“GOOD NEWS”

REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JRPRAYER SERVICEBAPTISMSThe next scheduled Sunday for Baptismis Sunday, January 13, which is the Feastof the Baptism of Jesus. If you have notbeen baptized or would like your childbaptized, pleasecall Father Patrickthrough the parishoffice (684-8496)to set up anappointment todiscuss the matter.On Monday, January 14 at 7:00 p.m. at Mt. ZionA.M.E. Church (277 S. Fifth Street), as part of ourMonday Night Adult Forum Program, we will gatherfor an ecumenical service of worship and prayer tohonor the memory of The Rev. Dr. Martin LutherKing, Jr. The Rev. David Powers, Pastor of TheColumbia Presbyterian Church will be the preacher.SOLEMN FEAST OFCONVERSION OF SAINT PAULWe will celebrate our Patronal Feast – The Conversion of Saint Paul – on Monday, January 28.There will be a Solemn Festive Eucharist at 7:00 p.m. in the Church. This will be a jointEpiscopal / Lutheran Eucharist with Pastor Beth Costlow of Saint John Lutheran and ChaplainDione Klepetka, Saint John Herr Estate Retirement Community as concelebrants. Father Patrickwill be the primary celebrant. During this service, we will recognize the new members of the SaintPaul Sages Society – which are those of our family who have turned 80 during the past year. Comecelebrate the mission and ministry of Saint Paul – the person and this parish – and all that the futureholds for us. Come celebrate our “wise foundation” – our “rocks” who are the foundation of thisparish family and who have helped make Saint Paul what it is today.

SHROVE TUESDAY DINNER ANDMARDI GRAS PARTYLent begins this year on Wednesday, March 6(Ash Wednesday) so our Annual Shrove TuesdayPancake Supper will be Tuesday, March 5beginning at 5:00 p.m. This dinner is an ancientChristian tradition. Our Shrove Tuesday Dinnerand Mardi Gras Party will be held in the MaryElizabeth Bair Parish Center with a wonderfulsupper of pancakes, eggs, and ham. Come joinus for an evening of fun, great prizes, andwonderful food. As part of the evening, therewill be a Crazy Auction and a 50-50 raffle. Thecost for the supper is 6.00 with all proceedsgoing into the Operating Budget of the parish.The supper and the party are open to all in thecommunity, so bring a friend!EMERGENCY WINTER SHELTERFor the past ten years, the churches ofColumbia have sponsored an EmergencyWinter Shelter. With the support of a numberof churches (both through building use andvolunteer time) we have been able to provideshelter for about 15 men (and some women)each night during the cold winter months. Theshelter is now available year-round. Theshelter is located at Vision Columbia (291 S.4th Street). Volunteers come from variouschurches. If you would like to volunteer,please let Father Patrick know. Training andmentor support is available. The HomelessShelter Committee is organized by TheColumbia Presbyterian Church.COFFEE HOURASH WEDNESDAYAsh Wednesday is March 6, 2019. To begin ourLenten Season, we will have two services in themain church:9:30 a.m.Eucharist with imposition of ashes7:00 p.m.Solemn Eucharist with theimposition of ashesOur 7:00 p.m. service will be a joint Eucharist withour brothers and sisters from The ColumbiaPresbyterian Church. Pastor DavidPowers will concelebrate andpreach. A light reception willfollow the service in the back ofthe church. This is a great time tobring someone back to church.Do you know anyone?We have a coffee / social hour after our Sundaymorning service (9:00 a.m.). Please sign-up tohelp with this social time on the sheet on theSign-Up Board in the Mary Elizabeth Bair ParishCenter (or you can call the parish office – 6848496 and let us know what week you would liketo volunteer. The parish provides the coffee – allyou need to bring are some juice and cookies orcake. They do not need to be homemade.SOUPER BOWL SUNDAYSunday, February 3, 2019 is Souper BowlSunday. Following the services, a representativefrom The Columbia Food Bank will be at thedoors of chapel at St. John Herr Estate and thechurch, collecting monetary and / or food donations for the food bank. Please give generouslyto this worthy cause.

