See, Create, and Disciple

Grace and peace to you, through our Lord Jesus!

I have been attending the School for Congregational Development (SCD) this week in Columbus, OH. SCD is a gathering of 600 lay and clergy members from Annual Conferences across the globe coming together to learn what it means to See, Create, and Disciple folks into their next phase of ministry.

I have learned a lot, and I look forward to sharing those learnings further with you.

I have also been affirmed in my ministry by many of my learnings.

Church, we have been doing amazing ministry together for two years now, and we are entering into year three. We have worked on:

• Learning and study groups

• Small groups

• Housing education

• Feeding our neighbors

• Immigration justice

• Clothing our neighbors

• Queer inclusion

• Care for our planet

• Intergenerational ministry

• …and so much more!

Throughout SCD we have been reminded that we need to keep our “why” at the front of mind as we prepare for the ministry of the future. The church is not dying – it is simply shifting and changing the way we interact with the world and with one another.

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Bishop Hee Soo Jung spoke to us on the first night. He shared that there is still work to do. We gathered, he noted, because there is an unfinished agenda and we are a part of getting that agenda completed. He pointed us to creativity and holy uncertainty, noting that creativity is an act of faith and the courage to enter what is unfinished and trust that God is already there.

Bishop noted that where we see fragmentation, God sees community. Where we see scarcity, God sees abundance. Where we see decline, God sees a world ready for plenty. Where we see a changing neighborhood, God sees a church. What we call “chaos,” he noted, may be the very place where God begins something new.

Deacon Amy Aspey spoke to us on the second day. She shared, “If you want to know where to find Jesus, you can always start on the margins.” Rev. Aspey noted that grace is God’s unconditional and irrational favor for us. She further pointed us to joy, noting that joy compels us to care about transforming hearts and systems and we cannot love our neighbors if we do not work to dismantle systems that harm them.

Keynote speaker Carey Nieuwhof shared with us that there is a crisis of community in our churches. You may have heard it referred to as the epidemic of loneliness that the Surgeon General identified in May 2023. The cure for loneliness is almost always community. It is finding your people and spending time with your people.

We closed our time together to the following hymn, sung to the tune of Joyful, Joyful:

Sing a New World into Being

Sing a new world into being. Sound a bold and hopeful theme.
Find a tune for silent yearnings. Lend your voice and dare to dream:
Dream a church where all who worship find their lives and loves belong.
Sing a new world into being. Sing as Christ inspires your song!

Sing a new world into being where each gender, class, and race Brings its rainbow gifts and colors to God’s limitless embrace: Where the lines the once divided form instead the ties that bind. Sing a new world into being: risk transforming heart and mind.

Sing a new world into being where the homeless find a home, Where no children ever hunger but are filled in God’s Shalom: Where all people work for justice, where all hate and vengeance cease.
Sing a new world into being: raise the harmonies of peace.

Sing a new world into being, join the ancient prophets’ cry
For a time of health and plenty, when all tears have been wiped dry:
When compassion flows like waters, pouring balm for all who grieve,
Sing a new world into being: live the promise you believe!

As we move into the fall program year we will be working on singing a new world into being and addressing the epidemic of loneliness. We will be with one another through the lens of care. How are we caring for one another? How are we caring for ourselves? How are we caring for our community, our country, our world?

I invite you, as we prepare for the fall, to find places to plug in that are life-giving for you. Places that give you rest, places that restore your soul, places that bring joy to your heart, places that care for your whole being.

This is your invitation to move deeper into beloved community. I hope to see you there.

Yours in Community,
Rev. Rachel

To read more about what I’ve been engaging this week, check out The Social Principles of the United Methodist Church.