Our night of Bishop on the Butler District!

Well we had our night of the Bishop on the Butler District and it was held at the Harmony Zeilenople UMC on September 18th, 2007.

It was a word of encouragement from our bishop to continue the increasing paid mission shares which are already higher then where we were last year at this time as well as a pep talk and a reminder of our purpose as a body of believers united as one.

The Bishop reminded us of our vision, mission, and core value as:

Vision: "To ignite and sustain a spiritual connection with Christ among all people in Western Pennsylvania"

Mission: "To provide leadership, connection, and resources to make disciples for the
transformation of the world"

And the

Core Value: as "Love" as especially seen in Matthew 22:37-39 which is a reiteration of
Deuteronomy 6:5 (loving God) and Leviticus 19:18 (love neighbor), at least in part.

I do like these, but I wonder if I would be deemed a heretic if they were changed just a little...

I much prefer

Vision: "To ignite, sustain, and feed growingly a spiritual connection with Christ among all
people especially in Western Pennsylvania"

Mission: "To provide leadership, connection, and resources to make disciples for Christ for
the transformation of the world"

And the

Core Value: as "Love" as especially seen in Matthew 22:37-39 which is a reiteration of
Deuteronomy 6:5 (loving God) and Leviticus 19:18 (love neighbor), at least in part. And in so
loving that the 10 commandments are re-focused upon as loving and glorifying God in
commandments one through four and loving our neighbor as well as edifying others in
commandments five through ten.


________

The slight changes in Vision are meant to support underlying need for constant growth instead of the common vision of sustaining only in some bodies of believers as well as expanding beyond just Western Pennsylvania while focusing on Western PA as the foremost goal.

The slight changes in Mission is meant to keep the focus on Christ and more deeply remind us of our purpose.

The slight changes in Core Value is less of a change, but rather a deeper expansion of inclusion as to what is meant by love and how that is translated into a deeper purpose and understanding.

__________

the other main aspect of the Bishop on the District was the pep talk to share with everyone that we need to be churches that are, in my own words, dieing to live instead of living to die. In other words are we following the "leading causes of life or the leading causes of death". In life then there are 5 main principles which are "Connection as a sense of meaningful relationships, Coherence as a sense that life makes sense in relation to our expectations, fears, and hopes, Agency as the ability to act and do, Blessing as a web of life that flows across generations, and hope that draws us together towards life".

It is great to get such encouragement and guidance and I know it will be personally edifying for me as well as when I share it with all those in the congregation I serve that were not able to attend.