The Community Church Connection

Choosing to embrace freedom in Christ to seek God’s will, do his work better:

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ:

I wanted to share with you some of the details about an exciting decision to faithfully and bravely exercise our freedom in Christ that our Church Council made Sunday, July 11.

By a significant 7-2 majority, the council decided to begin a congregational discernment process to seek God’s will, believing that this would likely help to more effectively fulfill Jesus’ mandate of outreach and evangelism.

I believe this decision has great potential both to individually deepen our walk with Jesus (responding to his invitation in Matthew 11: 28: “Come to me, all who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens”) and to make more effective our collective evangelistic outreach (responding to his Great Commission in Matthew 28: 19: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”). 

We know, of course, about some churches where freedom in Christ is in short supply. Certain questions are forbidden and simply must not be asked.  Questions like “Should women be allowed to become priests?” or “Can a divorced person serve as a deacon?” cannot be discussed fully and honestly.

But our Church Council resisted the ever-present temptation to take important questions off the table for everyone, lest someone be offended.

The Church Council decided that Stow Community United Church of Christ would initiate a congregational discernment process to seek God’s will for us about the “Open and Affirming” question — about how congregations should respond to gay and lesbian persons seeking to be welcomed to fully and safely participate in the life of the church.

Broadening the “welcome” question

In council’s deliberations, the question was very appropriately broadened to include looking at how, in practice, we can best welcome other groups that are unrepresented or underrepresented in the congregation.  This would include prayerfully discussing how to welcome young families, students, single parents, disabled people, those with mobility issues, racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants etc.

What this really boils down to is praying, studying and discussing these questions over a period of months to try to discern God’s will for this congregation.  This would then lead to a decision about whether or not the congregation wishes to take a position on any of these or related questions.

Understandably, some anxiety is always expected anytime any discussion begins that might alter the status quo. But the goal here is really to make things better for all. 

I honestly can’t see much of a downside for Christians prayerfully seeking to discern God’s will for them. Yes, this anticipates an answer. And it anticipates being OK with an answer that we might not have anticipated.  After all, we pray every Sunday that God’s “will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10, King James Version)

When God does show up, when his people pray, the results can be breathtakingly wonderful and redemptive to individuals, families and entire communities.

So there is no predetermined outcome to this prayerful and Spirit-led process. (And even if I wanted to, I couldn’t lead the congregation to a predetermined outcome because I won’t be here to conclude the discernment process.)

However, I believe we can we trust in faith that, if we truly seek God’s will, God will faithfully show up in our journey and guide us and answer us: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.” (Matthew 7: 7, King James Version.)

No one forced to do anything, or believe anything

Nevertheless, no one will be forced to participate who does not want to.

The whole process will be surrounded with prayer and should be framed by Christian love, tolerance and respect for those participants who may advocate positions with which others may disagree.

Though consensus and collaboration is a goal, freedom of belief and conscience needs to be honored and respected.  As Paul famously and correctly urged, “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” (Romans 14: 5, King James Version.)

The goal of this process is to discern God’s will about how we can best flesh out and correctly apply our Statement of Welcome.  This also means broadening our understanding of how the Gospel of Jesus Christ applies to these questions for us in our unique situation now.

In practice, the discernment process is likely to involve a series of open meetings or prayer breakfasts over a number of months and may involve recommended reading or study materials.

I anticipate working with the Church Council to design a discernment process (maybe the word “journey” would be better) that will be a right fit for this congregation. This process will seek to engage and encourage the congregation itself to discover God’s will for us on these questions.  I’ll be attending a 2-day training session on this in August.

It’s all about welcome. Another word for “welcome” is “evangelism.”  Another is “outreach.”  We almost can‘t have too much welcome, evangelism or outreach right now. 

Background of council’s decision

The congregation unanimously adopted a Statement of Welcome Feb. 28, 2010, refocusing our attention and ministry to the surrounding community and committing the congregation to “seek and submit to God’s will as we partner with Jesus to invite in and bless those now outside the church.”

In practice, however, our congregation has had difficulty in recent months and years in actually bringing new people to membership in this church.  We’ve continued to age and to decline in numbers and in ministry to the community.

