Sad for Us, Great for the Wider Church: Rachel’s Farewell and What Comes Next

Sad for Us, Great for the Wider Church: Rachel’s Farewell and What Comes Next
 Rev. Rachel’s last Sunday will be February 11 before she departs to pastor in Louisville. She has made so many wonderful contributions to our congregation in the 5+ years she has served with us, and we are sure that she will be a blessing to the people of her new congregation.
 To celebrate her ministry, all are invited to join in a special luncheon after church on February 4, 2018. Cards and letters of appreciation would be especially appropriate to bring or send by that date! During the week between then and her final Sunday, we’ll be helping her pack up her office and transferring files, etc so the church can continue in the good ways she and Rev. Kent have always tried to teach us.  
In the short term after her departure,  Church Council has directed that Union Church hire an interim person to help Rev. Kent with pastoral care needs, and an interim person who will assist with Community Life and Faith Development details, each approximately 10 hrs per week. If you have interest in either position, please send a letter of interest addressed to Dave Kobersmith, Church Administrator by February 1.
Next, Church Council has formed a Long Range Planning Task Force with the goal of designing and leading us all through a spring visioning process. Through this Visioning-Long Range Planning the whole congregation will pray and plan together about next steps in serving our community and growing our spirit in truly meaningful ways. That will include a needs assessment, thoughts about how to craft staffing to meet needs, and ways to organize ourselves for that work. Our goal by May is a 3-5 year action plan that reflects our values and visions.
  During this time of reduced staffing, Rev. Kent will also need our support. Not for himself alone, but also all of us supporting one another in loving and consistent ways: It’ll be a great help if we can be especially attentive to caring for our sick or sad friends, and it’ll help us all if you can be as diligent as possible about your volunteer positions, board assignments, and other service. We want to serve well, and we’ll need all hands doing their best work! We want to make sure we are BEING the church, not just coming to church, or talking about church.
  If you have gifts or skills that might be useful in this interim period, please let the office know! We’ll make sure that people like Pastor Kent, the Long Range Planning Task Force, and other leaders know that you’d like to serve and how. As we boldly and creatively serve God and God’s people, we are also building a beloved community of servant-leaders. Thank you for being a prayerful, joyful, part of that endeavor!
(photo by Rachael White)