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Churches invited to take next faithful steps

As we move through this Advent season, I have been thinking about all the exciting things I see “becoming” throughout the Pacific Northwest Conference! Our congregations are decorating for this sacred season of new life, and the physical spaces are warm, inviting and beautiful. The hymns and songs are rekindling hope and filling our hearts with joy. We are grounding ourselves in the peace of our traditions as we share the love of God with one another.

By the Rev. Phil Hodson – Designated Conference Minister

As a people committed to radical inclusion, I hope we take the time this season to proactively reach out and invite those we know into our sanctuaries for celebration. There’s no better time than Christmas Eve to introduce new folks you know in the wider community to your friends within the congregation!

As I think forward into 2025, I am considering the ways we can engage with our neighbors that are winsome and relevant. How we can draw on the traditions of the Church and our shared values to be both invitational and create opportunities for long-term relationship through growth in shared experience.

This is more than just inviting people to church. It is also about engaging with others where they are and offering meaningful ways to enrich their lives. That can look like a topical book study offered for six weeks on an issue that will be relevant in the public square in the days ahead or a traditional Bible study.

It can involve gathering interested community partners to lobby locally, at the state or national level, around issues of import in ways that leverage useful support so the most marginalized among us lead with their voices and experiences, and we who are not of the same experiences stand with them.

It can be putting together a group who care about connecting with individuals in our midst who cannot attend these experiences physically so that these persons are also able to participate in other ways in this meaningful work and know they are loved, appreciated and included. 

At the Conference level in the new year, all of this will unfold for us in a variety of ways. 

Recently, I led a workshop for one local church and had an informal discussion with another, inviting them to develop a plan, set a purpose and envision tangible outcomes to help each clarify a path forward that leads to abundant life.

Out of these opportunities, I would like to set up six quarterly meetings with gatherings of PNC congregations—so I’m taking the discussion to more than one church at a time.

Let’s ask ourselves these questions: Our churches are doing good at doing justice and outreach to our communities, but we are not necessarily growing. Why is the church static? What we are doing is not working as we intended. Why? What is our activity beyond Sunday? How do we measure its impact?

I seek to help our churches as organizations articulate who we are, what we are and how we will live those out in measurable, tangible ways. What is our purpose? What is our plan? What are the tangible outcomes we want.

I do not come into this conversation with solutions, but to begin conversations with one another so that each congregation may set their vision and articulate it and live it out to make a tangible difference in their contexts.

I haven’t met a church that says it wants to die, so let’s talk about how we are living, how we want to live and what we want to become.

Let’s work together on a framework and time of reflection that will help congregations find their own visions and solutions. No two congregations are the same, so the outcomes will not be the same. We can, however, come together, share with each other and learn from each other.

To be the Church, we must be about Evangelism, Discipleship, Mission and Care. Without any one of those, we are not a church. If we do not have intentional sharing of the good news, we do not have a church. If we are not growing in faith, we do not have a church. If we do not live out a clearly articulated mission, we do not have a church. If we do not care for each other, we do not have a church.

Evangelism, discipleship, mission and care mean that we as churches are engaged in our neighborhoods, changing hearts, educating minds and transforming lives.

New life is coming across our Conference because the Divine is continually inviting all of us into it and each of us are saying “Yes.” I am excited to see all that unfolds and to celebrate this unfolding together at the Annual Meeting in 2025!

Wishing you a Blessed Advent and a Merry Christmas.

 

Pacific Northwest Conference United Church News © December 2024

 

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