Future of Ministry

Dear Friends:

Our finances and structure will change in June. And we need your help to do the correctly.

The manner in which we have been doing ministry for the past six years will not be sustainable beyond June 30, simply because the design we have been using is inappropriate for where we are and where we need to be going. The Session, the Treasurer, the Presbytery and I are keenly aware that if we continue using this structure we will suffocate.

Our mission strategy for the past six years was put in place in November 2004 specifically to secure a pastor-driven program for closing out the ministry in Holyoke, planting a new church and constructing a building in a new mission field. All of us were very successful at this. The ten year task was accomplished in five.

We now need to be equally successful at making our church’s ministry expansive in its comfort the sick and dying, care and feeding of the hungry, and the nurture of hurt and suffering souls if we are to continue to flourish. In many ways this is a grand opportunity. All the energy and resources we put into building a building, can now be directed to service, compassion, teaching, comforting, healing all in the name of Christ our Lord.

This week I will be exploring how to structure our church given our size and financial position so as to advise the Session. But I need your help in this. All of us need to be part of the discussion. Please begin by participating in our Session’s “Designing Our Next Phase of Ministry” questionnaire that was distributed on Easter and is available again this morning.

The questionnaire is asks only five questions. It’s short, but we need everyone’s input. We need to ourselves protect against making inaccurate assumptions from limited input. Answer the questions, drop it at the office, or mail it back.

You can download a PDF version from the website, www.PioneerPresbyterian.org.

Ideas can be shared also on FaceBook; search “Life in the Meadows,” or “First Presbyterian, Granby MA.”

Comments can also be posted on the Pastor Blog, at LifeSparkofFaith.blogspot.com, or Google search “Life Spark of Faith Blog.”