Dear Beloved Community,
It has become our staff’s custom these past several years to begin the first half of January with our annual reviews and a staff workday. Pairing these two times of reflection, intentionality, and planning has proven to be a meaningful way to begin a new year, and this year was no exception.
In advance of an in-person conversation, each staff member has three written reviews to aid in their reflection – one self-review, one from their supervisor, and one from a lay leader who has observed their work closely in the year past. These are sent out and read before we convene – staff member and supervisor – with a representative or two from Personnel to talk about all the ministry that unfolded last year. (Thanks to Roper Halverson and Cyrus Bush for representing Personnel so well this year!) Our conversations are always thick with affirmation and reflection on the year’s challenges and opportunities, and end with a time to set goals for the year ahead. I left Monday’s conversations this year so grateful for these dynamic, faithful, hopeful colleagues, and ready for what we’ll be and do, together with God, this year.
The next day, the pastoral staff gathered for an offsite workday at Jake’s house, filled with every bit of the warmth and homemade breakfast and delicious coffee that is his signature hospitality. Lena began us with a wonderful devotion followed by prayer for you, for us, for this dizzyingly chaotic and urgent age, for Christ’s revelation to pierce through the veil. And then we began to ponder together:
What time is it in our church’s life?
With God’s help, what are we capable of?
What do we want to do or be together as a staff team this year?
What kind of leadership does the church and the world need from us right now?
Are there any needed changes to our work rhythms?
Is there anything else from 2025 we need to debrief?
Are there any initiatives, projects, gatherings we want to pursue this year?
Are there any initiatives, projects, or gatherings we’re doing now that need to end this year?
What goals would we have together for 2026?
How did we do on our goals from 2025?
And how did we do with the large, color-coded wall calendar we thought last year would help it all work together better? (Reader: as it turns out, on that front, we failed!)
These thick conversations animated each one of us. Kyle spoke of the joyful community we experience, and how much it seems our people love being together. Mary spoke of a wide open horizon of possibility for our church, of the faithful work that emerges when we’re operating from courage instead of fear. Lena drew us to the long-term work of planting sequoias, of vision and abundance that grows deep and wide. Ryan noted our growth in numerous spheres and what transformation is happening here, and Amy called us to deepen the roots of our relationships, our community, our people. Jake named interest in appreciating and doing better with the work that already continues. And after years of peaks and valleys here, David spoke to the evenness, steadiness, and solid ground our church is occupying, and how encouraging that is for the future.
It was during our goal-setting last year when David gave us a phrase that seems to encompass our task as the clergy of the church. “We’re caretakers of the spiritual environment,” he says. It was (and is!) a holy, weighty call, yet one we feel ever more drawn to with every passing day.
Spiritual environments don’t have obvious metrics to track. They can’t easily be rated with numbers on a 1 to 5 scale on its effectiveness. It’s hard to set specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound goals around its care. But if the fruits we’re all experiencing together as a congregation are any marker of its flourishing, we remain deeply humbled and hopeful to join God’s work of Love in 2026 and carry this sacred task of ministry into another year with you.
Together in God’s work of Love,
Pastor Emily