Session Notes: November

Your Session sat, by Zoom, for its regular monthly meeting this week. 

Needless to say, the pandemic has changed things. In some cases, it’s created a new normal. For instance, we’ll probably always do simultaneous online and in-person “hybrid” worship. We wouldn’t have imagined this two years ago.  

In other instances, the pandemic accelerated existing trends. As an example, more and more churchgoers say they attend church less and less for the liturgical elements (like preaching and hearing the Word) than for the experience of community. 

Our meeting time was mostly given to how we manage these changes. Everything is under consideration, including the worship start time and its domino effect on choir, classes and hospitality. For the foreseeable future, our worship will remain at 10 am, so that we might create opportunities for worshipers to connect. An expanded sub-group of the hybrid worship committee, led by Elder Greta Morris, will study this and report to the Session in January. 

Here’s some good news.  In-person worship attendance exceeded online for the first time last Sunday. 

Some more good news. Our stewardship campaign is off to a promising start.  It’s early, but so far 18 givers have pledged almost $100,000, which is about 25% of our goal. 

That’s all for this month.  Thanks for reading.