YES!  It does matter!

So does it matter that on Jan. 26th Lord of Life will hold its annual meeting? Yes, it does matter, because you see it's the only time each year that we set aside to have a formal conversation about essentially "the state of the union", the only time that we ask everyone who is able to be part of a conversation about our spiritual, physical, and emotional health as a community of faith.

This year maybe more than ever since the founding of the congregation it matters because the Council has proposed some fairly significant changes to the by-laws that will impact each and every one of us as we move forward in ministry together. Those changes impact both how the Council is organized and how members will be elected to it.

Since last year's annual meeting the Congregation Council has been working toward coming up with a new way of organizing ourselves that better supports living into the Vision for our future that we completed over a year ago. Many of you may be familiar with our previous ministry areas of Finance, Learning, Property, Service, Stewardship, Witness, and Worship and Music. While this somewhat traditional breakdown of ministry areas served us well for many years, it was becoming cumbersome and ineffective in helping us to bring our new Vision to life.

The result of our work looks a little different than where we've been in the past. It places a greater emphasis on ministry areas as they came to light during our Vision effort. And it looks like this:

Worship and Music as well as Learning remain largely unchanged. Finance and Property are incorporated into a new ministry called Support that also includes staff support, tech management and communication. "We are Family" will allow us to place a greater emphasis on Fellowship, just being a family of faith together. Discipleship emphasizes all the things we do as we do as followers of Jesus, everything from Outreach to Service to Stewardship. All of these are things we have been working with in the past but organized in a new and more effective way. Last but not least is the area of Pastoral Care and Nurturing; an intentional emphasis on a broader approach to providing direct contact, and showing care and concern for all of our members.

Yes, it does matter that we've spent the time to work through all this as we strive to follow the example of Jesus Christ in all that we say and do here at Lord of Life. And it matters that these changes have been prayerfully and thoughtfully proposed with YOU in mind and in helping you to know how much you matter in God's eyes; both because of who you are and because of what God might just be calling you to be and do in the future as part of the community that is Lord of Life.

Yes, it does matter that we are holding our Annual Meeting on Jan. 26th. And because of how much You matter both to God and to us, I sincerely hope you will be part of the conversation of where we are headed together in the future.

May God richly bless you in this New Year!

- In His Service, Pastor Sue