Colleagues in ministry and friends-
We thank you so much for your prayers during our Board retreat last week. We worked hard together, tasked with the leadership of this diverse and vibrant community. The board marveled at and celebrated the work of the past 14 years, including honoring Martha Spong, RGBP co-founder and Executive Director.
After reflection on our history and current work, we began the task of discerning our values and how those values might guide our future work. Through this process, we realized that we needed more time and space to wrestle with God, Facebook, and one another before we make any kind of declarations or official decisions.
We care about the community that has been created for clergywomen in spaces that carry the RGBP brand. We remain committed to antiracism. We will always be known as a place of inclusion and affirmation of the ministry of LGBTQ+ people. We want to serve our present constituency and also understand how to better use all the myriad gifts that are present in our active membership.
Thus, we as the board are officially entering into a year of discernment. Any change in activities or planning should not at all be assumed to be a rejection of the past, but both a consequence of the period of figuring things out and a potential shift so that our activities align with our organizational values and goals.
Please continue to pray for us, to support RevGalBlogPals in the Facebook community and the blog, to donate financially to our work, and to anticipate God’s revelation for our future together.
Respectfully,
Julia Seymour (Board president, pastor, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Montana, USA)
Sarah Howe Miller (Board VP, pastor, United Methodist Church, Texas, USA)
Liz Crumlish (Board secretary, Renewal and Pioneer Coordinator, Church of Scotland)
Amy Peden Haynie (Board treasurer, priest, Episcopal Church, USA)
Jemma Allen (priest, Anglican Church in Aotearoa, Polynesia and New Zealand)
Mary Beth Butler (Episcopal layperson, Texas, USA)
Sharon Mack Temple (retired pastor, United Church of Christ, Texas, USA)
Teri Peterson (minister, Church of Scotland, Scotland)
Thank you all so very much for all the time energy and HEART you have put into RevGalBlogPals. I will keep you and all of us who have “profited” from your work and sharing in my prayers. Rev. Caroline Patterson Inlow
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bless you all for this holy work, and the period of discernment
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Thank you all so much. This group has helped me, encouraged me, prayed for me and has given me so much. We could not have achieved what you and the support we give and receive interns of resources , support, prayer, encouragement, friendship and also challenge, without the dedication of the Board, and also the massive contribution Matha makes.
So you will be in my prayers as you discern over this next year.
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Thank you all so much. This group has helped me, encouraged me, prayed for me and has given me so much. We could not have achieved what you give us and the support we give and receive in terms of resources , support, prayer, encouragement, friendship and also challenge, without the dedication of the Board, and also the massive contribution Matha makes.
So you will be in my prayers as you discern over this next year.
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Thank you all so much. This group has helped me, encouraged me, prayed for me and has given me so much. We could not have achieved what you have and give us and the support we give and receive in terms of resources , support, prayer, encouragement, friendship and also challenge, without the dedication of the Board, and also the massive contribution Matha makes.
So you will be in my prayers as you discern over this next year.
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