Time to refocus!
For weeks now the issue of disaffiliation has been the center of many of your worries. A cloud if you will over each one. The energy and attention given this topic has given the enemy victory over each one of us!! Stealing Joy, tempting with half-truths on all sides, disrupting peace with worry and all out dividing the body that is united by Jesus.
This is not the time to be distracted!! We are entering the fifth week of lent, the time we reflect and examine what Jesus endured for each one of his creations. This is the time to experience. Experience Jesus. Experience love and grace. Turning to the only source this is available; God the Father Son and Holy Spirit!!
On May 23rd the leadership team was tasked with taking a vote to decide whether or not to enter a time of discernment for this body. The result was a tie, so no decision was made on that topic. However, the decision was made to put this discussion aside until after this Holy season so that each one of Gods beloved people can focus on what is most important right now!! The Season of Lent, the celebration of the resurrection, and your relationship with the Trinity.
Let us enter a time of Joy in the gathering and fellowship. Let us remove the cloud we all sense to a more appropriate time. May 6th @ 6pm we will gather at a church conference where there will be a time of Holy conferencing. A safe place with a time of open conversation. The church conference is for everyone who is associated with this body.
Following that gathering the Ad. Council will meet May 11th to vote again whether to proceed or not with the discernment process that will include the entire body here at Wellsville First. This is the Ad. Councils decision to make. If we proceed with the discernment process as set by the Upper New York Annual Conference the entire body must engage in the work and will vote at the conclusion of the process. The discernment process will take between one and four months to complete. May the will of God be realized and followed.
In Christ love, Pastor Craig
