Pillars in Action

What a blessing it is to celebrate 136 years of Resilience in Faith. From our humble beginning as the Baptist Colored Mission to St. Paul’s Baptist church today, we have sustained growth and continued to build on the foundation of our church founders. Today, St. Paul’s, under the leadership of Reverend Dr. Wayne E. Croft Sr., is actively engaged on multiple fronts simultaneously through the efforts of different ministries here at St. Paul’s. We are prayerfully living and manifesting the 4 Pillars of the Church. Some of our programs include:

Global Missions

➢ We have been on missions to Haiti and Puerto Rico following devasting earthquakes in those areas ➢ Our Women’s Ministry provided 100 dresses as part of the Uganda Dress Project - making dresses for young girls in need in Uganda ➢ Traveled to Mississippi following hurricane Katrina ➢ Collected and sent truck loads of water to Flint, Michigan at the peak of the water crisis In that city and took a bus load of St Paulians there to provide direct support

Outreach

Our outreach programs have grown significantly over the years and that is both an indication of greater need and of the increased number of volunteers to meet those needs ➢ At the height of the Pandemic we held a forum to educate the community and help dispel myths about the vaccine and health disparities. This effort directly led to over 200 people in our community getting vaccinated that otherwise would have opted out ➢ Our men have volunteered over 1000 hours of service at the West Chester Food Cupboard and continued that effort through the Pandemic ➢ Provide assistance to those in need in the community at Thanksgiving and Christmas ➢ Toy drives at Christmas. This past Christmas being one of the most successful to date. The Youth Ministry works with Toys for Tots sorting and distributing toys ➢ Clothing drives for local shelters ➢ Providing transportation to/from church for recently released inmates through our prison ministry ➢ Project Cure (Commission on Urgent Relief and Equipment) – our volunteers helped in sorting and boxing medical supplies to be sent to Ukraine

Discipleship

➢ Our Pastor, Dr. Croft, as a full professor of Homiletics at the United Lutheran Seminary is bringing others into ministry and teaching and encouraging them to step out on their own path. We have in just the last 3 years seen several ministers from St. Paul’s move on to lead their own churches ➢ We have graduated multiple classes of St. Paul’s students from Church Leadership certificate programs at

ULS and many have moved into positions of leadership within the church ➢ During the Pandemic (for 11 months) we implemented Project Hope, a weekly hosted zoom call, to provide the community a platform to express how Covid was impacting their lives. Authorities in their respective fields in Medical, Hospitals, Education, and other Industries to address Covid questions

Social Justice

➢ The church has hosted forums, open to the community o to meet and dialogue with candidates looking to be elected to local offices o to dialogue and address relationships with local police agencies ➢ The church is a base of operations for over 400 volunteers for the annual MLK Day of Service. Children and adults of different races and religions come together for one purpose, to serve ➢ The church is a voice in the community supporting multiple causes and events o We have been actively present at court proceedings for various situations impacting our community and stood with families seeking justice o Participated in protests and marches for local and national events o Pastor Croft has served as President of the West Chester NAACP