I greet you all in the peace of Christ Jesus.
If you’ve been following the stories in the press or social media, you know that human sexuality is once again a primary topic as our denomination prepares for GC 2020 in May.
What’s different about this time is there are a number of detailed conversations about our one denomination splitting into two or more denominations. While it is way too early to accurately anticipate the outcome, it is not too early to begin educating ourselves in those conversations.
So I encourage you to do two things; stay informed and stay closely connected with our local church. We will navigate this together. If there is one thing our local church has proven it’s our repeated ability to successfully get through anything.
With God’s help, I know we will get through this, too.
There are several places where you can stay informed, One of the most useful for me over the last few years has been umnews.org. You can sign up for the daily or weekly updates and they will push them directly to your phone. They have historically done a pretty good job of representing what’s being discussed.
You know how much prayer means to me.
I ask that you pray without ceasing for our 862 delegates (half laity/half clergy) who will represent our global denomination at GC2020.
Our own Pastor Shannon was elected by the clergy of the North Georgia Conference as one of their 11 clergy delegates to GC2020. She will be there in May. Please join with me in praying for all our delegates’ – and their discernment – May 5-15th.
So for now, I leave you with this.
May God bless you, may God encourage you, may God grant you peace.
I’ll see you on Sunday as we continue our local church focus on making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!
See this message in video form here.