What’s Going On? By Pastor Chris February 2019


What’s Going On? By Pastor Chris

Today I am going to do one of my favorite things for this section. I am going to answer questions that no one has asked me. These are questions that have come to other people and I want to address them in case you were wondering. (If you weren’t wondering, I’m sorry.) The questions I want to answer revolve around our upcoming pastoral transition.
Is Pastor Chris moving because he is tired of us? Absolutely not. I was as shocked as you were hearing the news that we were leaving. If I looked like I was not upset about this it was only because I had an extra week to process the grief of leaving.
Where is Pastor Chris going? I have been appointed by the Bishop to Greensburg UMC. It is halfway between Indianapolis and Cincinnati on I-74. It is straight south of Kendallville on IN-3.
Is Pastor Angie going to take over as the Lead Pastor? No. Pastor Angie is a deacon and while I know that she could take over as lead pastor this is not where her heart lies. The call of a deacon is to Word, Service, Compassion, and Justice. Long story short Pastor Angie is called to work in the world on behalf of the church. Her call as a deacon is to equip and connect the church to ministry in the world. So she will continue her marvelous first appointment to Common Grace, and will continue her role equipping and connecting Trinity church to the world. If you have more questions about this Pastor Angie would love to tell you more about deacons.
How does the process of getting a new pastor work? (The Short Version) Now that the conference knows there is a vacancy at Trinity, the Conference Superintendent has met with the leadership team and they have created a “profile” for Trinity Church. This profile will then be taken by the Conference Superintendent to the next cabinet (the Bishop and all the Conference Superintendents) meeting. At this meeting they will discern the best pastor to meet this profile. This candidate will be notified by the cabinet and given the profile and then asked to accept the appointment. If the candidate does not think this is a good fit they have to request a new appointment be made by the bishop. (The process starts over but this rarely happens.) The candidate will then be interviewed by the leadership team and once agreement is reached the church will be told who the new pastor appointed to the church will be. (For the longer and more intricate process of how this works see the conference website   https://www.inumc.org/ministerial-services/appointments/how-the-process-works/)
I know these are just a couple of questions but I felt they needed a few words. As always if you have any questions feel free to call the church office or e-mail me at chris@trinitychum.org


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