In short, the status quo is simply not sustainable.  Present trends are taking us where we don’t want to go.  As JoAnn Hickey vividly summed it up to the council, “We’ve got to do something!”

Then, a few weeks back, the church received a telephone inquiry from a gay person in a committed, long-term relationship asking whether this congregation would be welcoming and affirming.

Though there appears to be no formal barrier in the congregation’s Constitution to membership of such persons, the mere lack of a formal barrier does not directly answer the caller’s question about “welcome” and “affirmation.”  Nor does it answer important questions about our congregational culture and our understandings of Scripture, theology, biology, social science, Christian community and Christian practice related to this question.

The United Church of Christ’s General Synod XV in 1985 recommended, by a 98% majority, that UCC congregations “declare themselves open and affirming.”

Now, 25 years later, there is still no church in Stow that has positioned itself as welcoming and safe for gays and lesbians.  There also does not seem to be much effective Christian outreach to minorities in Stow’s churches. And we certainly need to identify what is needed to effectively welcome young people and young families into our church.

The smart thing, and the right thing

This focus on expanding our congregational welcome is a smart thing to do from a church-growth perspective. It is also the right thing to do.

Jesus himself insists that we must welcome all those whom we might mistakenly look down on as “the least of these my brethren” (Matthew 25: 40, King James Version).

As we embark on this journey with God, into his will and his promises, we walk by faith, not by sight. Like Abraham and Sarah, we journey to a place of promise where we’ve never been before. They believed God’s promises: “Having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them.” (Hebrews 11: 13, King James Version).

We too need to embrace God’s promises, and journey with God in faith.

The heritage of this congregation — beginning in 1918 — is one of faithfully and bravely extending an authentic Christian welcome to all.

May our legacy — when viewed from 2018 and beyond — also be one of faithfully and bravely seeking God’s will about how best to extend the welcome of Christ to all — in a way that is authentically faithful to God’s will and to his work for this congregation, in this situation, at this moment, right now. Amen.

Fraternally, Bill Meyer

Leaving the 99 to recover and welcome 1 “little one”

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

I’ve been struck by the degree to which the theme of welcome, hospitality and inclusion has come up in our exercises in discernment at the Stow Community United Church of Christ.

During our revealing Heritage Sunday explorations, we discovered that the original Stow Community Church absolutely owned this issue.

It was led by founding pastor Rev. Winifred Dague, a godly woman who could not be ordained in her own Methodist denomination and who could not even vote because she was a woman. Those who went before us basically welcomed everyone whom the other churches wouldn’t accept, but who wanted a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.  There was a Catholic family and even a Jewish family in the original Bible-study group in 1918.

I was really inspired by this and their bold proclamation of both tolerance and Christ-centeredness.

This congregation, at the very beginning, was the church of welcome, hospitality and inclusion in Stow.

During our prayer walk, we discovered there is still a great need for a church like this. As we walked, looked and prayed, we noticed many unchurched people, and categories of people who did not seem to fit our preconceptions about perfect, affluent, suburban Stow.  We noted divorced parents picking up children.  We noticed student housing, expressions of searching, non-Christian spirituality and signs of economic struggle and distress – adult children still living with mom and dad in cramped houses.

(Thankfully, your response to this last issue was to encourage formation of the Community Job Club, which is now in its second month and, I think, doing very well.)

Then, during our appreciative inquiry about this congregation’s strengths and what is best, you said, over and over, that those moments when you were most proud of being a member of this congregation and were most inspired here involved welcoming, hospitality and inclusion. And being welcomed, receiving hospitality and care and being included.

This was powerfully felt, and powerfully stated.

Jesus himself shares this passion for welcome, hospitality and inclusion, even though he knows that it comes with a price.  We do have to stretch ourselves culturally and theologically to welcome those different from us.  The adjustments we older folk have to make to welcome youth and young families come to mind as an example of this.

But Jesus reminds us that each time we extend a welcome to a vulnerable new Christian or someone outside the church circle now, we are actually welcoming him. Notice Matthew 18: 5, 10-14, NRSV:

“Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. …

Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven.  What do you think?  If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.  So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.”

Let us remember that Jesus notices every time we extend welcome.  We are in fact welcoming him.  And our Heavenly Father continually gets angelic reports about all the little ones he sends and places in our path to be welcomed.

Let us be faithful to Christ in this, and faithful to the inspiring heritage of the Stow Community United Church of Christ. May it be so. Amen. 

Fraternally, Bill Meyer

Focusing on what is working well and on the gifts God has given us

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

Philippians is one of my favorite New Testament books.  It is always helpful when I find myself facing difficulties.  It is a book for tough times because it puts things back into perspective.

Its wonderful Christ-hymn in chapter 2 describes how the Holy Spirit works to help us miraculously model our lives after Jesus and even have Athe same mind in you that was in Christ Jesus.@ (verse 5)

Then, miraculously, we do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.  Let each of you look not to your own interest, but to the interests of others. (verses 3 and 4)

Let’s rejoice that this is already being powerfully worked out at Stow Community United Church of Christ in the Statement of Welcome that you adopted unanimously in a congregational meeting Feb. 28:

We partner with Jesus to invite in and bless those now outside the church.  This means we will orient all our ministries, our worship programming and music to meet the spiritual and cultural needs of those outside the church who God is calling to join us as well as those inside the church.

This obviously is a work of God, which requires the power of God.  Nothing else will do.

It means discussion, change, discernment and repentance.

Naturally, all of this raises the anxiety level of our congregation and can be processed and interpreted as something negative, if we are not careful–even though God is clearly at work with us and our congregation in this.

I really like Paul’s emphasis on joy and rejoicing in Philippians (See Philippians 4: 4-6; 1: 3-6; 2:2 etc.). And I really like his concluding remarks, which emphasize the positive in God’s work among us.  Philippians 4: 8-9, NRSV, says this:

 ”Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasant, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”

As we seek to prayerfully discern God’s will for our congregation, we don’t want to neglect what is positive or what is working well.  This is often a sign of God’s will for our ministry, to which we need to pay attention and appreciate.  Our passions and the things we really enjoy are often a sign of God’s call and God’s gifting.

So, for our May 16 after-worship Fellowship meal, I’d like to plan an exciting half-hour program of Appreciative Inquiry.  This should be fun, and it should be encouraging.

With your help, we will prayerfully attempt to positively focus on and list and lift up what is working well in the Stow Community United Church of Christ.  We will also focus what really excites you and what you are really good at.

So mark your calendar now.  Plan to be there, and bring a friend or family member who might want to participate or listen.  Let’s plan to appreciate the positive in God’s gifts and call. 

God, through Jesus Christ, has given all of us special gifts of ministry, as we learn in Ephesians 4: 7-13 Ato equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

May it be so (and help make it so by being here for Appreciative Inquiry May 16) in the Stow Community United Church of Christ.  Amen.

Fraternally,

Bill Meyer

Taking ministries of blessing back to the Stow community

            I want to return to a theme we discussed several weeks ago: How God’s promises to Abraham in Genesis 12 (and beyond) flow through to the church today.  The bottom line is that the Stow Community United Church of Christ partners with Jesus to become a blessing to “all the families of the earth” and to the Stow community.

            We are blessed, and we are called by God to bless and welcome others.

            We had a wonderful Heritage Sunday celebration March 21, where we were reminded of wonderful beginnings and growth of this congregation as a radically welcoming body.  With a cutting-edge commitment to both diversity and unity, it took in, with open arms, those whom other churches wouldn’t have.

            Led by the Rev. Winifred Dague–who couldn’t vote, or even be ordained in her own denomination, because she was a woman– this congregation wrestled from the very beginning with significant social issues in light of the Gospel. This congregation was founded upon an ethos of blessing and of welcoming the community.

            Nearly 20 denominations were embraced in that founding group, including a Roman Catholic family and a Jewish family.  This church was determined to bring the blessings of Christ to the community and to the world.

            It founded Stow’s first public library in the 1920s.

            It experimented with mass evangelism by building a 1200 seat tabernacle next to the church during the height of the Depression in the 1930s.  It pledged to live according to the Sermon on the Mount in the 1940s.

