Alpine Community,
Grace and peace to you all!
Early this month I attended the Northern Illinois Synod Assembly at Augustana College.
This is a wonderful opportunity to gather together with our other congregations and ministers as well as our synod staff and Bishop. This year our synod’s theme is “Going Deeper”. The hope is that we, as congregations and individuals, can take a look at our faith lives and find ways to go deeper in relationship with Christ. This may be easy to some and it may be difficult to others. Some of this difficulty can come from not knowing where we are going next. Maybe we are spiritually drained. Maybe as a congregation we are feeling stagnant and don’t know where and how to move forward. I have wonderful “energy audits” that I am going to introduce to us through this summer. I believe that this will give us insight on where we do and do not have the energy and what ministries have reached an end point.
I will introduce these “energy audits” at our next congregation conversation, June 28th after worship in the fellowship hall. I hope that all that are able to attend will stay for these very important conversations.
Next year’s Synod Assembly will be held here in Rockford. This gives us easier availability to not only attend but to also find ways of getting involved and volunteering.
At the end of July we will host a community Ice Cream Social/Picnic in hopes of meeting some of our neighbors and deepening our connections with the community we are in.
We will go back to two services at 8am and 10am starting in September.
Peace,
Pastor Rachel Perkins-Gama