What we let go of…and what we hold on to

Martin Hall, a well known television golf teacher (School of Golf, The Golf Channel), is known for saying: ”If you keep doing what you’re doing you’ll keep on getting what you’re getting. “ I don’t know if that works for the church. You can never keep doing exactly what you’re doing and expect the same result because there are too many variables. One such variable is that people get taken from our midst because of aging and illness. The sudden loss of Joyce Uyeda, is a case in point. These losses take a toll and change a congregation’s dynamic and composition. We have no choice but to let go of her and others while holding on to their legacy.

Generational change makes action necessary. We have reviewed how we serve the bereaved families around the memorial service. We realized we had to give up on some of the food service we provide to hold on to committed Parkview support core. We also reviewed how to deal with a changing pool of coffee hour servers. We decided that we will need to recruit more people for coffee hour, including men, to make clear to prospective coffee hour volunteers what the work entails and to increase special meal Sundays. We will have to let go of depending exclusively on a small group of people who do that work with high expectations so that we can gain more energy and participation. We are going to have a similar conversation with our pianists on June 10^th about their task. When it comes to visitors, we must let go of our shyness so we can try to make them feel more at home. This will help us hold on to our hopes as a growing church.

In order to attract and hold on to young people with families, we must let go of old assumptions and we have updated our policies for the protection of minors so that parents will feel comfortable bringing their children. In order to hold on to our small group of youth we are forging a partnership with the youth of the GKI Indonesian fellowship that meet our church. This means letting go of some of our old group identity.

Our residents help us attract younger people and make them feel more comfortable. Holding on to younger people with the help of young residents means we must be willing to let those residents go when it is in the interest of their ministry career. Chelsea will go half-time from early June through early September and will work exclusively with our Sunday school program, youth and younger adults before she leaves us after the summer.

To perform more effectively and inclusively we have to review our accessibility to people with disabilities. This means letting go of some of our funds for the sake of holding on to the vision of a church where all feel welcome.

Not everyone agreed with what we let go of in our Spring cleaning last month, but it served the purpose of holding on to the potential of a functioning and versatile campus. May we have the courage to let go of the comfortable so we can hold on to the promise of a bright future. May God bless our ministry. See you in church. Aart