Dear Friends:
As you all said good-bye to Pastor Greg and hello to me this church family never missed a beat! Congratulations on a transition well executed! I hope and pray these past two months have given everyone a chance to "exhale" after all the hard work in preparation for my coming.
Thank you so much once again, for all you did to give me a wonderful parsonage to live in and wonderful welcome for me and my little furry family.
Some of you have willingly joined me in some very important church chats over the past weeks. Thank you, all of you, who came out to explore together where God might be leading us. I appreciate the faith, the humor and the good will you all brought to the discussions. Thank you for naming your hopes and sharing your concerns.
As our church moves ahead, here is what you can expect from me. You can expect that I will seek every way possible to honor the spiritual needs of the current members of this congregation. We all need a place to worship God. We all need to be cared for during the times of crisis, struggle and joy. We all need the Gospel of Jesus that leads us to grow into our full potential.
These needs are important to me as your pastor. I will make every effort to shepherd this church so that no one is forgotten or left behind in this season of necessary changes. It is such a blessing to see our current small groups and our Sunday School classes growing.
You can expect something else from me as well. I am called to lead CUMC to be a mission-focused church that reaches out to the hurting people of this world. In all our decisions as a church family, you can expect that any decisions made about the future of our church will be made with the best intentions to love the current crowd as well as to love a lost world that needs an invitation and welcome in the church.
We are at a delicate time of balance in the church. We reach in and we reach out. We honor the past but we lean into the future. The only way we can ever achieve such a balance is by trusting God. I have enjoyed cups of coffee with you to recognize that there are spiritual giants in this church, people who know and love God. I am certain that we can commit to the hard, but rewarding work of listening to God and loving each other through this time of change and growth!
Together with you in Christ,
Patty
From the Pastor's Heart: