Last Sunday, Will preached on raising the dead, and raising a dying church through the lens of an article called "Autopsy of a Deceased Church" by Thom Rainer, a Southern Baptist minister. Here are some of Will's reflections of Cyprian's responses to Rainer's lessons (you can read the rest of the sermon here):

2.  The church had no community-focused ministries.  This part of the autopsy may seem to be stating the obvious, but I wanted to be certain. My friend affirmed my suspicions. There was no attempt to reach the community.

Everything we are doing with Cyprian's Center & St. Cyprian's Community Kitchen is an attempt to reach the community outside our doors, and it is working. 70 mostly young people from the neighborhood were at Thursday night's dinner. Each month 50 seniors attend lunch downstairs. This summer with The Village Project & Shakespeare Camp we will be host to numerous children, youth and their families will be interacting with our space and our members.

5.  There were no evangelistic emphases. When a church loses its passion to reach the lost, the congregation begins to die.

In the last four years we have attended numerous neighborhood block parties, meetings and hosted events and activities that help us get to know those around us, those who are most likely to eventually show up for a church service. Whether they are lost or not --- they are finding us and we are finding them. We also know who they are, we know their faces and names. If these secular neighbors are going to go to church anywhere aren't they most likely to attend a church that knows and cares for them as they are and isn't trying to fix, condemn or change them. If they wake up on Sunday morning with an itch to attend a worship service, aren't they more likely to go to the one that is striving the hardest to be a good neighbor?

9.  The church had no clarity as to why it existed. There was no vision, no mission, and no purpose.

St. Cyprian's has clarity; we have vision, mission and purpose. If you aren't sure what it is, you haven't been paying attention.

10.  The members idolized another era. All of the active members were over the age of 67 the last six years of the church. And they all remembered fondly, to the point of idolatry, was the era of the 1970s. They saw their future to be returning to the past.

I believe St. Cyprian's best days are not behind you, they are ahead of us. The past can teach us much but our future cannot be found there. Keep dreaming, keep connecting and reaching out, keep getting to know strangers, and love the young folks that are all around you, students, neighbors, seminarians, and children at Spirit Village.

It is custom at St. Cyprian's that people offer reflections following the readings and sermon, and this last Sunday, the reflections demonstrated the resilience this community has, and it's continually unfolding sense of mission. As I listened to the sharing of each person's gratitude for the church's transformation, I couldn't help thinking of the resilience, gratitude, and mission each person in the community has brought forth. Hearing the spirit in the voices of the children at The Village Project, SF Live Art's concerts, and USF community dinners, and also witnessing the energy of the spirit at Spirit Village and 10:10 service, St. Cyprian's is alive and dancing.