We, the Joint Affiliation Committee, have been meeting for one year. In that time, we have helped our congregations worship, study, march, sing, share fellowship and break bread together as we have attempted to discern what God may be calling our churches to be and do together. We have come to realize that we have much in common and that our strengths complement each other’s. Even more important, we have formed friendships, built on the recognition of each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.
We are confident that the Spirit has brought us together and would have us continue to integrate our lives more fully. We believe that God is calling us together to be something much more than either of us can now imagine or could possibly become alone. We have begun to sense and picture the possibilities of an even more vital church, one that is even more faithfully seeking to discern what God is calling us toward, one that is using its collective gifts even more fully to help manifest the Realm of God here in Burlington, and one that is living more fully in the joy and fullness that God has promised and Jesus has modeled for us.
Toward this end, our Committee is asking both congregations to commit to an even deeper engagement together between now and October 1, 2012. We propose the following:
1. That our two churches engage in discernment of identity, purpose and vision of God’s calling for our lives in collaboration with and independent of one another. We will involve as many people as possible from both churches in that process.
2. That members of all ages from both congregations continue to engage in spiritual formation with one another through the creation of opportunities for learning and for fellowship. Every effort that we have made in these areas thus far has enriched our lives and brought us closer together.
3. That we make collective worship a priority in the coming year, less and less as special events and increasingly as the core event(s) of our collective community. In calling for this, we make no prior assumptions about the format(s) of our collective worship. The only criteria we should use to determine our worship is what draws us deeper into God’s joy and vision, deeply nourishing us, then leads us out to be more just and loving, and to create a more just and loving world with greater and more sustained energy.
4. That we convene a joint mission task force to review efficiently our existing mission activities and help us develop a more effective and comprehensive vision for our collective mission and impact in the wider world—one that carefully addresses the needs in our neighborhood and brings our energies to bear in the most focused and useful way. We are reminded that mission is not one activity among many for God’s church; it is our reason for being.
5. That the leadership and governing bodies of both churches act in ways that anticipate and support our two churches becoming one within the next two years. Let us move forward with this expectation. We remain open to the process of discernment of what is most appropriate to fulfilling our collective calling.
In all of these areas, we do not ask for major structural or constitutional changes by either church. Rather, where there are impediments to collective action, we ask for creativity and attention, consciously thinking about how the activities within either of our communities may affect the other community. If we can do the work that we envision in these areas of study and fellowship, worship, mission, and collective purpose and vision in the coming year, then we anticipate that the stage will be set for discussions of common governance, name(s), and plans for our collective properties in the October 2012 – October 2013 year.
In Christ,
The Joint Affiliation Team
Craig Abel-Palmer
Mary Beth Barritt
Mike Brown
Carole Carlson
Jonathan Farrell
Wendy Farrell
Deborah McGurn
Richard Munkelwitz
Ann Owen
Frank Sadowski
Barbara Stearns
No comments:
Post a Comment