As you can see in this issue of Ohio Evangel, there are a number of developments and activities happening right now in Ohio Mennonite Conference! The various articles cover some personal transitions, congregational transitions and Conference transitions. If you are experiencing a transition, whether large or small, may these articles encourage you to embrace the new that is coming.

One activity I’ve been thinking about is the Fall Cluster Meetings that just finished up on September 30. There were five evenings scheduled, with one being online. One location was cancelled due to lack of delegates registering. About 75 delegates attended overall.

Something that warms my heart is the care in the room as people talk together – happy for a chance to see each other and to catch up? There was always energy in the room! (I’m sure some people felt on the edges, and I was grateful a few of them talked with me.)

The two big agenda items for the evening were the financial update and discussion about community engagement with is part of the Strategic Plan that delegates adopted last March.

The Stewardship Committee reported that giving is down in the first five months of the fiscal year. At the end of August, after 5 months of the fiscal year, there is a deficit of almost $49,000. Stewardship representatives reminded us that

for the last couple of years Ohio Conference has intentionally used accumulated monies to pay for the planning consultant and to maintain staffing through the planning process. Stewardship members believe there is money out there to support Conference, it just isn’t coming in.

For our discussion about the Strategic Plan, I engaged people in an embodied affirmation exercise. It was an experiment. I haven’t heard much feedback, so it must not have been terrible, but also not overwhelmingly successful.

But something that did seem to have a lot of energy was sitting with delegates from other congregations and responding to two questions about their church’s involvement in the community. Congregations engaging in the community outside their walls, then learning from and resourcing one another during conference gatherings is a central aspect of the Strategic Plan. Delegates discuss these two questions:

1. What are you learning (individually and as a church)?
2. How are you (your church) being changed?

Though it can be tempting to tell a shiny story about our congregation, we are learning that community engagement can be messy. I got a sense that those present were engaging in honest reflections. There was enthusiasm about activities taking place in some communities and still wondering how to develop relationships with people.

Thank you delegates for investing your time and yourself in the table conversations. Could your congregation discuss these same two questions? I wonder what the conversation would be like? I’d be glad to hear about it!