SAINT PAUL’S OUTREACH MINISTRIESTHE COLUMBIA FOOD BANK UPDATEAs of October 31, 2018, The Columbia Food Bank served a weeks worth of food to1,043 families representing 1,943 individuals and 40,555 meals since January 1,2018. Please continue to bring food each week when you come to church and put itin the baskets by the back pew. Put a few dollars in an envelope, mark it “FoodBank,” and drop it in the collection, or offer to volunteer at the food bank for a fewhours each week or month. Our current economy continues to affect the people atthe bottom of the economic ladder the most. Some of the food bank’s customers nolonger are able to use the food bank because they have moved out of the area due tojob loss, home foreclosure, or eviction. Consider the words of Jesus, “Whatever youdo to the least of my brothers and sisters – you do to me.”FREE COMMUNITY BREAKFASTSOur monthly Free Community Breakfastscontinue to serve and honor people eachmonth. As of October 31, Saint Paul hasserved 500 breakfasts since January 1, 2018.Our breakfast is the second Saturday of themonth. Our partner in these breakfasts (firstSaturday of the month – Columbia ChristianFellowship) has served 630 meals betweenJanuary 1 and October 31, 2018. ImpactChristian Center served 50 meals.Volunteers and donations of time are alwaysneeded. Come join us to help or just cometo breakfast and enjoy the food and thecompany.FreeFREE COMMUNITYDINNERSSaint Paul has a monthlyFree Community Dinnerwhich has been verysuccessful. From January 1,2018 through October 31,2018, we have served 548dinners. You are invited tocome help serve the dinneror just come for dinneryourself.

RIM PARISH UPDATEFor over 18 years the five parishes (St Luke, Mt Joy; Saint Paul, Manheim; Hope, Mt Hope; Saint John,Marietta; and Saint Paul, Columbia) of the Western Rim of the Lancaster Convocation (10 Episcopalparishes in Lancaster County) have been working together in the areas of prayer, education, outreachministry, and social justice. Over the last 5 years, this multi-parish companion relationship hasdeepened and become more focused and all of us look to the future with faith and hope. It also hasexpanded from the five parishes of the Western Rim of Lancaster County to include Bangor EpiscopalChurch in Churchtown and is now known as the Rim Parishes of the Lancaster Convocation. The wordRIM stands for: Resurrection Inspired Ministry.THE COMMITMENT OF SAINT PAUL EPISCOPAL CHURCH, COLUMBIA,PA TO THE MISSION AND MINISTRY OF THE RIM PARISHES OF THELANCASTER CONVOCATION.Our Lord Jesus Christ wills the unity of his church. On the night of his Last Supper, ourLord prayed: “ that they may all be one, Father! May they be in us, just as you are inme and I am in you. May they be one, so that the world will believe that you sent me. Igave them the same glory you gave me, so that they may be one, just as you and I areone: I in them and you in me, so that they may be completely one, in order that the worldmay know that you sent me and that you love them as you love me.” (John 17:21-23)Together all Christians are to “make every effort to preserve the unity which has theSpirit as its origin and peace as its binding “force” because: “There is but one Body andone Spirit, just as there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all,who is over all, and works through all and is in all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6)We affirm that the Holy Spirit bestows unity and opens us to new possibilities to providean effective expression of God’s love in Christ. The same Spirit calls us to accept theunity already achieved among us and work toward the goal of a more fundamental unitywilled by Christ, while acknowledging and respecting the independence and individualitythat exists among us.Impelled by the Spirit, the Vestry, Rector, and people of Saint Paul Episcopal Church,Columbia, PA commit ourselves to support events of prayer, outreach, and mission andministry of the Rim Parishes of the Lancaster Convocation and to formally encourage thesix parishes (Saint Paul, Columbia; Saint John, Marietta; Saint Luke, Mt Joy; Saint Paul,Manheim; Bangor, Churchtown; and Hope, Mt Hope) to continue to work together in thecause of the Gospel.We believe that the Spirit calls us now to approve this resolution (approved October2011) as a sign of our increased commitment to the support of small parishes. Theapproval of this resolution is a witness to the one Spirit who will lead all Christians to thefulfillment of our Lord’s prayer and is not a declaration of an exclusive relationshipamong the six parishes nor does it negate our relationships with other Episcopal churchesor churches of other denominations that we currently have or will form in the future.

