At St. Paul’s, our beautiful sacred space within and around our church building is open and welcoming every day of the year. We enjoy a steady stream of visitors as the doors are literally always open. Outreach efforts include our welcoming churchyard, invitational signs, and our open sanctuary. The rainbow-colored Adirondack chairs on the front lawn extend a warm welcome to the grounds, garden, and memorial wall in good weather. In the summer, our Sunday service takes place outdoors on our front yard where visitors often take notice. We host concerts and events at various times which are open and well-attended by the public. In addition, members of St. Paul’s reach many non-members through the Lee Food Pantry as well as through our pre-school. We have a relationship with Riverbrook Residence, a home for developmentally disabled adult women, some of whom attend our services regularly.
St. Paul’s endeavors to work together and foster community with other churches in the region. We participate in educational classes, holiday events, and special programs such as Gideon’s Garden with Grace Church and the Appalachian Trail Angels with Christ Trinity Church. Our weekly email newsletter, the E-Pistle, keeps us informed of area events that would be of interest to our ministry.
We aspire to attract immigrants and new families of all ages. Though a challenge to attract new members, we are open to researching possibilities such as a Spanish language service, different musical offerings, and youth programs. We are also working to enhance our efforts with the Lee Food Pantry to better service the increasing number of Spanish-speaking clients we have been seeing.