It lived out its commitment to unity and diversity in Christ by joining the emerging United Church of Christ in the 1950s.  It then stressed cultural relevance in worship by building a cutting-edge, non-tradition house of worship in the 1960s. 

            It continued to wrestle honestly but civilly with significant social issues in the 1970s by discussing the divisive Vietnam war and sponsoring the UCC’s first two peace interns.  It continued its community orientation in recent times by beginning community spaghetti dinners and launching a prayer shawl ministry to spiritually and practically support those who are sick.

            And the Stow Community United Church of Christ continues to look for opportunities to be a blessing to the community today.

            I’m reminded of Jesus criteria for judgment, when he separates the sheep from the goats, in Matthew 25: 34-36, 40b, NRSV:

            “Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by  my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the     world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me            something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you          gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you        visited me.’ … ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who    are members of my family, you did it to me.’ ”

            We have two exciting opportunities in April to do exactly what Jesus encourages us to do here: to receive our blessings from God, and then respond by taking a ministry of blessing and welcome back into the community.

            Plans are firming up as I write this to begin a “Community Job Club” twice a month at the church.  Official government unemployment figures are now about 10%, but the real numbers are probably close to twice that.  This program to help people find work will be open to all and focused on the “Greater Stow Community,” which can obviously include anyone who wants to show up.

            The church is preparing to sign an 8-month contract with job specialist Diana Miller of Munroe Fall to organize the Community Job Club.  However, we will need some volunteers from the church, to help us partner with Jesus to bless and welcome those whom he indicates are the members of his family.

            Money to get started is being provided by the church and from a fundraiser this month by our Cub Scout pack.  Ms. Miller also expects to seek grant monies.

            With the Church Council’s final approval, we expect the first meeting of the Community Job Club to be in late April.

            At about the same time in April, we are planning a Sunday morning prayer walk to help us begin to further discern community needs, trends and changes that we may have missed but that God may be calling us to address.

            What we will want to do is meet for breakfast at the church, probably at 7:30 a.m., Sunday, April 25.

            We would pray together at the church for God to open our eyes to what and whom God wants us to notice and then break up into teams of two.

            Each team would be given a notebook and map showing a block or two to walk with eyes of discernment.  (For those with mobility problems, we have a couple of non-walking assignments as well.)  We will later process what we see and note.

            As we prayerfully walk, we want to be open to the Holy Spirit to show us what and whom God wants us to notice: How has our community changed recently?  Who are the new people in the neighborhood?  What evidence of problems do you?  How might God be moving you and us to respond?  How might the church be a blessing, in partnership with Jesus, in this situation?

            This is really about seeing.

            Or we could call it vision.  Can we see our community, to some extent, the way God sees it?

            Significantly, Jesus’ discussion in Matthew 25 focuses on seeing human need, as well as responding to it to welcome and bless. Both groups asked Jesus, “When was it that we saw you?” Neither realized they were really seeing Jesus in other people.

            The point is that one group was willing to see other people in need, and therefore responded.  The other group was not willing to see the needs of other people, and therefore could not or would not respond.

            First, we must see.

            This April, we have a great opportunity, with our job club, to respond with blessings to a huge community need that we have already seen.

            Then we have an even larger opportunity, with our prayer walk, to begin to see even more with the eyes of God and discern where God wants us to go.  First we must see. Only then can we effectively and appropriately respond.  Another term for this process is renewal of vision.

            This is how we begin to discern and flesh out the more comprehensive ministries of welcome and blessing to which God is now calling us.  As we do so, we will be faithfully returning to our roots as a congregation. We will be reconnecting with our community–as God will direct us–to bless, to welcome and then to be blessed.   May it be so.  Amen.

Fraternally,

Bill Meyer

Positioning Ourselves Best for Hospitality to Strangers

 Dear sisters and brothers:

 There is an intriguing passage in the New Testament that suggests that sometimes angels visit our churches to see how we are doing in the welcome of strangers and outsiders.

 Let’s look at Hebrews 13: 1-2 NRSV:

 ”Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

 This passage suggests that reaching out to visitors is really important.

