Together - November 2023

November 2023 A word of welcome Welcome!  This is the November 2023 edition of Together, the online newsletter of the Fellowship Community.  We have this ingrained rhythm of gathering to give thanks the third Thursday of November that fortunately falls right before the avalanche of Advent, Christmas and New Year's celebrations.  As a pastor I’ve come to see Thanksgiving as a gift—a preparation for a season overloaded with internal and external unrealistic expectations. Giving thanks is a resetting discipline that grounds me in life giving reality and relationships. Scripture and research tell us that gratitude is a transformative spiritual practice that changes us. It’s reflected in the worship directive “give thanks to the Lord for he is good…” and the perpetual call to “give thanks in all circumstances” that forces me to reflect on the ordinary and overlooked blessings of my life. Recently I’ve been inspired by Paul’s list of friends and coworkers at the end of his letter to the churches in Rome. The people we partner with in ministry who need to be publicly lifted up and thanked for their partnership (koinonia, fellowship) in the gospel. Indispensable people without whom we could not do what we do. I’m grateful for the Fellowship Community board members and part time staff—a diverse group of women and men committed to gathering leaders and churches toward faithful gospel ministry in a thousand different contexts. This month we are planning and innovating with regional prayer groups, in-person lunches, a pastors retreat, a pop-up Zoom call and, of course, the National Gathering next April 23-25 in Nashville! Please join us for a fun and thoughtful time of learning and connecting. Our rhythm of meeting as a board the fourth week of the month has helped us to deepen friendships and develop real partnerships in ministry. Please let us know how we can pray for you and connect you with others in life-giving and meaningful ways. Thank you for participating, supporting and praying for TFC. And thank you for being one of 7500 who receive this newsletter! I hope that you’re inspired by Rebecca’s story of encouragement and Dan’s letter of ministry reflection.  I would encourage you to take a moment to give thanks today for those indispensable partners of ministry in your life. Together in Christ, Mike McClenahan, Board President   Regional Connections Opportunities to Connect with TFC and our Partner Organizations Zoom Gathering Thursday, November 16 11:00 t0 12:00pm eastern Link to Zoom Dallas/Fort Worth Area (and friends) Zoom Gathering Thursday, November 16 2:00 t0 3:00pm central Email for Zoom link If your region is not listed, we are working on plans for something in your area. If you'd like to help organize a TFC event in your area, please email us at office@fellowship.community. Big Church "Anne and I recently returned from a 2-month sabbatical. It was the third one I’ve had since being ordained, and in a word it was–epic. We ran and rested, biked and hiked and toured. I read and wrote extensively while Anne (a studio artist) sketched and painted. We spent time with our family and close friends in the Pacific Northwest and on the East Coast, then traveled to Norway and Denmark and an extended stay in Italy. The European countries were all ones we had never visited before. If you want significantly more detail, you can look at this write-up I did for our church family: Sabbatical One thing I love about traveling is getting to worship in other places. Let me briefly describe a few things about some of our worship experiences:" TFC Board secretary Dan Baumgartner reflects on the worship services that he experienced during his sabbatical. These experiences took him all over the world and connected him with many kinds of people in many different churches, including several TFC connections (2023 National Gathering speaker Drew Hyun and former TFC Board member James Cubie). Read more 한국어로 더 읽기 Good News of Great Joy: Spiritual Resilience in a Time of Dying Pastor, you are God’s beloved. Even if your church like mine faces overwhelming odds – in deep need of soul revival, visionary co-laborers, and ministry re-birth. God knows these burdens are too big for you and me. If we make these our goals, we might feel deeply unloved, overlooked, unheard. Some of us may even feel our churches, or our call, are dying. Memento mori. I write to you – mostly Fellowship pastors – as a Deacon, praying that the Lord helps you to see He is beside you, interceding for you, with a cloud of witnesses including some in your own pews – a priesthood of lay believers who want to help pick up some of your heavy load, die to self in the difficult work of building Trinitarian community, and share the hope of joy just ahead. These brothers and sisters may seem few, in the midst of our congregations, but they have been listening, absorbing, and they want you to challenge them to be part of a bigger story, “for such a time as this,” as Mordecai reminded Esther. Memento mori. Rebecca Russell, deacon at First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, reflects on the renewal that she and other church members experienced when they attended TFC's 2023 National Gathering. Read more 한국어로 더 읽기 A word from Ray There is a beautiful stirring that is happening within the Fellowship. There is ample energy being invested in planning and preparing for our annual National Gathering. There have been online requests for more information about who we are at the Fellowship and how new people can connect with us. In the Northeast, we even hosted a local pastor's gathering for a dozen pastors and church leaders to gather and "fellowship." The stirring seems to be an acknowledgment that God is at work doing something that is exciting in our midst.  As I continue to navigate my way into these unchartered waters of recruitment and evangelism for the Fellowship, I am realizing more and more just how beautiful this web of connections truly is. The question that I find myself asking is how can we at the Fellowship best equip you to share your experience with other pastors and leaders? We have set a goal this year to grow our National Gathering through personal invitation. The program team is working intentionally to plan an event that will offer equipping and training for leaders across the breadth of our churches. Who can you plan to invite from your staff or volunteers this year? Additionally, I would love to host a Zoom gathering with pastors and leaders from your region who may be new to the Fellowship. How can I best serve you in growing the reach and webbing together the like-minded Pastors and leaders whom the Lord has already placed in your circle? TFC Director of Connections and Recruitment Ray Garcia asks how he can help you connect. Email Ray Advent Devotional The churches of TFC in the Northeast (along with contributions from a few TFC Board members) have created a devotional for Advent that is available for your congregation to use. Please feel free to distribute the devotional (either electronically or by downloading and printing hard copies) to your congregations. We hope that this will be a helpful gift and a resource for your congregations. Read the devotional Find a call TFC is committed to helping churches find compatible leaders - and vice versa! To that end, we invite you to check out the "Find a Call" page on our website, where you can see a variety of open positions throughout the country. We have received quite a few new postings recently, so be sure to stay connected! If you would like to post a position on our site, please send us an email. We are also looking for ways to improve this feature, so please think about how we might serve best in this area and send us any ideas or feedback. Find a Call   Prayer Blessed Are You Who Bear The Light by Jan Richardson based on John 1:7 Blessed are you who bear the light in unbearable times, who testify to its endurance amid the unbearable, who bear witness to its persistence when everything seems in shadow and grief. Blessed are you in whom the light lives, the brightness blazes-- your heart a chapel, an altar where in the deepest night can be seen the fire that shines forth in you in unaccountable faith, in stubborn hope, in love that illumines every broken thin it finds. National Gathering April 23-25, 2024 First Presbyterian Church Nashville, TN Featured speaker: Andrew Root Register TODAY More info Email Us Connect with us! Do you have an idea for a future story? Are you involved in a ministry others need to know about? Let us know, and we'll include it in a future month's Together! Are you interested in learning more or becoming part of the Fellowship Community? Click here for more information.