Where Is God Calling Us (and You) to Go?

empty concrete road covered surrounded by tall tress with sun rays

When Jesus was asked by a lawyer to identify the greatest commandment, he responded with two: to love the Lord with all your heart and soul and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself.

Here at St. Alban’s, we have a long history as a mission-oriented church, with numerous outreach and community ministry programs aimed at providing food, comfort and spiritual support to our neighbors here in Annandale and around the world. Even during the craziness of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have all been overjoyed to see how many of our parishioners have given their time and energy toward helping others – toward “loving our neighbors.”

But, what does it mean to “love the Lord with all your heart and soul and mind”?

This past summer, your Vestry resolved to make spiritual growth and discipleship a priority for our parish. We are working with an organization called RenewalWorks (part of Forward Movement, a ministry of the Episcopal Church) to identify the best way to develop a discipleship program that will meet the needs of our parishioners, wherever each of us may be on his or her Christian journey.

The first step will be to figuring out where we are right now on that journey. In mid-September we will be sending a link to an electronic survey (print surveys will also be available) that we hope every one of you will take.

This survey, called a “Spiritual Life Inventory,” will take about 30 minutes to complete. I know that sounds like a lot, but it is very important! Your direct input through this survey will drive all our decisions about new programs and resources designed to help us, as individuals and as a community, grow closer to God in our daily life.

You will be hearing a lot more about the RenewalWorks program, the survey, and discipleship in general, over the next weeks and months, as we seek to discern God’s call for the future of St. Alban’s. Your participation is immensely valuable. Keep watching for the survey link later this month, and please participate as soon as possible (the survey will be open for only a short period of time).

If you have any questions about the RenewalWorks program, please speak with Fr. Jeff, Fr. Paul, Kevin Holland or Chris Martin.