At St. Paul’s we do real life. Real life at St. Paul’s right now means change. We have changed our organizational structure this year including the Church Council (see their May report in this week’s newsletter). We are experiencing more staff change this year than in recent memory. We are in a time of cultural change.
I write this from Annual Conference where one of our leaders said, “The Methodist Church is experiencing the most conflict at any time since the Civil War.” But my biggest takeaway from Annual Conference so far is a quote from our outgoing Conference Lay Leader, Courtney Fowler. She said that C.S. Lewis wrote “In a fearful world we need a fearless Church.”
I don’t know what emotions you are experiencing right now. Maybe fear. Maybe uncertainty. Maybe some sadness even. There are reasons for all of those feelings and I can’t say anything to make any of those go away. I want you to know this, though: I believe in a fearless Church and I’m committed to living as part of a fearless Church. Because of that, change does not scare me. Change may make me uncomfortable and it may make me wonder what is coming next, but it doesn’t scare me. It excites me. Won’t it be interesting to find out what the next chapter is that God has in store for us? I invite you to join the adventure of listening for God’s future – for you, for St. Paul’s, and for the world around us.