubling our recorded visitors in 2025 compared to 2024. And this year we are on pace to excede last year’s total for recorded visitors.
And our welcome continues to expand: This week, Compline resumes (a service that is one of the significant ways newcomers find us). At the end of this month we will participate again in the Ramsey Hill House Tour with an open house for all our neighbors. We’ll host another Sip and Sing on October 9.
Welcome–and being more effective at it–will continue to be a priority at St John’s. And to flourish and spread shalom, we will need to continue both to expand and to deepen. If we do only one, we do not truly flourish and we cannot bring that flourishing with us into the world. For Welcome and Connection, flourishing is that blend of getting both wider and deeper, and each strengthens the other so that we can “love and serve God with gladness and singleness of heart.”