Dear ELPC Members, Friends and Staff,
As of early October, we completed 12 Listening Sessions: six of them were with Church members, friends, and attendees that included over 50 participants. Two were with the staff, one with members of Session, two with the Sunday School teenagers, and one with our three pastors. We are in a review process to identify prominent trends that reflect the feelings of all who participated. We want to thank everyone who gave their time and honest feedback.
We attended a congregational meeting in September with Session and ELPC members to reflect on the key themes from the Congregational Assessment Tool (CAT) summary. We thank Session’s task force for their work and are grateful for those members who attended the meeting and provided their thoughts.
The next step is huge. We will prayerfully review and consolidate the information from CAT surveys and Listening Sessions to complete the Ministry Discernment Profile (MDP). As Andrea mentioned in last month’s update, this document will reflect ELPC’s mission and vision, as well as what we are seeking in a new pastor. On October 3, Rev. Brian Wallace, associate minister for Emerging Ministries and Pittsburgh Presbytery’s acting head of staff, met with our PNC to guide us in completing the profile. This is an intensive undertaking, and we expect (and hope) to complete the profile by January 2024. Once it is completed, we will forward it to our Session and to Presbytery representatives for approvals. Then we will post it online for all interested individuals to consider God’s calling to our Church.
Additionally, Pittsburgh Presbytery has assigned us a liaison, Rev. Karen Rohrer, who will assist as needed and be our resource. She has attended two meetings with us (the PNC), and we are blessed to have her counsel and presence.
Stay tuned as we continue to work this fall and please keep our committee and our congregation in your prayers. We are honored and yet much humbled by carrying out such an important job on behalf of God’s children at ELPC.
—Jim Eng
ELPC Pastor Nominating Committee: Doug Booth, Bill Buchanan, David Carl, Andrea DeVries, Jim Eng, Linda Lane (Chair), Rebecca McGregor (Secretary), Polly McQueen, Antwone Wright