Written by Pastor Michele Abbott
I’m so excited to be with you all more regularly for the next three months while Pastor Jay is on his sabbatical. During these months, one of the areas I’d like us to focus on is how life for churches and congregations has changed in this post-pandemic world and how these changes affect the ways we as a congregation are called to share the Good News.
With that in mind, I hope that during the next few months we can be intentional about imagining and identifying Oak Knoll’s unique calling in this neighborhood and in this community. We already have local ministries that energize us (Preschool, AA, Neighborhood Meals, Sandwich Ministry, Beacon Housing among many others). It would be fun to consider what connects these ministries, and how we can use that understanding to seek future opportunities for us to serve our neighbors.
At the same time – in this post-pandemic world – we see fewer people attending in-person worship (although many people joining us online) and fewer people serving. Both in-person worship and serving are critical avenues for building church community and relationships. This leaves us to ponder how we can encourage people to come back to worship and serving – OR how we can find new, faith-filled ways to build community here at Oak Knoll.
To answer these questions, we have some fun and interesting work ahead of us. I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas about all of this – and how you might suggest we move forward.
In addition to all of this, we will be welcoming Pastor Steve Olson as our “bridge pastor” during Pastor Jay’s sabbatical – you can read an introduction from him on the next page. I look forward to working alongside Pastor Steve and Intern Ben Dyrhaug.
We have a lot on our docket this spring and summer with our Annual Rummage Sale, two Neighborhood Meals, VBS, Summer Camps, Bible Studies, a Youth trip to Christikon – so continue to watch your emails and Sunday bulletins.
Please reach out to any of us with questions, or comments – and please let us know if anyone is in need of a pastoral visit.
Blessings,
Pastor Michele
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