From the Pastor’s Desk

After almost a year of work by the task force, Consistory has approved the draft update of the church’s Constitution and Bylaws be forwarded to the congregation for approval.

There will be two informational meetings for congregation members to ask questions and give feedback before these documents are brought to a special meeting for ratification. They will be held immediately after worship on June 8 and June 22.

Copies of the Draft Constitution and By-laws updates are on the table where the bulletins are on Sunday mornings, or by contacting the church office to be emailed the draft. A Special Meeting is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, July 28 immediately after the service to vote on approval. More detailed information will be sent soon to members.

----------

The last time the congregation reviewed both the Constitution and Bylaws Rev. Fritz West was your pastor. George H. Bush was President, Facebook and Twitter were still a few months away from being introduced, and cell phones meant flip phones and Blackberry.

These governing documents exist to support and foster the congregation’s ministry and life. Blackberry phones, the standard for cellphones in the 2000, were eventually replaced by smartphones better suited for current uses. These governing documents that once served the congregation well were not written for today’s realities and situations, such as different attendance patterns, the shared ministry agreement with Hope and for...

These changes have been prayerfully discerned by eight members of your congregation, listening for ways that this congregation can continue to be a vital and life-giving presence in our wider communities. To echo what I often say in the call to offering, these changes are intended to allow this congregation to share the love of God we experience with both those inside and outside our walls.

Please ask questions, give input, and perhaps most importantly, spend time in reflection or prayer as you practice as we approach the approval and implementation of these changes. There will probably be some bumps along the way. Together, with faith in God and in each other’s motivations, those bumps will be just that – easily overcome because we are not setting out a new course. We are continuing to follow Jesus into the world. Jesus may forge new or different paths but always ends up at the same destination: enveloped in the love, grace and purpose of God.


God’s grace and peace.
Pastor Deb Kunkel