“If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; but when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.” (Proverbs 29:18)
Where have we been? What have we done? Where are we now? Where are we going? What is God calling us to do in this time and place given who we are now, what we have to work with, and the needs of our neighbors? What kind of pastoral leader do we need to help us take our next step in ministry?
These are the kinds of questions congregations wrestle with during the discernment phase of the interim period between called pastors. They are questions that need to be answered before a Call Committee can draft a Ministry Site Profile (MSP). The MSP is the document congregations use to describe themselves to prospective pastors, who are in the midst of discerning where God is calling them to be.
You will remember that our Church Council contracted with Pastor Nathan Swenson-Reinhold of GSB Consulting, to serve as our consultant during this discernment phase. For the past eight months, he has guided a team of congregational leaders using: a congregational survey, a community demographics study, a day-long retreat with other church leaders, and more than a dozen meetings undergirded by devotion and prayer, to create a lens through which we could look closely at our congregation’s internal and external contexts as we reestablished our mission, reaffirmed our values, and developed strategic priorities to move us forward in ministry.
What follows on the next page is a recrafting of our mission statement, a values statement to connect our past and present, and the strategic priorities that are essential as we move into the next few years of our congregational life together. Pastor Nathan Swenson-Reinhold will continue working with us as we move forward with implementing these priorities.
Appreciation is extended to John Guran, Linda Vowles, Lesli Eisenhart, Val Clark, Rachel Núñez, Bob Keener, Amanda Archbold, and John Stefanik for the time and energy they have invested in the work of discernment during this interim period. There is no doubt that Holy Trinity will be blessed by their ongoing commitment to Christ and our church!
Blessings!
Pastor Becki
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