Vitality

​Hello friends!
I hope you all had joyous and hope-filled Easter celebrations. I hope your gardens are green and resurrected. I hope you’re not too stressed about getting the lawn mowed. I hope the spring air is offering you delight and contemplation. I hope your summer calendars are filling with goodness and things that make you glad.
 
I am preparing for my trip to Chicago with the UCC’s Next Generation Leadership Initiative (NGLI). For those who have joined us recently, this is a continuing education leadership program for young(-ish) clergy in the UCC. I am honored and delighted to be a participant in the 14th cohort, and I am so grateful for your support and encouragement! (And your willingness to be my guinea pigs as I learn.)
 
This session is titled “Congregational Vitality Trek.” I am looking forward to rich discussions with colleagues, innovative ideas, and a fruitful four days. But, I am holding the topic in tension. There is a lot of talk in the wider church about congregational vitality and church innovation, especially as we see church membership decline across all mainline denominations and as churches across the country come to the end of their ministries.
 
No doubt I will learn lots and come back to New Franklin with great ideas! But we need to be careful not to bite off more than we can chew. I have been learning over the past couple of years to be patient, to let the process be the process, and to trust God with God’s timing. We have put a lot of work – just in the past two years – into our community garden and regenerative property, and God is working wonders with that effort! If we stay faithful to that work and to God’s calling, vitality will come. Truthfully, I think vitality is already here!
 
I see the way you all as a congregation care for one another. I see the way you are excited about what we’re doing! I hear the ways you offer support to one another and to the ministries of our church. Is there more to do? Yes. Could we do more? Yes. Are we doing enough now? Also yes!
 
We are a hardworking, passionate congregation with a steadfast commitment to feeding Jesus’ sheep and caring for our little corner of God’s creation. We have been faithful to the vision God planted in us, and we continuing to work toward that vision. The rest is up to God, and God will come through!
 
Vitality means, “the state of being strong and active; energy.” I think that describes Solomon’s UCC. I’ll let you know what I learn in Chicago, but I think we could teach the session. God is at work in and through us, and we’re not slowing down. Things are going well here at Solomon’s UCC. See you in church!
– Pastor Julia