United Church of Warsaw

Since last summer a dedicated group of people worked off and on through the year to write a revised Mission Statement and create a new Vision Plan for the church. This Mission Study Team met several times and did their “homework” to prepare for our meetings. They took the results of the Listening Groups and the fall Focus Groups and Questionnaires and turned that into the Vision Plan included in this newsletter in its final form. The Session gave its final approval at the March meeting, and the Pastoral Nominating Committee is already using it as they prepare for their search. Our boards and other leaders will use it to guide their work and decisions in the coming years.

Thank you to our Mission Study Team:

Ellen Chandler, Betty Burley, Matt Meyer, Bob Cummins, Betty James, Marian Fisher, and Steve Meyer.

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I’ll be away for two continuing education events this spring and want you to know about them:

Spiritual Directors International Conference – I’ll be in Southern California from April 20-25 to attend this conference with Joy. We are both trained spiritual directors, and she is the regional director for most of New York State. We’ll meet with other directors from around the world. [As a special benefit, we will be there about the time of my dad’s 80^th birthday and will celebrate with him.]

Values Realization Institute National Conference – This conference is May 5-7 in Canandaigua. It’s not far away, but I’m presenting a workshop there on Sunday. I’ll be speaking on Core Values and the polarization we’re experiencing in our world. – And I’ll do that same presentation at a Resource Saturday workshop at the Presbytery Resource Center in Brighton on Saturday, May 13.