Sunday, June 7, 2026 - Seven Ways to Grow and Thrive as a Community
June 7, 2026 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24
Deborah Laforet
“Seven Ways To Grow and Thrive”
Let us pray. May the words from my lips and the meditations of my heart be guided by your
Spirit and be words of wisdom for this day. Amen.
Have you encountered those lists on the internet or in magazines? “10 Ways to a Better You!”
“Three Things You Can Do to Be Healthier.” “Six Steps To Finding Your Ideal Mate.” These lists often
oversimplify the complexity in which we live, but they can be fun to read sometimes, and even
sometimes helpful.
Believe it or not, the Bible might have one of the oldest lists. “The Ten Commandments - Ten
Ways to Live a Moral Life.” Today, we heard a list from the Apostle Paul, in a letter to the
Thessalonians, a brand new community of Christians, to whom he was giving advice, like, warn the
idlers, cheer up the fainthearted, support the weak, and be patient with everyone.
I have a list for you today, which comes from the “Toward 2035” project, in which the United
Church of Canada is working on strategic goals for the year 2035, and engaging congregations in that
same work. This list contains initial thoughts harvested from research and experience. We might call it:
“Seven Ways To Grow and Thrive Over the Next Ten Years as Community of Faith”.
1. Be clear about your “why”: Why does your community of faith exist? We need to be very specific
and confident about our call, and the strengths and gifts (the charism) we offer on the basis of that
discipleship call.
Why does St. Pauls exist? Do we exist to worship on Sunday morning? Do we exist to rent
space to the community? Do we solely exist to serve the needs of those within this church? The reason
for existing might be summed up in a mission statement. Currently, ours is to Connect, Engage, and
Transform. With whom are we connecting? Who gets to engage? Who is being transformed? Maybe
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it’s time to look at this statement again and explore our call to this community and explore the strengths
and gifts we carry to live out our mission.
2. Be curious about your neighbours: We need to be very aware of the neighbourhoods or areas in
which our church resides. Some churches are great at this; some have considered themselves as
destination churches, so not super-connected to the neighbourhood, and some may have old
conceptions of the neighbourhood that has rapidly changed around them. Data, listening, and even
field trips beyond the walls can help connect us to the needs of our neighbourhoods.
Although we are moving, our neighbourhood will not change greatly. Our immediate neighbours
will be different. Discovering our new neighbours and continuing to explore those in our
neighbourhood is crucial to connecting and serving our community. So, let’s be curious. Let’s talk to
our new neighbours. Some of us are better at doing this than others, and that’s OK. Some of us like to
work from the background and let others do the talking, but we are all needed in discerning the needs of
our neighbourhood.
3. Invite, invite, invite: We need to develop our spiritual muscle of invitation, including through
intentional invitation plans connected to our “why” and what we have learned about our
neighbourhood. Invites can be to many things—not just worship, but also to justice and outreach
activities, volunteering, and more.
This is sometimes called evangelism, and most in the United Church are not great at evangelism.
We don’t want people to think we’re being pushy. Maybe we feel awkward and uncomfortable talking
about our church or our faith. How many of you come because you love this community? That’s what
you need to share. Why do you love this community? What do you appreciate about being here? What
do you value about our space? Those are the stories people need to hear and they need to know that they
are welcome to come, whether it be for worship, for book study, for games night, to volunteer at Kerr
Street, to bring their kids for our children and youth programming. Invite, invite, invite.
4. Be connexional: This is a Methodist concept that reminds us that a singular congregation is not the
church alone. It is an important time to connect with and collaborate with churches around you.
Connections can be for mutual support and encouragement—pray for each other at board meetings,
or during worship. Share challenges and joys. There may be possibilities for practical support or
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sharing ministry. For example, one or two young people may be too small to plan a program
around, but perhaps in a cluster of churches, there is a critical mass of younger folks. One church
alone might not have adequate capacity to sponsor a refugee, but a cluster might.
We’re are already doing this. It doesn’t mean there is not room to grow, but we are talking with
three other churches about amalgamation, we meet with all seven United churches in Oakville around
worship, outreach, finance, and more, and our Affirm team works with other Affirming congregations in
Oakville and Burlington. We are being connexional, and it has been good for us and the other churches.
5. Reflect on your time: Audit the amount of time on your meeting agendas for different kinds of work.
Is there a way to lighten up governance and administration for more focus on ministry and
outreach?
A few years ago, we streamlined our governance structure. We have a smaller board and fewer
committees. There are some gaps, but volunteers are spending less time just going to meetings. Some
volunteers love meetings, but most would rather be helpful and productive doing work that is
meaningful to them. This is an area we have explored and are still exploring. When people come to a
church, they usually are busy and burnt out and looking for a space where they can be renewed and
where they can find meaning. Purpose and meaning look different for different people, and asking
people to join a committee isn’t always the way to start.
6. Prioritize migrant/newcomer communities and young people: We need to be super attentive to
where newcomers to Canada and young people are showing up—not necessarily inside the walls of
the church, but in the community. Where are there opportunities for listening and accompaniment?
We do pretty well at prioritizing young people. Finding those people who have a sense of youth
culture today and what youth need is crucial. I think we’re lucky to have Adam and The Hub helping us
to explore that. Listening and accompanying migrant and newcomer communities though is a stretch for
us, definitely a learning curve. Some of us quit when accents make it hard for us to listen. Some of us
falter when values don’t line up. Some of us know it’s important work but don’t even know where to
start. This is definitely a growing edge for St. Paul’s and something we could explore further.
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7. Pray and listen: This moment in which we find ourselves calls for wisdom, perseverance, and
courage. The Christian church has known many such moments. The United Church of Canada has
known many such moments. [I will add: St. Paul’s has known many such moments.] So we pray and
listen, trusting that God meets us as we do. Perhaps this is a muscle we need to develop anew for
that which lays before us now.
A muscle for praying and listening. We develop muscles for lifting, for pulling, and pushing.
We develop muscles in our brain for thinking. What does it mean to develop our listening muscles. For
some, this is harder than it is for others. Just to be clear, I’m not saying that people who love to talk are
not listening and that people who are quiet know how to listen. Listening is a skill. Actually hearing
what someone is saying without layering it with our own thoughts and ideas is really difficult. Sue’s
listening circles that she promotes are great at teaching us what it means to listen. It’s a spiritual practice
and helps greatly when it comes to prayer. Prayer isn’t just about talking to God. It’s also about
listening. Praying and listening will help us as we find our wisdom, perseverance, and courage, during
this time in the church.
So, those are the seven ways the United Church of Canada offers to us as we move forward
toward 2035:
1. Be clear about your “why”
2. Be curious about your neighbours
3. Invite, invite, invite
4. Be connexional
5. Reflect on your time
6. Prioritize migrant/newcomer communities and young people
7. Pray and listen
Let’s pray together again, the prayer we have been using the past few weeks, and after the prayer,
let’s take a moment of silence to listen.
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A Prayer for Communities of Faith
Gracious and loving God, you called into being
this United Church of Canada,
one expression of Jesus’ beloved community,
here in the particularities of our place and our time.
For the past 100 years, you have guided and sustained
and called us back when we have erred. Now, as we look back, we also look forward,
daring to believe that even among us,
even in this very place, you are doing a new thing.
We long to perceive it, like a way through a wilderness,
for the sake of our neighbours,
for the sake of this world of beautiful and broken things,
yearning to be made whole, yearning to be made new.
May we perceive and live into it. Amen.