On Saturday, January 20, several members of the FCC Board of Directors and the Intentional Interim Minister Search Committee spent the afternoon with Rev. Dr. Bill Lyons, Conference Minister for the Southwest Conference of the United Church of Christ. He came to support our transition from a “Rev. Mervine is our pastor” past to a future without Linda’s guidance, leadership, and influence. The session was jam-packed with information about the process into which we are entering. My “take-aways” from the session were two in number: (1) there will necessarily be a period of grieving the loss of Linda’s leadership, presence, inspiration, guidance, and participation with our congregation; (2) the future is so bright I gotta wear shades!
We are entering an exciting and challenging time in the life of First Christian Church. We have come to a fork in the road of our journey as a church. Which direction will we choose to travel? Will this become a defining moment for us – clearly the weed-strewn, rocky, hilly, uncertain path. Will we choose this opportunity to explore our mission, vision and commitment as a congregation? Or will we choose the well-trod, downward sloping fork and use this as an excuse to drift away? The good news is that it is all up to us. The bad news is that it is all up to us.
Your elected leaders in the church, the members of the board, are taking the more challenging path. You are invited to link arms and join us as we make peace with our past and create our future.
Specifically, I invite each person reading this article to take one of these two actions: (1) reach out to someone that has drifted away from First Christian Church and invite them to rejoin us on this journey; or (2) reach out to someone currently active in our congregation and check in with them. Let them know they are an important part of your life and the life of our congregation and our community.
Let me know how it goes!