 It also suggests interestingly that our outreach to “strangers” is a part of “mutual love”, obviously, I think, because God’s promises to his people not only involve God’s blessings for us, but also the bottom line promises of God using us, in partnership with Jesus, to bless all those still outside the church now.  This all suggests that “they” then become part of “us”, and therefore a part of “mutual love”.

 So “mutual love” for the church would seem to be outward focused and non-narcissistic.

 Reading back into the previous chapter, Hebrews 12, we note that the immediate context of this angel passage is about offering “to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe;” (verse 28).

 So it does not seem to be a stretch to conclude that worship practices and customs “acceptable to God” must involve hospitality and outreach to strangers.

 Though I write this before our congregational meeting Feb. 28 to consider adoption of a policy statement about welcome for those in our community who are still outside the Stow Community United Church of Christ, I presume that we will discern together that God is calling us take this very biblical stance.

 I would like to share a very simple way we as a congregation can position ourselves to “show hospitality to strangers” and authentically welcome our visitors and guests:

OK, here it is:

 We can all position ourselves as far forward as we can in the Sanctuary during worship every Sunday.

 There are several very good reasons for doing this.

 First is that visitors do not like to be forced to sit in front of the “regulars”.  Visitors generally prefer to maintain a bit of distance from the front and to sit behind the regulars.  So if we all sit in the back, we are being inhospitable to our visitors, because we force them outside of their comfort zone.

 Better that regulars accept some slight discomfort in moving up than visitors.

 Second, in a congregation that has steadily lost members, having the remaining members sit widely separated in the back gives a very bad impression of the church and discourages visitors from coming back.  It signals to visitors: “This is a declining church, and the members don’t seem to see it.  And they seem to be distancing themselves in the back from what is going on up front.” 

But if the members would be clustered at the front, the visual signal for visitors, instead, would be: “Wow, they’re all clustered in the front, as close to what’s going on as possible! This looks exciting!  And there’s still lots of room to grow, and room for me.”

 The third good reason (and there are many more) for clustering in the front is that we connect better this way as the Body of Christ: The group dynamics work much better. The preacher connects better with the people during the sermon.  The congregation sings and worships better. We open ourselves more to God among us. The members can easily reach out and touch each other’s hands in prayer and in greeting and blessing one another.

 So by positioning yourself better in worship “to show hospitality to strangers”, you just never know:

 You may be completely unaware that you have actually shown hospitality to an angel who came some Sunday morning to check up on how we are doing, as well as clearly showing hospitality to those from the community whom God has sent to us to be blessed and to become a part of our congregation and who in turn, then, become a blessing to others.

 May it be so, and grow, at the Stow Community United Church of Christ. Amen.

 Fraternally,

Bill Meyer

Toward a music ministry of joy:
Looking to the interests of others

            I wanted to do some further scriptural reflection on the theme we’ve been talking about in worship for several weeks: How God’s amazing promises to Abraham in Genesis 12 (and beyond) flow through to the church today.

This means the bottom line on Christianity is that we are called by God to partner with Jesus to be and become a blessing to “all the families of the earth” by the very power of God in us.

            This is absolutely huge!

This becomes a major theme in the New Testament.

This should also be a major theme in how we approach everything we do at Stow Community United Church of Christ.  The church must function not only for the benefit of its members, but also for the benefit of those outside the church, who aren’t here yet.

            Once we embrace this very biblical theology, it makes decision making in the church very simple, because it is no longer about us and our personal preferences.

Decisions and discernment are simply about doing authentic ministry, about others’ needs and doing what it takes to make friends for Jesus.

            Of course, this has major implications for how we program our worship and especially for our choices of church music.  Our music should speak to every significant group in the church – and also to every significant group outside the church that God is calling us to welcome into the church.

            Let’s look at the context of one of the first recorded church hymns for guidance in this.  It is the so-called “Christ hymn,” the text of which is quoted in Philippians 2: 6-11.

            As he writes this letter, Paul is in prison and is under extreme psychological pressure – swinging between he’s going to be executed – no, God might let him live – but then again, he’s probably going to die.  In the midst of all this, Paul emphasizes rejoicing in the church, and all being of the same mind in Christ, who became a servant of others.

