Welcome to the June 2024 edition of Together, the online newsletter of The Fellowship Community. As we head into the summer months, our attention may be on setting goals and budgets (me), preparing for GA conversations (me), and setting aside time for study leave and vacation (me, too).
Here's my encouragement for you this month: make plans to take your vacation and a sabbath rest. Vacation is important. Studies show that just having a vacation on your calendar can contribute to a greater sense of well-being. Sabbath rest is the one commandment pastors tend to rationalize, minimize or skip all together. I believe that this is one way for us to live our TFC values of Jesus-shaped Identity (we believe Jesus Christ must be at the center of our lives) and Leadership Velocity (identifying and developing gospel-centered leaders.).
Pete Scazzero encourages us in The Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, to establish a weekly, monthly and yearly rhythm of sabbath keeping. He says there are four important elements of sabbath: - Stop. Sabbath means "cease." Pastors work on the seventh day, so it's vital to our emotional, spiritual and physical health that we take another day to stop working. No work emails or texts; no dropping by the office or finishing up the sermon. Embrace your limits.
- Rest. God created everything in six days and rested on the seventh. Rest can be active or passive, but it's always intentional. Do whatever delights and replenishes you. Allow rest to balance lives of hurriedness, exhaustion, worry and technology.
- Delight. Just as God delighted in all that he made in creation, so we can take time to see that "it was very good." Experience awe and wonder--flowers in the field, majestic mountains, or spending time with grandchildren.
- Contemplate. The Sabbath is meant to be "holy to the Lord," which means we can reflect on the goodness and faithfulness of God. Take time to give thanks by journaling alone or by sharing a meal with others.
And then, we work, using all our gifts, abilities and heartfelt passion to glorify God. This rhythm has changed me over the years--inspiring a weekly day off, and yearly pilgrimages on the Camino de Santiago. I pray God will give you meaningful sabbath rest this summer.
Together in Christ, |
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Mike McClenahan, TFC Board President |
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We are pleased to announce a location for our 2025 National Gathering! However, securing the location meant that we had to change the date that we originally announced in April. So, please note the NEW DATE below! See you in Florida in March! |
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One Pastor's Reflection on the Olympia Overture |
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Nearly a quarter-century ago I was a seminarian and wrestling with a surprise calling to become a pastor. I had been certain that God was calling me to become a professor, but after spending a summer serving as an intern at a PC(USA) church I was received by them with open arms, becoming a member there as I headed into my second year of seminary. I had been raised in a conservative Pentecostal church and yet this more progressive church received me with open arms and invited me to start the ordination process. I wrestled with whether the PC(USA) was the right fit for me as they were in the throes of debates about sexuality and marriage, but I slowly began to see that these arguments were actually the very reason I belonged there, the very reason I had found my family. Whereas some denominations were arguing over women in ministry and seven-day creation, here was a denomination that was wrestling with literally the same thing that I had been wrestling with my own family for the previous twenty years.
Jerry Deck, senior pastor of Zionsville Presbyterian Church in Zionsville, IN, offers thoughts and reflections on the Olympia Overture. |
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General Assembly Resources
Please commit to praying for the upcoming General Assembly.
In addition, if you are a commissioner or know someone who is, please reach out. TFC has a great GA Resource Team that can provide information, resources, and connection. We will also be hosting a hospitality suite for conversation and prayer each evening at GA.
Following General Assembly, please continue to pray, hold conversations in truth and love, and stay tuned for more from the TFC Board. |
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Looking for additional resources? You can find the Theology Matters statement here, and TFC advisory Board member Jerry Andrews' personal statement here. A petition signed by over 750 leaders can be found here. A statement from San Diego Presbytery can be found here. |
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Regional Connections Opportunities to Connect with TFC and our Partner Organizations |
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Zoom Gathering Third Thursday of each month Next one - June 20 10:00 - 11:00 am eastern |
| Zoom Gathering for DFW area leaders Third Thursday of each month Next one - June 20 2:00 pm central |
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Lunch Thursday, August 8 12:30 pm eastern Pine Grove Presbyterian Church Airville, PA |
| Lunch Thursday, June 20 12:00 - 2:00 pm pacific First PC in Hollywood, CA $20 for lunch
Come and share, pray together. Invite a friend. Dwight Radcliff from Fuller Seminary will lead us in a brief time of conversation. |
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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. |
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When we left Los Angeles five years ago and moved to pastor a small church in Northern California, it felt similar to other moves we’ve made–more of a call than a decision. We’ve never experienced the sense of deciding where we wanted to live geographically, or what kind of church to be part of, or what churches were available, or even when to go. It has always felt more like the Door of Calling suddenly opened and we had to decide whether to walk through it or not–normally after I’ve spent considerable time trying to slam the door shut. Four times such moves have happened, each one a complicated story, and particularly because I have always philosophically believed in long-term pastorates. Anyway, one of the most exciting things about the move here to The Cove in Santa Rosa was the idea that I would get more time to actually pastor people and spend less time on administration, property, personnel, and budgets.
TFC Board secretary Dan Baumgartner encourages us to look for the people God places in our path. |
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On what is seemingly a regular occurrence, and increasingly so when we think of the pressures of the immediate days upon us, I find myself fielding some variation of the question, “What is The Fellowship Community?” I almost immediately reframe the question to, “Who is The Fellowship Community?” The answer to either of these questions is profoundly different depending on the originator of it, and yet there is a simplicity in response that is refreshing.
I am currently preaching a sermon series entitled "Why it Matters." This week, we will take a fresh look at holding onto our faith during difficult times. Surely there are countless examples of this in scripture. We see the people of God in exile, we see Jesus himself on trial, we can point to the disciples in hiding or even the call of the early church to persevere. Jesus’ instruction to the disciples was to take heart because He has already overcome the pressures of this world. I find those words encouraging to us in this season. In just a few weeks, our denomination will prayerfully respond to the complexity of being a “wide tent." The awaited response to the Olympia overture will cause a cascade of ripples which may grow to be devastating waves. In response, we must answer the question, “Who is The Fellowship Community?”
TFC Coordinator for Connections and Recruitment Ray Garcia discusses the future of TFC. |
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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!
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. |
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The following events are not affiliated with The Fellowship Community, but they may be of interest to members of our community.
Rising Day Ministries Sabbath Retreat, June 24-29, Ghost Ranch, NM PC(USA) General Assembly, June 25-July 4, Salt Lake City, UT Revoice Annual Conference, June 26-29, Columbus, OH New Wilmington Mission Conference, July 19-24, New Wilmington, PA Theology Matters Conference, October 8-10, Hilton Head Island, SC Wee Kirk Northeast, October 14-16, Mt. Pleasant, PA Wee Kirk Montreat, October 21-23, Montreat, NC Connecting Mission Leaders Conference, October 24-25, Cordova, TN |
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A Collect by Padraig O Tuama
Beloved Jesus it’s said that by the end of your favorite apostle’s life all he could whisper was love. Love, he said, as his own disciples carried him to prayer. If this is the distillation of a life lived trying to follow you, then help us distill. Because there is so much noise. Amen. |
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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!
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