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You are here: Home / Archive / From the Pastor’s Study

September 7, 2021

From the Pastor’s Study

FROM THE PASTOR’S STUDY

Over the course of 2022 Nacoochee Presbyterian Church will have to do what is known in the Presbyterian Church (USA) as a “Mission Study.” This study is a way to prepare for choosing the next pastor. Part of the work will be to think about what the core values of the congregation are.  This is not a question about the values to which the congregation aspires; rather, it is a question about the reality now. Another way of asking the question of core values is: What really makes us tick? What are the unquestioned assumptions that guide our behavior as a community of faith?  I’d like to take a shot at this from the perspective of having been the pastor here for the last 24 years. Here are my top three.

*We value diversity and others who value diversity. (The conundrum for us is that we have difficulty with those who, in our minds, are intolerant of others). The primary way this value has manifested itself has been in our openness to LGBTQ people in membership and in all leadership positions in our church.  This has certainly set us apart from our neighboring churches, especially since this openness has been a firm part of our way of being since sometime in the late 1990s.  I am confident in saying, by God’s grace, we have been right about this and right for a long time!  This issue has been front and center for mainline denominations for several decades, and we arrived at our commitments to openness early.  There are many churches and whole denominations still fighting about this issue, but there are some coming to see things our way, and that is a good thing and something of which we can be proud.  In our area, presbytery, and denomination we have been a leading voice for inclusion and diversity.

* We value the small, friendly, family-like atmosphere of Nacoochee Presbyterian Church.  Many churches claim to be a friendly place, but when you attend the feeling is much different.  We are not immune to the dangers of cliques and overlooking strangers in our midst – it happens sometimes in our worship services because we are happy to see one another.  I think, however, that the norm is friendliness and a generous welcome to those who visit.  

We are a fairly small community of faith and there is strength in the fact that we tend to like one another.  We are proud of our communion and we enjoy being together.  The weakness of this core value is the way in which we have tended to grow and then shrink in worship attendance.  We have often over the years gotten to a place where there was no room in the pews for a visiting family of four.  This would last for a while and then we would lose members, or people who had been visiting would stop coming, and we would be back to our comfortable, family-like number.  

Our worship space is beautiful, and it attracts visitors and comforts those of us who are regular in worship.  The smallness of the space, however, limits our abilities to handle growth.  

I’m not sure which is the driver of our swings in the numbers of people who attend. Is it the limits of our worship space? Or is the driver of our ups and downs in worship numbers our core value of a family like atmosphere? Maybe both? Maybe it is not a problem. 

*We value thoughtful, grounded, relevant, musically rich worship services that lead us into the world to embody God’s love and compassion. One conviction that I have brought to my work as a Minister of Word and Sacrament is that the most important thing a church does in the world is worship God and then send people into society to embody God’s love.  This is the unique gift we in the church offer the world. Worship is what separates us from businesses, social service agencies, schools, country clubs, political parties, and every other human community.  We can and do help build homes through Habitat for Humanity, feed the hungry through our food pantry, reach out to those suffering addictions by allowing our building to be used for support groups, send money to areas devastated by natural disasters through special offerings, speak and march to support social justice causes, help support impoverished people in other countries by offering microloans, support the denomination’s connection-al work through our financial gifts, seek to be good stewards of the earth by having solar panels and by maintaining the valley that surrounds our church building – there are many more things that could be listed here, but the point is that each one springs from a vibrant worship life that connects us to God and to neighbor.  Worship is the heartbeat of Nacoochee Presbyterian Church.

These are the top three core values I see in our community of faith.  Maybe there are more and maybe you would list different ones as the top three.  I invite you to prayerfully consider the question of “core values” over the next year and a half as Nacoochee Presbyterian Church prepares to call new pastoral leadership.

