When you receive this eletter, your ECC pastors and directors will be engaged in a time of prayer and planning for our 2024 strategic ministry initiatives. Over the past few years, our times together (usually twice a year) have proved to be very fruitful for the mission and ministry of ECC. They have led us to develop LifeGroups, the ECC Care Team, and to call a pastor of young adults to serve with us. Each of these original initiatives is ongoing.
In the fall of 2023, we sensed God leading us to focus on two new initiatives built around two of our three ECC Touchstones of WELCOME and TRANSFORMATION. In 2024, we hope to move further down the path of becoming a people who have Christ more deeply formed within us and a people who grow in what it means to show hospitality to one another and to those new to our congregation. Both initiatives have a lot of energy around them and are already bearing fruit. You can read more about them from two recent blogposts that are linked at the bottom of this article.
At this year’s retreat, we hope to assess where we are in these two initiatives and collaborate with one another on moving them further down the path. We will also prayerfully discuss other opportunities and challenges coming our way in the coming months and seek wisdom from God and one another in navigating these things well.
The second day of our retreat, we will meet with our consultant from Centered Leadership, Christin Nevins, for further development and strategic planning.
As I have done in the past, I invite you to keep us in prayer, March 5-6. As we come to mind, please for us by name, listed below. Please pray that God will further strengthen in our relationships with one another and with him, and that we will have ears to hear and hearts that are open to God’s leading in these things. Thank you.
Kate Cogswell (Director of Spiritual Formation and Women’s Ministry)
Kurt Kincanon (Administrative Pastor)
Stacey Littlefield (Lead Pastor)
Meghan MeClellan (Director of Worship and Music)
Kristin Devine Mueller (Pastor of Families and Children)
Ronda Ooms (Director of Community Outreach)
Chuck Potts (Pastor of Young Adults)