My Ministry Philosophy

South Summit has gone through a year of grieving after the congregational split and is now entering into a time of innovation and rebirth. There have been many challenges with attempting to navigate a congregation where half of the community is at the end of their rope while the other half is dreaming and progressing. While triangulation has occurred and the Region has stepped in to end it, I feel as though God was present throughout the journey to arrive where we are at today. One of my concerns in ministry is that only my voice or the senior minister’s voice will be heard and that only one person is truly making all the decisions. My philosophy on the congregational community is that everyone should have the opportunity to have their voices
The theology of the congregation is that our love for Jesus is what motivates and guides us to be God’s hands and feet in the world. As many of the readings have mentioned, we seek to live into the action element of faith due to believing that God is active in the world. We have intentionally dived into learning the “why” of why we feel called to do outreach and mission alongside worship together. I have witness the community come together on the principle of helping our neighbors, in all the capacities, and begin to heal. People have largely stopped talking about how it used to be or that there is no why we can progress or that we are going to close. There is a resurgence of event participation and overall improvement in
Anyone who approaches me is welcome to share their thoughts then I field it either into a seed to plan out and potentially begin, another ministry, or table it for the time being. I am excited to see how big we can dream and how much we can achieve. One particular example is a new member with a passion for childcare and ministry. She truly embodies the theology that children are gifts from God who have their own unique gifts to be developed with teaching, guidance, and respect. She stresses the importance of their vulnerability and the need to care for and provide for the needs of children. She shares a preparing for the future mindset like me. Together we committed to bringing the nursery and two children’s classrooms back up to standard and making them welcoming. Concurrently the Christian Education group revamped how they engage the children and their curriculum. It is still a work in progress, but I would say our children’s programming has improved tremendously due to the call to remember that child are made in the image of God and it is our responsibility to raise them as members of the