Our Weekend with The Rev. Michael Piazza

Our Weekend with The Rev. Michael Piazza

Friends, this weekend the leadership of Park Church spent many hours listening to one of the most successful and prominent church growth and renewal experts in the UCC. On Sunday, we welcomed Rev. Piazza to our pulpit and then to a time of education afterward. For those who were able to attend, hopefully you caught some of the spirit and passion he has for the future of the UCC and churches like Park. Our greatest hope for the weekend was that in some way, Rev. Piazza might have broken open a sense of hope for the future and introduce us to the hard and creative work which that future will require. Having read the new book he co-authored, the leadership of Park Church will now begin to assimilate the information gathered and engage in faithful discernment about how we will move into a brighter future still. We invite you to join into the conversation here at this blog.

We've named this blog "A Church for Tomorrow." Rev. Piazza shared with us his conviction that we must look not to the past or what is happening today, but to the future. If we are to grow and renew our church, our eyes need to look to the future, to the church of those who are not yet among us. What is the church that they desire and need? There's nothing wrong with the past or the present, in fact there are many wonderful and faithful programs of our past and present that we must celebrate! And yet, there is something else, perhaps something more or something different that we must look towards. The statistics of decline are so prevalent and so persuasive that there is little sense in denying the trends within which we find ourselves. 

Some questions we might ask ourselves: Why are our grandchildren not attending Park? What would it take for them to come? What does it mean to serve rather than be served when we come to church? What does a first-time visitor notice about Park that we take for granted? Who does our worship and programming serve? Those of us already here or those we pray someday might fill the empty spaces in our pews? Amongst the beautiful flower garden of our sanctuary, organ, and stained-glass windows, where are we planting vegetables that provide spiritual nourishment in addition to aesthetic beauty? And the questions continue...

We invite you to use this space to share compelling insights you have received from our weekend together with Rev. Piazza or from your own reading of Liberating Hope!. We welcome all voices to the table!

Post all that inspired or challenged you!

We continue to proclaim no matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you're welcome here!

- Park Church

This is NOT a space to air grievances or personal disdain. Park Church reserves the right to remove any post that does not reflect a spirit of civility, community collaboration, or healthy dialogue and conversation. Our task is always the upbuilding of God's kingdom come here on earth as it is in heaven. May this space reflect that mission.