A Note About Assistants to The Bishop Gatherings to the Ministerium of the SWPA Synod

The month of September has traditionally been a time for Assistant to the Bishop Gatherings in Conferences, and under the synod relational models used in the past, this was a chance for Rostered Ministers to gather with “their” assigned assistant for breakfast and/or lunch, to receive a list of upcoming synodical events, and to gather in fellowship and sharing.

This year, we are not scheduling these conference gatherings in the fall, but instead are looking to new ways to gather as a ministerium.

As many of you know, over the past 2 years, we have been trying out new ways of relating to one another as synod, with the main change being that synod office staff are relating to the synod congregations and Rostered Ministers programmatically rather than geographically. This relational change has also been cultivated in the intentional way Assistants and the Bishop have been attending cluster and pericope gatherings so as to listen, share and study scripture with one another.

Adding to this relational change, the synod engaged Lauren Wolcott as Synod Communicator. As a result, the way we share events, stories, news and information has improved by leaps and bounds, showing us that a gathering to communicate events is no longer needed in the same way.

However, we do well when we gather together as a ministerium. This is why we are offering other opportunities to learn, share and grow with each other. We are still gathering at the Fall Theological Convocation in October, and Rostered Ministers are invited to attend all or a part of this time together.

But instead of an informational meeting, we are inviting you to an Ember Day with the Bishop on September 12, looking ahead to a year of Matthew. (Want to know what an Ember Day is? Come join us!)

We are inviting you to gather with your congregational leaders and ecumenical partners for a number of different events, trainings and opportunities that you see in this weekly email. And we are working to create even more opportunities for fellowship, study, resource sharing and relationship building.

So for those who had planned on Assistant to the Bishop gatherings this fall, we hope you will join us for one of these other synod events. However, if you do find you miss this chance to gather in conference, please reach out to one of us, or your conference Dean, for no change we make is set in stone, and we are always learning, adapting and responding to the needs of a changing church in our changing synod.

Thank you for your witness on the road together,

Peter and Melissa