More News from the General Board Meeting

Earlier this week, the congregation received the annual Communique, which offers news from the General Board, which met in April. If you are interested, the publication is posted on the church bulletin board, or is available as a .pdf download here.

Three impressions from the items:

• Rev. Sharon Watkins will serve another term as the General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She has announced her willingness to serve another six-year term if re-elected. I cannot imagine that she will not receive the support of the committee charged with recommending a candidate for the position, and I imagine she will be enthusiastically re-elected by the delegates to next year's General Assembly.
• The troubled economic times are affecting the church in significant ways. Despite a couple of articles that insist there are signs of hope among the darkness -- Disciples' ministries are doing much better than many other similar groups in nurturing their resources through this difficult time. But giving is still down almost across the board, which creates significant problems for ministry.
• Mission realignment of the general ministries is (quietly) on hold. Despite taking an additional year to work on its proposals, the committee created to suggest ways for reorganizing the general ministries has only had limited success instead of the dramatic changes imagined.