In today’s message from General Minister and President, Rev. Terri Hord Owens prayerfully addresses the recent climate change disasters and invites the church to attend one of the many digital Covenant town hall.
“. In the midst of so much devastation and natural disasters however I remind myself daily that there is yet hope because of Jesus Christ.” – Rev. Terri Hord Owens
Make a gift to Week of Compassion, the response, relief and refugee ministry of the church, as they respond to the needs of partners on the ground in disaster impacted areas.
Learn more about the Covenant Project and sign up to attend a town hall, as part of the wider church education initiative.
Hello Disciples, as we end the month of July in the midst of so much heat, natural disasters and devastations, we are in prayer for those affected by fires in the west, flooding in the Midwest extreme heat all across North America and around the world. I pray that your generosity will extend to donations to Week of Compassion. Week of Compassion as always in contact with our partners both in the US and Canada and around the world to learn about ways that we can most effectively respond. When Week of Compassion is there the whole church is there. So I hope that you will reach out and participate in that way. In the midst of so much devastation and natural disasters however I remind myself daily that there is yet hope because of Jesus Christ.
So one of the things I’m most excited about right now are the Covenant town halls. We’ve been holding online zoom-based town halls to invite you across the life of the church to hear about new proposals that will come to the floor of the General Assembly before they come to the General Assembly and as they’re still being shaped by the General Board. We’re talking about ways in which we make decisions as a church, ways in which congregations participate in the life of the general assembly on an ongoing basis not once every two or three years. We are looking for your input and if you go to disciples.org/covenant-project/ You’ll find a full schedule between now and the end of September. We’ll be having one hour town halls where you can listen to the proposed changes ask your questions and if we need to schedule a town hall conversation for you and your local community we’re happy to do that if none of the proposed times work for you.
Please know it’s so important and we’re in fact modeling, I think, what we hope our conversations as whole church will look like going forward. That there is always ample time to learn and listen before decisions are made so your participation in these town halls will give input to the Governance Committee of the General Board and will go to the General Board as we begin to solidify some of the details on these proposals. Your participation is so so important to help us live into being the church that we say we are—a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world a world so in need of us bearing witness to God’s limitless love we say that we welcome all to the Lord’s table as God has welcomed us. We want to live into that and to ensure that the processes and procedures and the ways in which we make decisions empower all of our voices across the church to be heard to be listened to and to participate.
I love our church and I hope that you do too our church is simply a reflection of God’s limitless love the kingdom of God within us among us. May it be so. I hope you’ll find time to join one of our Covenant town hallsvery soon you can find out more information by going to disciples.org/covenant-project/ You’ll learn more about the proposals there and times for our town hall so that you can ask your questions. God bless you and remember God loves you and so do I.