My husband is a United Methodist Elder (Pastor) in the Western Pennsylvania Conference and this spring we received a new appointment from our Bishop to go to a new charge (a church about three hours northeast from our current) to take effect July 1.
We are sad to be leaving so many loved parishioners here at our current charge... this place has many memories and faces we'll never forget! It is also our daughter's first home... where we brought her home from China! The little blue house (a parsonage provided by the church) where she learned to walk, go potty, sleep in a big girl bed, and .... whoa... oh my... I need to stop right now or I'm going to BAWL MY EYES OUT! Let me just say... the people here have loved the three of us like you wouldn't believe! What a precious place this is and it will ALWAYS hold a special place in our heart! Thank you God for these dear people you placed in our lives these past four years and hopefully as forever friends.
In the midst of all those emotions we are also excited to go to this next particular place where God has called us. We prayed for this new church before we even knew its name. We were willing to go wherever but, didn't want to go just anywhere... does that make sense? In other words, we wanted to go only where God wanted to send us so that we would be in His perfect will and not our own.
We wanted to go to a place that was all about Jesus, doing His work, and that would be the perfect fit... and let me just say... God has once again KNOCKED OUR SOCKS OFF! We've met some of the people and they are contagiously enthusiastic about ministry! They show this by reaching out into the community and actively seeking to grow in their personal and cooperate faith.
They also love their current pastor and we certainly understand why... he and his wife have done incredible things there... needless to say... we have big shoes to fill, to be sure! However, in all the shock of change they have been very welcoming to us which is a true blessing!
Transition is hard on both church families and in-coming and out-going pastoral families. No doubt that loving and gracious people make it smoother and easier to make the changes needed. We continue to pray for our current church, the new in-coming pastor here, and our new charge and their out-going pastor as well. We humbly ask for your prayers for our family in the midst of packing, moving, and unpacking (literally and metaphorically speaking).
More blogs on moving to come...
