ABIDE IN ME
FORMATION YEAR 2026-2027
“Abide in me as I abide in you.… Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit.”
In John’s Gospel, Jesus offers his friends the image of a vine and its branches: rooted, connected, nourished, and growing. “Abide in me,” he tells them. Stay close. Remain in my love. And from that place of connection, something begins to grow.
Later, Jesus makes the invitation even clearer: “Abide in my love” and “love one another as I have loved you.” Abiding in God’s love draws us more deeply toward God, toward one another, and toward the world God loves.
That invitation feels especially meaningful for St. John’s this year. As we have listened to one another, we have heard a longing to go deeper in faith, to build relationships where people are known and belong, and to make a meaningful difference in the community around us.
Throughout 2026–2027, Abide in Me will be a thread running through our life together. It is an invitation to stay close to God’s love, to one another, and to the places and people around us, and to pay attention to what might grow from those connections.
We don’t know yet all that will take shape. That, too, is part of the invitation. But we do know where we want to begin. This year, we’ll be making intentional space for three areas of our life together, places where we hope to deepen what is already growing and make room for something new.