My Congregation and Leadership Team:
Blessings and peace to you in these troubled times! I will be sharing with you on a regular basis as we all make our way, with God’s direction, through this mess.
‘To achieve goals you have never achieved before,
you need to start doing things you’ve never done before’
– Stephen Covey
We have been forced by the restrictions of the pandemic to start doing things we had never done before and our achievements over the past week have been an affirmation on the perseverance and talent at FBC. We had 577 views of our worship service this past weekend that was live-streamed over Facebook!
Auxano is the consulting firm that ABCOPAD used to help us in our vision discernment process several years ago. It was one of the sparkplugs for our renewal. Their Director of Resourcing, Greg Gibbs says the following in a message to the churches today:
“Be wary of anyone who gives a confident prediction of what the future holds. We know the Church will prevail – our faith, our history, and our Lord remind us of that. I actually think the days on the “other side” of this current chapter will be exciting and bright.
But the cultural and economic fruit basket is upset, and likely our ministries will never be the same. Perhaps this worldwide experience will bring a recalibration for the Church that is long overdue.
If we knew what our churches would look like by 2021, we could start planning accordingly and pull out the timelines and action plans. The tricky part is that we cannot know the future – that’s God’s job.
However, responsible leaders cannot sit idly waiting for shoes to drop. We need to have some kind of proactive discussion. We need to at least have considered a handful of scenarios that may occur in order to be proactive. Whatever happens over the coming months, we will have done the best to lead our congregations with clarity and spiritual wisdom.
Being proactive in the midst of this crisis requires a courageous faith and frank conversation around Public Gatherings, Financial Stability, Organizational Communication and Long-Term Stewardship Contingency Planning.”
I want to let you know that our leadership is finding their way in those processes. Our attempts may be a bit messy at first but we will get there. Cover us with prayer and together with the Lord at our side, we will prevail!
"He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” - Revelation 21:5
May God Richly Bless You,
Pastor Peirce
