I think I washed my face with regular hand soap the other day. I’m not exactly sure, but I didn’t do anything unusual and a few hours later my face was beet red. A wake up call in a stinging reminder that being present to whatever I am doing is very important. It reminded me of the time that I squirted my contact lens with the cleaning solution and then stuck it in my eye. Yes, that IS like spraying your eye with hydrogen peroxide. OUCH! I was in a hurry and not paying attention and grabbed the wrong bottle. THAT was a real wake up call!
How often do you go through life without paying attention to what you are doing, whether trying to multi-task, being half-asleep or distracted by worries, struggles, or other things? Then suddenly something, or someone gives us a wake up call of sorts. Sometimes we are like that in the church too. We keep on going, without paying too much attention to the big picture and the whole of our ministries, we keep doing our individual responsibilities. This year, we had the opportunity to stop and pay attention to what is happening here in our congregation, and to put some focus and energy into examining where God calls us into the future, and where our creative energy could be focused as a congregation.
Through the Beacon Project, as you may well know, we discerned and decided to focus on Christian Education. We have had some dependable and steady leadership within our Sunday School programs, who have struggled with a lack of volunteer support from the wider congregation, yet have managed, with limited budget and limited people resources, to offer quality education each Sunday throughout our school year. But most of the rest of us have been going along without wholeheartedly supporting education, because it was happening. The Beacon Project was a wake up call to pay attention to this vital area.
Currently, 24% of our active worshipping congregation (as defined by attendance at worship in the past three months) is involved in our education programs as a student, teacher, or leader. This is a telling statistic, since most churches that are vital and growing have a much higher percentage of participation in education. Education here includes not only our Sunday School for children, but also expanding our program offerings for youth and adults. Through our focus in the Beacon Project our goal is to increase participation, and that means YOU! What are you interested in for study topics for yourself? What are you hoping for in education for children and youth? Where are you willing to volunteer and participate to strengthen Education and to continue the life long process of growing as a Christian disciple? The Education Team has developed a survey to collect responses to these and other questions about our future education possibilities. A copy of the survey is included in the newsletter as an insert for those who receive the newsletter by mail. A link will be included for our e-mail recipients.
Please join me in praying for our congregation as we seek to focus and grow in the area of Education. Join me in seeking to be open to God’s Spirit and leading into the coming months.