            Notice how Paul sets all this up in Philippians 2: 2-11, NRSV, (emphasis mine):

Make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.  Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

                                    who, though he was in the form

                                                            of God,

                                                did not regard equality

                                                            with God

                                                as something to be exploited,

                                    but emptied himself,

                                                taking the form of a slave,

                                                being born in human likeness.

                                    And being found in human form,

                                                he humbled himself

                                                and became obedient to the

                                                            point of death –

                                                even death on a cross.

                                    Therefore God also highly

                                                            exalted him

                                                and gave him the name

                                                that is above every name,

                                    so that at the name of Jesus

                                                every knee should bend,

                                                in heaven and on earth and

                                                            under the earth

                                    and every tongue should confess

                                                that Jesus Christ is Lord,

                                                to the glory of God the Father.

            In quoting this very early church hymn, Paul speaks of a ministry of joy.  In his discussion of church music, he insists that we must have the same mind as Jesus himself so that we may “look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”

            I think this means that every significant group in the church must insist that the musical and cultural needs of all other groups be taken care of.  So, for instance, the older folks at Stow must insist that we program music and worship material that will be welcoming and affirming to the young.

And, in turn, younger families must insist that we program music and worship material that will speak to the older members and their interests.

Of course, this will be a miracle.

According to Paul in verse 5, this requires that you all have “the same mind in you that was in Christ Jesus.”  This is another way of saying we must to be filled with the Holy Spirit, or, as Paul says in Philippians 1:27, “standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel.”

So pray daily for more of the Holy Spirit in you and in Stow Community United Church of Christ.  When it happens — and it will — it will be a miracle.  And it will be of God.  Then we too will admit, as Paul writes in Philippians 1:28, “this is God’s doing.”

So may our music ministry, and all we do, be led by the mind of Christ. May we thus look to the interests of others – in a miraculous ministry of unity and joy.  Amen.

Fraternally,

Bill Meyer

A John-the-Baptist ministry for me and the Stow church

I’m very excited about beginning my intentional interim ministry at the Stow Community United Church of Christ! And I look forward to getting to know all of you!  In many ways I think it is appropriate for me to be writing this during the season of Advent – when we look forward to the coming of Christ and his Kingdom in fullness.

            I’d like to draw us back to Advent and the Lectionary Scripture passages of Advent for some important themes in my ministry – and in yours.  (Ministry, after all, really belongs to the people of God, who are a Priesthood of All Believers, with Jesus himself as the chief pastor.  See Ephesians 4:1-16, I Peter 5: 3-5 and Psalm 23:1.)

            The Lectionary is a three-year cycle of four Scripture readings for worship each Sunday, which most denominations, including the United Church of Christ, use at least part of the time.  I was struck that three of the four Sundays in Advent had readings about John the Baptist.  And the second Sunday of Advent had two readings about John.  So John the Baptist and his ministry must be pretty important as the church begins its story.

            Two themes in John’s ministry and his call from God stand out for me.

            First, it was a ministry of preparation and constructive change, so that God’s people might bear fruit.  In Luke 3: 4c, 6, 8, NRSV, John reminds God’s people:

“ ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. … and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. … Bear fruits worthy of repentance.  Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.”

            For me and for the Stow Community United Church of Christ, this means we must be focused (1.) on prayerfully working together to discern God’s will for us now, guided by God‘s Holy Spirit, (2.) on removing obstacles to effective and fruitful ministry and (3.) on preparing to share and see God’s salvation for all people through Jesus.

            Secondly, it was a ministry of pointing others to Jesus, rather than pointing to himself. In John 3: 28b, 30, John pointed his disciples to Jesus, rather than to himself:

“ ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him. … He must increase, but I must decrease.’ ”

            For the Stow Community United Church of Christ, this means that the church is called, not to call people to the church as an end in itself, but to call people into a freeing, transformative relationship with Jesus, with the church then as a vital means to that end.

            For me, this means that I am primarily working to prepare Stow Community United Church of Christ for a successful, thriving, permanent pastorate, which will in turn direct the focus of the Stow community, and the Stow church, to Jesus himself.                                                                                   

Fraternally,

Bill Meyer