Shared with the Community on September 3rd, during worship, reprinted here for wider communication.
We want to share some exciting information with you: the Council has agreed on, and extended, our transitional ministry covenant with Pastor J for another 6 months. The Bishop signed it, and our strategy for these 6 months, this past week.
Pastor J has reached out to the Bishop’s Office to schedule orientation for the Council and Transition Team. To that end, the Council is ratifying a slate of us to consider as the Transition Team; we are thankful for all of you who have expressed interest in serving with Transitional Ministry in this way.
For each of us in this transitional time, the Council, with Pastor J, has put together a schedule of learning opportunities that will be made available to the Congregation soon and in time for you to schedule your partnership to strengthen our present and vision our future.
I invite each of you to look at these opportunities and determine where you might find time to tune in and absorb, allowing each of us to become teachers, better partners, better welcomers.
First English is a community of many gifts and we have a long history of which to be proud. We are always invited to keep learning. And so as we move through the coming weeks, hearing, discerning, learning and changing, I ask each of you to offer space to one another. This is a challenging time, for sure, and by offering space to another that we wish for ourselves, I believe we can transition as a community in ministry.
I love and appreciate each of you for who you are. No two are alike. We all have different fears and concerns. Let us invite one another into the possibilities these fears and concerns offer. Let us unite together and recognize that together we can transition as a ministry. God is inviting us into the future, I have no doubt. Let us come together, bringing our gifts together, as one body, in Christ. ~Your Council Executives