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SMALL GROUP GATHERINGS UPDATE
By now, all our Small Group Gatherings have taken place, and our WPUMC Staff Parish Relations Committee (SPRC) and other volunteers will be meeting soon to go through all the feedback and start pulling out themes and ideas to offer to our One Board, which will develop short and long-term goals for our church. This is an exciting opportunity for all of us to consider how we engage with the church’s ministries, not only as recipients
but as active participants! Thank you to everyone who was a part of these important discussions!
One thing that I’ve heard already from these gatherings is a widespread hope that weekly Joys and Concerns (with the microphone) could be brought back to worship. I do want to be clear that one of the main ideas behind the Small Group Gatherings was to identify ways the whole congregation can be involved—but this particular feedback directly relates to my pastoral leadership, and I love this congregation and want to be
responsive as a pastor! You probably recognized that since COVID, when we started live-streaming our worship, I have been very protective of your privacy. We stream on Facebook and YouTube, and I’m aware that anything you might say in the worship space is broadcast to those platforms, and once it’s there, there is no way to eliminate it. I have treated your personal joys and concerns with a high level of confidentiality,
knowing that as your pastor, I hold myself responsible for your well-being in our worship space. Even when we came back to in-person worship, I limited that aspect of worship to our Prayer & Communion Sundays, when
we could cut the livestream and you could share safety within our sanctuary, confident that your personal prayers would not be aired live to the internet.
And yet, for many, the sharing of personal prayers is a time of deep connection and community. After some discernment and brainstorming with our staff, we’ve decided to experiment with bringing this element back to worship each Sunday during Lent. It will require diligence with our tech team and clear communication with the congregation that we will pause the livestream for sharing the joys and concerns and then will resume the
livestream when that brief portion is over.
As we start this experiment this month, I will ask that you help me and the worship leadership of the church to handle this prayer element with care and intention. We’ve gotten pretty used to having a 45-minute worship experience most Sundays (except for Communion Sundays), so this addition will add a bit of time to the service. I think that it will be sacred time well-spent, and I ask that we approach the time as a holy sharing of
life with each other while also holding the respect for others for time we might use while sharing our prayers.
It is important that we as a church community listen deeply to one another and find ways to care for one another. This is one way that I’ve heard you, and wish to respond with thoughtfulness and love. I’m looking forward to other ways that we as a church can consider our thoughts and ideas from the Small Group Gathering sessions and live forward into new and renewed expressions of LOVE, JUSTICE, MISSION and HOPE!
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