Shall We Make it Four?

“In commitment and renewal to my covenant as a clergy person in The United Methodist Church, I now reverently and with joy, accept my appointment with a glad mind and will, and pray that I shall be worthy of my call to the ministry, my conference relationship, and the place of labor to which I have been appointed.”

This is the vow each clergy person takes at Annual Conference during the final ministry service after the Bishop announces the appointments for the year have been “fixed.” It’s a reminder that clergy are appointed on a year-to-year basis, even though the Cabinet tries to keep us in our appointments for lengthier periods than used to be the case.

As I write this, we just recently completed Annual Conference 2025, the appointments were fixed, and I have been reappointed to High Street UMC for 2025-26. As this comes out, we’ll have hit the 3-year anniversary of my time here, and will be heading into Year 4. It’s hard to believe how fast time flies.

Of course, as is true every year, things continue to change. As we all know, we’ve not had an associate pastor for the past 6 months. Fortunately, our talented laity have stepped forward to assist in leading worship, and to take leadership in many of the areas where we’d normally have pastoral oversight. You’ve all done a terrific job, and this is how church is supposed to work.

But our district superintendent didn’t forget about us, and when Covenant Partners Ministries made the difficult decision to close their doors, he asked both Rev. Colin Cress, who led that ministry, and us if we’d be interested in a “sharing” arrangement for Pastor Colin with Community of Hope UMC, where he is co-pastor with Rev. Heather Cress. We’ll be fortunate to have a portion of Pastor Colin’s time.

Pastor Colin’s focus will be on pastoral care, particularly with our homebound members and those in assisted living facilities. He’ll also have oversight responsibilities for our senior adult ministries and missions areas. Pastor Colin will also help with some preaching and worship assistance. Although we’ll have him present with us most Sundays, he will be at Community of Hope on some as well.

We are all called into ministry through our baptisms. High Street United Methodist Church isn’t about what the High Street staff and pastors are doing; it’s all about what God and the members and constituents of High Street are doing. How High Street flourishes in the coming year and beyond will be up to each person within this congregation.

Financial stability continues to be a concern for our congregation. You are a generous group of people, and I give thanks daily for it. But it takes a lot of time, talent, and resources to keep our church and building running, as we all know. We’ve had some breathtaking gifts of generosity this year that have brought me to my knees in gratitude; and we’ve had some weeks and months when I’ve wondered if we would be able to pay our bills and payroll. I continue to lean on God’s providence as God reminds me time and time again that God will provide.

We’ve had a good three years of ministry together, and I look forward with joy to another fruitful year together.