Greetings to everyone in the name of Jesus the Christ,

I am grateful for the wonderful crowd we had this past Sunday and for your engagement in the topic of leading the UMC into the future. As a reminder, Bishop Saenz has a vision for the congregations from north Texas that includes these 5 Strategic Priorities:

1. Multiplying Followers of Jesus

2. Championing Children and Youth

3. Maximizing Care and Healing

4. Pursue and Embrace Diversity AND Inclusion

5. Telling Our Story

Our straw poll indicates that our interest lies in championing children and youth, maximizing care and healing, and pursuing and embracing diversity and inclusion. I believe that #1 will happen naturally if we are focused on #2, 3 and 4. I also believe that telling the story of the UMC can be interwoven in some of the activities of #2, 3 and 4.

Our next step is to meet with the church staff and volunteer leadership to create a plan for each of these 3 priorities and set an annual calendar with activities that support each priority. If the Holy Spirit compels you toward any of these activities, please send me an email, mary.teague@saintmatthewumc.com.

Even if you are not able to come to the church, there will be things that can be done remotely to support these priorities. I look forward to working side by side with you as we move forward in our journey to being great ancestors of our faith tradition. Blessings, Mary