…all that God calls us to be. I am ready to commit us to this end, friends. We’ve spent 5 years getting to know one another, adjusting staff and listening to your voices around what makes this church YOUR home. Now is… the time to step up to the plate. Now is the time to pay attention to what the leadership is hearing God saying we are to be about in ministry in this place. Now is the time that we ought to be in prayer for how God is readying us as co-ministers, together, in this place. The Vision Retreat will take place, Saturday, September 8th and your church leaders will discuss and discern God’s voice for our days ahead in ministry here at Bay View UMC. Please be in prayer for your leaders and for God’s voice to be clearly heard as we come together for this retreat. Please prepare yourselves to join in the post visioning retreat conversation and planning that comes from the retreat time. God’s Spirit has been readying us for this process and for this vision. I am excited to finally be to a place that will launch us forward together in ministry as God sees it. Friends, we are the church! We are the only ones whose voice can translate God’s welcome and invitation into relationship. We are the ones who will use our gifts to grow the ministry in this place or bless it to its death. I believe in and have committed the last five years of my life to the on-going call of this church to be in ministry – vital, connected and meaningful. I have every confidence that the Spirit will confirm and inspire this ministry and our next steps together. Let us be in prayer prepared to celebrate what we see and hear and then eager to respond to the opportunities that arise.
Peace be with each of you,
Pastor Kelly