On Thursday, Jan 17 the Visioning Team met and had a very productive meeting. We are being challenged with embracing a new and exciting process of discernment which will help us to arrive at what God is calling us to be as a church.
We are using as a guide a book by Morris & Olsen called "Discerning God's Will Together". From this book we have learned: “The process of spiritual discernment draws us beyond our own limited reason to seek divine presence and insight”.
The team is finding our work together to be very uplifting. Our hope is to move forward with a Vision Statement with the help of the items brought forth during our October Visioning Retreat. Our intent is to keep everyone informed and included in this process. After each meeting we will report our progress in the Sunday bulletin, the Spirit and our website (www.westside-umc.org)
Members of the congregation are encouraged to obtain a copy of our guide book, to and learn about making decisions based on spiritual discernment of the question: "God, Is this your will?" The book is: "Discerning God's Will Together" by Danny Morris & Charles Olsen. It is readily obtainable through Amazon.com (Our church receives a rebate if you use this link or the Amazon link on our church website homepage). The new price is only $12.00, and good used books are available in the $5.00 range.
We are asking for all of your prayers as we work through this process of trying to discern God’s will for our church.