Rim Parish Update (continued)Therefore, relying on the faithful love of the Triune God, we commit ourselves to celebrate the unity already achieved through the past years of cooperation and to strengthenthe visible unity of the Body of Christ in the Rim Parishes of the Lancaster Convocation.We hereby now commit to:1. Pray for each other and the unity of our parishes, particularly at the Sundayliturgy (e.g., including each parish and their leadership in the Prayers of thePeople)2. Sponsor and participate seasonal prayer services3. Engage in shared Christian Formation4. Promote pulpit exchanges5. Cooperate in preparation for baptism, confirmation, reception, and marriage6. Promote events of the other parishes and encourage our members to support theseevents7. Learn the history of each parish and their current mission and ministry goals andobjectives8. Encourage the clergy of each parish to share in spiritual, formational, and socialevents9. Collaborate on issues of evangelization, justice, youth, and social concerns10. Work whenever possible to support and facilitate future joint efforts among theparishesTo further the goals of this resolution, the Outreach Ministry Committee will annuallyreview our commitment and participation and report to the Vestry.May the Holy Spirit, who has brought us to this moment, bring us to ever deepening levelsof unity and cooperation.It is important that every member of this Saint Paul Parish Family take part in the RimParish activities – education, prayer, worship, outreach, etc. The Rim Parish Families arepart of our future.

FINANCIAL UPDATE – FIRST TEN MONTHS OF 2018For the first ten months of the year (January through October) our budget and actual income andexpenses stand at:INCOMEActual YTDBudget YTDPledgeNon-PledgeOtherInvestmentsOperational Grant 40,822.106,900.0042,990.0066,204.0010,000.00 41,850.005,000.0026,791.6741,900.00.00Total 166,916.10 115,541.67Actual YTDBudget YTDPersonnelOperationsMissionOther 88,964.0452,390.3918,789.7313,527.34 95,886.9640,081.8022,861.709,650.10Total 173,671.50 168,480.56EXPENSESTreasurer’s Note: The actual YTD Income is much higher than the Budget YTD because of takingan extra 24,000.00 out of the Wells Fargo Investment Savings Account to cover bills and alsobecause of receiving 10,000.00 from the Diocese as an Operational Grant and 15,600.00 fromtwo different estates. St. Paul is working on a smaller budget for 2019. Hopefully we can coverthe deficit of the 2019 budget without taking money from the Wells Fargo Investment SavingsAccount.We share the abundance—of life and of love—that God has given us.

WEEK OF CHRISTIAN UNITYEach year, Christians the world over pray for unity among Christian churches and denominations. At theLast Supper Jesus prayed that we would be one even as Jesus and the Father are one. Unity amongchurches does not necessarily mean a unity of organizational structure (since Jesus did not leave ablueprint or organizational chart of the church with the Apostles, he could not have prayed for that). Theunity that exists between the Father and Jesus was a unity of mind and heart – of reason and love. Thisyear the week of Christian Unity begins on Friday, January 18 (The Feast of the Confession of SaintPeter) and ends on Friday, January 25 (The Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul). We will have oneservice to celebrate this Week of Christian Unity. The service will be Solemn Evening Prayer onTuesday, January 22 at Saint Paul Episcopal Church beginning at 7:00 p.m. This service will be a jointcelebration of prayer and praise of Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church, Saint Paul Episcopal Church,and Saint Peter Roman Catholic Church. Father Patrick will be the main celebrant with Father Kelley,Pastor of Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church assisting and Jeff Baylor, Deacon of Saint Peter RomanCatholic Church preaching.UPDATE OF THE FALL STEWARDSHIP CAMPAIGNOur Fall Stewardship Drive kicked-off on the weekend of October 6 & 7 with the first of severalStewardship Handouts. We continued on Saturday, October 13 with our Annual Stewardship ThankYou Dinner. Stewardship information was distributed to all active members, in mid-October. FatherPatrick spoke about stewardship at both weekend serviceson October 20 & 21. Declaration of Faith Sunday is Sunday,November 18. All 2019 pledge cards should be received bythat weekend and offered to the Lord along with ourEucharistic bread and wine. Information regarding thenumber of pledges received and what they total will bein the next newsletter. If you have not yet returned yourpledge card – your Declaration of Faith Card – please doso as soon as you can. At their December 2018 meeting,the Vestry will approve a Faith Budget for 2019 and ithelps us to know what will be given. “All Things Comeof Thee O Lord; and of Thine own have we given Thee.”The question always is – do we really believe what we say?

St. Paul8th AnnualChristmasCookie SaleThis year’s cookie sale is scheduled for thesecond Saturday in December (December 8)and will be held again in the church.Parishioners are encouraged to bake at home.Any questions, comments, suggestions,commitments, should be directed to eitherBev Euculano at 717-818-7875 or Deb Wascheat 717-285-7999.Please watch the bulletin for further updates!

