Peace People,
Over the last month, the twelve "elders" you elected to lead the church for the next three years have been praying, studying, and training together. They have read significant portions of the Presbyterian Book of Order and Book of Confessions, and they have taken personality profiles and spiritual gifts surveys.
In terms of personality (Myers-Briggs), the session is dominated by SJs – those who are practical, dependable, thorough, organized, cooperative, warm, and enthusiastic. We also have some NFs who are especially encouraging, imaginative, adaptable, responsive, and very concerned for others. In terms of spirituality, we are fairly balanced, but we lean toward heart-faith over head-faith, which may be our new way of being Presbyterian.
The elders will be serving as liaisons between ministry teams and the session (leadership team). Ministry team leaders (usually not the elders on session) will continue to build small groups of folks who grow in their relationships with God and one another, and accomplish tasks. It is my dream that every single adult (and maybe some high schoolers) will join a ministry team, because it is such a meaningful way to make friends and make a difference. Ministry teams meet no more than monthly, and most of them, just 6-8 times a year.
I tell you some of the richest moments in my life have been in prayer at ministry team meetings and in faith-sharing moments with elders, as we did last night. We talked about pivotal moments, significant people, painful events, times of growth or distance, and all kinds of positive and negative experiences in the church. This is the real stuff of life.
Speaking of stuff, this Sunday text is about unloading it. Yes, Jesus says, it‘s pretty tough to enter the kingdom of God with a bunch of possessions. So we will think and squirm over that and try to understand what it means to simplify our lives and be liberated/saved.
For those of you who have prayed hard for Peace to have a more permanent worship space and place to meet on Sunday evenings and other nights of the week….keep praying because our other considered option is not going to work out. Let‘s keep doing all we can to be good tenants at SCF/MCC. God has a plan and a timing which is not ours to know.
And the good news is that NOW IS THE TIME for CHARTERING! Remember, no morning service on the 18th. 4:00 worship with reception at 5:30ish and a "chilax" chartering party at Deiberts at 7:00ish. Sign up this Sunday (or email back) to offer food for the reception. Wear red as a sign of the Spirit or a Peace polo shirt and be ready for this happy day!
To God be all the glory,
Elizabeth
