Not the most exciting of blog reports, but I’m thrilled that Saint John’s, (the parish where I serve as Priest-in-Charge) has taken two definite steps into the modern world:

• We now accepting Donations via PayPal. Right there on the front page. No takers yet, but it certainly makes donating from afar easier. Plus, folks who choose to give can earn reward points or frequent flier miles if they so choose.
• We publish our weekly bulletins on Scribd. It’s easier to host than trying to remember to upload and then edit the webpage, and it means folks a ways away can keep in touch. I wish we could do full bulletins, but we just don’t have the paper resources.

I know these don’t seem like much, but when I arrived at Saint John’s, we didn’t even have an internet connection, or church-based e-mail, or an electronic calendar - nothing. So these developments - however small - make me quite happy.

A priest-friend and mentor once told me that it’s important to have some small project to work on in the course of parish ministry, in part so you can see progress building on something on a regular basis. This is especially important, he said, because so many of the seeds planted in parish ministry may not bear fruit for years.

This is certainly the case here. The other bits of work of parish ministry - gaining new members, securing our financial footing, improving the physical plant, creating a program for Christian Formation, and trying to instill healthy stewardship habits - these take time to come to fruition. Lots of time. So it’s nice every once and a while to have small, but definite improvements - little milestones - along the way.