MISSION AND MINISTRY PLANWe continue our review of our Mission and Ministry Plan with the third and last section ofthe Plan – Size.Size is a difficult subject. The most fundamental definition is the number of people in thepews. Too often we remember – through rose-colored glasses – that the church used to befull – and now it’s not. According to the records of parish, there was only one time – AChristmas service – that the church had more than 200 people in the pews. And that’s in achurch that at the time would hold 350 people. There is no denying that there are lesspeople in our church on a Sunday morning today than back in the 1940’s and 1950’s andeven into the early 1960’s. That same sentence could be said about any of the 18 churchesin Columbia. It is not an excuse; but it is a fact of life. Attendance at church on a Sundaymorning (or now on Saturday evening) is no longer a priority for most people of anyChristian denomination. The value of coming together as a Parish Family is no longer apriority with people. Sleeping in, sports, family activities, etc. which in the past wouldhave been a lower priority than church on Sunday morning are now routinely seen as moreimportant than a Parish Family gathering around the altar to be nourished in Word andSacrament.So, if the definition of size needs to be redefined – how should we redefine it. While thenumber of people in church on Sunday morning (or Saturday evening) is important for lotsof reasons, we need to look at what the Parish Family (of any size) actually does. Smallparishes can have a major impact on themselves, their communities, and the world when,whatever the number of members, are active, vibrant Disciples of Jesus. The ParishFamily of Saint Paul began with about 25 families and it has never been more that about125 families (primarily in the 1940’s and 1950’s), yet in the first 10 years of the parish(1849 – 1859), it founded six Missions stretching from Manheim to Delta, PA. Two ofthose Missions continue as parishes today. There were less families and less people thanthere are today; however, their impact was enormous.Attracting more members is related directly to how every member of the Parish Family ofSaint Paul lives out the Good News of Jesus in their daily lives. If the daily activities ofour lives don’t match the faith we say we believe in, then it will be very hard to gather newmembers. It is the direct responsibility of every member of the Saint Paul Parish Family toinvite others to the great feast of Sunday morning (or Saturday evening). If each of usplant the seeds of the Gospel by the way we live our lives – then God will take care of thenurturing.The term Growth is even more misunderstood than the term Size. Everyone wants churchgrowth. There are thousands of books, hundreds of seminars, and dozens of consultantsthat can – for a fee – tell you how to grow your parish. When a child grows from an infantto a toddler, from a toddler to a youngster, from a youngster to a teen, etc. the one thingthat is most notable – are the changes that take place during that growth. The bodyphysically changes, the brain changes, the hormones change, etc. Without this change theinfant would remain an infant. The same is true in church growth – change happens,change is necessary, change is good. Too often parish members want church growth – butnot the change that comes with it. Without change a parish cannot grow.

MISSION AND MINISTRY PLAN (continued)Our Mission and Ministry Plan calls us to do four things for the Parish Family to grow in size. They arenot rocket science. We don’t need books, programs, or paid consultants. We need only do what theApostles did with Jesus – RESPOND TO THE CALL TO FOLLOW HIM! What could be simpler?The four things are:1. That each of us commit to inviting at least 4 people a year to join us at a weekend Eucharist. (theearly disciples of Jesus invited others to join them in following Jesus)2. That we commit to welcoming and following up with every visitor that comes to our SundayEucharist (not just invite them to Coffee Hour; but drop them a thank-you note or call them andthank them – every member should be doing this)3. Speaking about Jesus and our faith to others at least once a week so that they can see that we areexcited and enthused about being Disciples of Jesus. Nothing like seeing that the person who isinviting us loves that they are a part of the Parish Family of Saint Paul4. Hire a Youth and Young Adult Minister in union with the other Rim Parishes of the LancasterConvocation to help reach out to our young people.While the last one will take great effort and sizable resources – the other three only cost our time andour commitment to do them. Our current Mission and Ministry Plan began in January 2018 and will rununtil the end of 2022. That may seem like a long time – it is not. The time will be over before we knowit. All of us n

p.m. We will begin at Salem United Church of Christ (324 Walnut Street). Following a reading from Scripture, a hymn, and a prayer, we will walk to Columbia United Methodist Church (Corner of Walnut & 5th Streets), Columbia Church of God (Corner of Walnut an