Vision Team Update

December 6, 2021 Meeting

Dear Church Family, 

The FUMC Vision Team recently met on December 6. We opened the meeting in prayer, followed by a brief discussion on Luke 1:26-38. We prayed an "echo" prayer: “Come Lord. Come down. Come in. Come among us.” We then reiterated our continued commitment to our Guiding Principles (found below).

Luke 1: 26-38 foretells the birth of Jesus and set the stage for our evening of work. In the scripture, Gabriel speaks to Mary and names the great honor that is being bestowed upon her, as well as the miracle bestowed on Elizabeth. It is a frightening story for Mary, at first, but is also a story of God’s goodness; about God's giving and comforting nature despite imposing quite the challenge for Mary and Joseph. It is the example of “God with us” and illustrates how God will guide the way and help Mary to find God's way. The scripture speaks to our Team as we recognize the challenge of this work while accepting God’s comfort, God's guidance, and the realization that “nothing is impossible with God.” The work we do is important - vital, in fact - and work that we can only accomplish knowing that God is with us.

As usual, we began our session by “checking in” with each other and reviewing our work and our reading up to this point. We continue to read our second book, Canoeing the Mountains, which we will complete by January. We followed this with a visioning exercise by breaking into three groups to consider the following question: If you left First UMC and came back after three years, what would you want it to look like and sound like?

The exercise was framed by the following questions:



• What are your hopes and dreams for First UMC?
• Where do our gifts and passions interact with the needs in our community and world?
• How has God gifted us to meet these needs?

After working in our groups to answer and illustrate our hopes and dreams, we traveled around the room to experience the thoughts of each group. We then reviewed the draft of a timeline for the work that lies ahead. In addition to our monthly meetings, the Vision Team has planned a retreat for Sunday, February 27.

Additionally, the Vision Team invites you to a "Listening to the Congregation" session. The sessions offer an important opportunity for you to share and the Team to listen, and we encourage you to set aside time on one of these days to join us.

• Sunday, January 23: 4:00-6:00 p.m.
• Wednesday, January 26: 1:00-3:00 p.m.

Thank you for continuing to be in prayer for this work and for God’s will in our church.

God Bless You All!

Ginny Carpenter, Church Council Co-Chair