Grace and peace,

Bob   

Filed Under: Archive, Uncategorized

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March 14 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Event Series

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March 15 @ 7:30 am - 8:30 am Event Series

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March 15 @ 10:15 am - 11:00 am Event Series

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March 15 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm Event Series

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March 22 @ 10:15 am - 11:00 am Event Series

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11:00 am - 12:00 pm Event Series

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March 22 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm Event Series

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March 26 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am Event Series

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5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Event Series

Outside Group Meeting Downstairs Room

March 27 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Event Series

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March 28 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Event Series

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March 29 @ 7:30 am - 8:30 am Event Series

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March 29 @ 10:15 am - 11:00 am Event Series

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5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Event Series

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March 29 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Event Series

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1 event, 30

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March 30 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Event Series

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Please join us on Thursday evenings during Lent, February 23 – March 30, 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM, for a Lenten Study Series for Adults, based on Cynthia E. Cowen’s […]

0 events, 31

0 events, 1

February 26
February 26 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am Event Series

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February 27
February 27 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Event Series

Outside Group Meeting Downstairs Room

February 28
February 28 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Event Series

Outside Group Meeting Downstairs Room

March 1
March 1 @ 7:30 am - 8:30 am Event Series

Outside Group Meeting Downstairs Room

March 1 @ 8:30 am - 10:00 am Event Series

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March 1 @ 10:15 am - 11:00 am Event Series

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March 2 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Event Series

Lenten Study Series

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March 5
March 5 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am Event Series

Sunday Service

March 6
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Outside Group Meeting Downstairs Room

March 7
March 7 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Event Series

Outside Group Meeting Downstairs Room

March 8
March 8 @ 7:30 am - 8:30 am Event Series

Outside Group Meeting Downstairs Room

March 8 @ 10:15 am - 11:00 am Event Series

Tai Chi Chih with Teresa

March 8 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm Event Series

Centering Prayer

+ 2 More
March 9
March 9 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Event Series

Lenten Study Series

  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
March 12
March 12 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am Event Series

Sunday Service

March 12 @ 11:00 am - 1:00 pm

Joy Pruett’s 90th Birthday Celebration & Luncheon

March 12 @ 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Convivio

March 13
March 13 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Event Series

Outside Group Meeting Downstairs Room

March 14
March 14 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Memorial Service for Henry Tipton

March 14 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Event Series

Outside Group Meeting Downstairs Room

March 15
March 15 @ 7:30 am - 8:30 am Event Series

Outside Group Meeting Downstairs Room

March 15 @ 10:15 am - 11:00 am Event Series

Tai Chi Chih with Teresa

March 15 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm Event Series

Woman’s Spirituality Group

+ 3 More
March 16
March 16 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Event Series

Lenten Study Series

  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
March 19
March 19 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am Event Series

Sunday Service

March 19 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm Event Series

Youth Mission Trip Meeting

March 19 @ 4:00 pm - 6:30 pm Event Series

Youth Partnership Meeting

March 20
March 20 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Event Series

Outside Group Meeting Downstairs Room

March 21
March 21 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Event Series

Outside Group Meeting Downstairs Room

March 22
March 22 @ 7:30 am - 8:30 am Event Series

Outside Group Meeting Downstairs Room

March 22 @ 10:15 am - 11:00 am Event Series

Tai Chi Chih with Teresa

March 22 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm Event Series

Centering Prayer

+ 2 More
March 23
March 23 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Event Series

Lenten Study Series

  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
March 26
March 26 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am Event Series

Sunday Service

March 27
March 27 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Event Series

Outside Group Meeting Downstairs Room

March 28
March 28 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Event Series

Outside Group Meeting Downstairs Room

March 29
March 29 @ 7:30 am - 8:30 am Event Series

Outside Group Meeting Downstairs Room

March 29 @ 10:15 am - 11:00 am Event Series

Tai Chi Chih with Teresa

March 29 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Event Series

Outside Group Meeting Downstairs Room

+ 1 More
March 30
March 30 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Event Series

Lenten Study Series

  • There are no events on this day.
  • There are no events on this day.
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260 GA Highway 255 North
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Sautee Nacoochee, GA 30571
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