[Paul] planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So, neither the one who plants, nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. – 1 Corinthians 3.6-7

Dear Church:

One of the reoccurring questions to me this fall has been about the nature of the transformation we are seeking at Blooming Glen. The question is often framed as, “What is it that you are asking us to do?” Let me try to answer.

First, a disclaimer. I’m not independently asking the congregation to do anything. The CLB is inviting us to consider transformation in the face of the massive changes we are dealing with in society. This is our plan, it is God’s plan. It is not my plan.

So, our transformation plan, also known as, “Church Together,” is focused on this – What is God giving each of us an appetite to accomplish in these days of deep and difficult change, and how can Blooming Glen Mennonite Church be God’s instrument to guide you and coach you to whet that appetite?

To govern, guide, and coach the congregation to fulfill their appetite, we need an agreed upon direction. That direction is summed up in our mission statement: “On a journey together with Jesus.”

How do we know the journey is going well? By our shared embrace of three essential values: 1) Reliance on the scriptures as our authority (the story of God’s people on a journey). 2) Embracing the peaceful practice of caring deeply and challenging directly (the way we treat one another on the journey). 3) Serving our neighbors with generosity (the ultimate purpose of our journey).

Who facilities our journey together? The CLB (with help from the Foundations) leads our congregation by recommending, setting, and overseeing policy. The elders guide our ministry by encouraging and developing ministry teams. The staff coach us to discern and fulfill God’s call.

But to be the “Church Together,” we also need some deeper organizational and structural changes. “The Pivot with Mosaic” is a cluster of organizational and leadership behaviors: CLB acting as a policy-setting board that also oversees the work of the lead pastor. Foundations that focus with the CLB on specialized issues: Our annual ballot. Our annual budget. Our annual blueprint for the care of our facility. Elders that collaborate with staff and guide the formation of ministries of worship, community, and mission. A staff of pastors, coaches, and administrative support, walking with individuals, families, and ministry teams to follow Christ daily in life. All of this done in robust partnership with Mosaic Mennonite Conference, and through them, with Mennonite Church USA, and other church-related agencies.

To be the “Church Together,” and to be in a “Pivot with Mosaic,” we also need to be paying attention to “BG Next.” It does not make for transformation if, after July 31, 2026, Blooming Glen finds itself reverting to old patterns of behavior or tries to take a clean sheet of paper and start over again. BG Next is an effort to deeply anchor this approach to our mission, values, leadership, and staff working together for the legacy that guides the next generation of Blooming Glen Mennonite Church.

I believe if we respond to God’s call to us in this time of challenge and change with a clear sense of shared mission and values, and with a capable organization and commitment to the long-term, then God will use our sending capacity to accomplish His ministry of reconciliation in us and through us. Growth – Bearing Fruit – is God’s gift to the church that is well planted and sufficiently watered.

Let’s go, church (plant and water together, pivot with our friends to the future, and prepare for what’s next by being anchored in Christ together)…

Pastor Jeff

jeff@bgmc.net

P.S. – There’s been some healthy, compassionate candor directed my way in the past week. THANK YOU. I’m at the A&N Diner Mondays from 7:30am (assuming the ice scraper works!) to 8:45am. I’m at the Broad Street Grind Fridays from 3:30 to 4:45pm. I’m at these venues to listen to your compassionate candor. I’m also available at other times. Just let me know. – jw

Dear Church,

I observed that, during our California stay, it snowed in Blooming Glen. Ugh. Snow, in my humble theological opinion, is a consequence of human sinfulness, because it didn’t snow in the Garden of Eden.

Of course, I’m kidding (a little). Still, I don’t like snow. I don’t like to walk in the snow. I don’t like to drive in the snow. I like to observe snow. From a distance. A great distance.

Snow’s slippery qualities as I walk, and as I drive, can make me anxious about the process of trying to get from here to there.

Part of the challenge of living in southeast Pennsylvania is the opportunity it affords me to try to overcome my anxiousness and learn how to navigate in the snow.

Here at Blooming Glen, we have a similar opportunity. We are in an environment where we need to overcome our anxiousness about the past and the future and learn together how to navigate the way of Jesus following in the world as it is…snow and all.

Navigating in the snow of the world as it is, requires us to have specialized equipment. For a southern Californian, such specialized equipment includes making sure there is an ice scrapper in the front seat, that the tires are properly inflated, and that the car’s defroster works well. These simple steps are important in getting around in the snow.

In the life of Christian discipleship, tools like reliance on the scriptures, practicing compassionate candor, and seeking to be generous with our neighbors, are tools of “gratitude and godliness.”

The late Coach John Wooden (who coached, btw, at UCLA!) was a man of much wisdom – wisdom that was, and is, applicable on and off the basketball court. One of his best quotes is, “Be quick, but don’t hurry.” That’s what we are trying to do at Blooming Glen. Be quick to embrace the changes needed to continue to align our mission, values, ministry, and leadership, and eliminate the hesitations that create delays and push us toward life in the “maybes.” Be quick to learn from, forgive, and move on from mistakes. Be quick to follow our instincts. But don’t hurry. As the psychologist Carl Jung once said, “Hurry is not of the devil. Hurry IS the devil.”

When it is snowing, we can walk or drive quickly, but we slip into dangerous territory when we get in a hurry.

So, Blooming Glen sisters and brothers, in this winter quarter, and this season of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, may we be, “quick to listen, slow to speak, and even slower to anger”(James 1.19). In doing so, we will continue to grow as a church that is urgent in our ministry, but not anxious in our relationships.

Let’s go, church (and be quick, not hurried…)

Pastor Jeff

www.jeff@bgmc.net

P.S. Lord willing, Debbie and I return to PA on Fri, Nov 29. I look forward to being at the pulpit this Sun, to being back Mon morning, Dec 2 to our weekly listening breakfasts at 7:30-8:45am, at the A&N Diner, and to be back Fri afternoon, Dec 6, for coffee at the Broad Street Grind, 3:30-4:45pm.