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Annual Report 2011 from Pastor Michael
Looking Back
One of the highlights of
the past year in the life of our church was the honoring of our long-term
members in worship and at a luncheon in Fellowship Hall. Tom Conboy spoke at the luncheon, reminding
us of the way Calvin Church began as a merger of the Central Falls and Lonsdale
churches. He talked about the way Calvin
“made do” and accomplished its mission by being resourceful and creative in how
it got the job done. One example is our
communion table, a gift of the craftsmanship of Rev. Silbert. Bill Silbert, according to Tom Conboy, took
the extra pieces from our sanctuary ceiling and came back with the communion
table that we have before us in the sanctuary today. Good stewardship. Tom also spoke about the ministry presence of
Calvin in our local communities. Calvin
was active in service to the community in a variety of ways: offering our facility to community and
educational programs, volunteering in local mission work, joining with other
clergy and churches in ecumenical worship services. We can be guided by Tom’s story of our
heritage and his vision for what Calvin’s ministry can be in our community and
in the greater world.
Looking at Where We Are Today
I am grateful for your
support in changing my call from part-time interim pastor to “redevelopment”
pastor. My new role will allow me to
concentrate, not only on the traditional roles of worship leader, moderator of
Session, and provider of pastoral care.
The redevelopment pastor role also includes my outreach into the
community, bringing our mission and ministry to the needs of the community and
reacquainting many people with the vibrant church that Calvin has been and is
to this day. We are partnering with the
Cumberland Public Schools in offering the Active Parenting program. We have begun a series of public meetings, to
be held in our Fellowship Hall. We’re
calling the series, the Valley Community Forum.
The first speaker was the new superintendent of schools in Cumberland,
Dr. Philip Thornton. Tom Ward, publisher
of the Valley Breeze, was the moderator of the event. It is our intention to continue this series,
bringing community leaders and experts to Calvin, and inviting the
community. These efforts fall under our
redevelopment initiative, God’s Plan, Calvin’s Future. Our redevelopment team, made up of Session
members, is looking at a series of other activities that will bring Calvin’s
ministry to the needs of our communities.
I would ask for your prayers and support as this important new chapter
in Calvin’s service to Christ develops and grows. You can contact me or any member of the God’s
Plan, Calvin’s Future team as you have thoughts and ideas about ministries that
might serve our community and raise the community’s awareness of Calvin
Church. Members of the team are Lillie
Koney, Betty Conlon, Lorna Hunter, Matt Cairone, Bob Wallace and Peter
Cameron.
In May, 2011 our
redevelopment consultant, Dr. Ann Philbrick, presented the findings of the
Natural Church Development survey. The
survey found that the area of church life that was holding us back was
“Effective Structures.” Which group was
responsible for a given issue or project in the life of our church? How was the issue handled? How was the issue or project communicated to
the congregation? As your pastor, along
with the Session, we have spent a lot of time on the issue of creating clearly
defined procedures and boundaries for each of our committees. We will make every effort to communicate who
is handling the project or issue. We
will make clear who you can contact if you have questions or suggestions on a
given issue. So often in the past, when
there has not been clarity on “who is doing what and how did that decision get
made,” the issue becomes emotional. We
are working hard to both clarify the responsibilities and communicate to you
and ask for your thoughts and suggestions every step of the way.
Looking Forward
In Advent I preached on
the central theme of the Advent season, “Come, Lord Jesus.” In our case, our urgent need for the grace of
Jesus Christ can be found in a picture. I want you to picture the empty
classrooms in the education wing. Here’s
how I described it in my Grace &
Peace blog of December 6, 2011:
Last Sunday we preached and mourned together
about the dark, empty classroom where Kindergarten through Second Graders used
to fill the room with story and song.
Many of you have been their teachers, their parents, their guardians in
the faith. Now they are grown up, they
are gone. And the room is a store
room: an old window blind is tossed
across a messy table. There is a
discarded boom box with a broken antenna.
Maybe it was used to play “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know.” There are toys and books gathering dust. The room is dark, empty, unused.
If you wonder if Advent is for real, think about
that empty, unused classroom. Advent is
the time when we quiet ourselves and listen and watch for the coming of Our
Rescuer. Because things are not the way
they’re supposed to be. Because that
classroom should be filled with singing, and loving teachers, and children
learning about Jesus and the Bible.
If we have trouble yearning for a Rescuer
(because we can take care of our own lives, thank you very much), then that
empty classroom and the great gap in our ministry to young families should help
us to yearn. We cannot fill those
classrooms with life and love and singing and learning on our own. We need a rescuer to come to our aid.
In this season of Advent we pray for Jesus to
come again and set the world aright. And
that extends to the empty Kindergarten-Second Grade Classroom in the building
on the hill on Angell Road in Cumberland, Rhode Island.
Would you pray with me for the Rescuer? Would you pray with me that Jesus will come
and renew and heal our church. That is
an Advent prayer.
* * *
That is what I wrote,
with a heavy heart and a yearning, in December.
That is my prayer today as I write this.
I want you to pray with me, and the Session, who mourns about our empty
classrooms and lack of young families in the life of our church. I want you to pray that in the coming year
that we would be able to reach out in faith to the young families of our
community and offer them the hospitality and support—the love— that only the
Church of Jesus Christ can provide.
There are many families
in our community who do not know the love of Christ and the welcoming support
of a church family. I am asking you to
pray that we might find a way, faithfully, steadily, to build a ministry for
children and families in the coming year.
So that those classrooms will be empty no longer.
* * *
It is a privilege to
serve with you in the name of Jesus Christ.
For that I am grateful.
Pastor Michael
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