In the hope for transparency and understanding, Council communicated with our congregation a list of priorities over the past few months. Our focus has been on finding a Transitional Pastor for FGCC and we are so grateful that Reg and Brenda Toews have accepted this invitation and we anticipate their start date of January 1.
Our other priorities have been to acknowledge that there is some work to do around our multisite structure and the TRC proposal process that occurred in Spring. We believe that these 2 topics are connected, and they point to some structural and governance concerns that need to be addressed in the coming months.
Council will continue to communicate with the congregation as we begin to discuss and talk through the events that occurred around the TRC proposal in Spring 2021. We have started processing this together and it will be a priority at the Council Retreat this month. We will continue to ask God for direction and leading, and grace for one another as we look to provide more clarity and direction regarding our response.
As Council we recognize that there was breakdown in the process from the leadership level and we regret that the process was not held with more care and caution. We recognize that many people were hurt along the way, and we are sorry. Council wants to own and acknowledge that this breakdown in governance has created pain and division in our church.
As a church council, we have heard the desire from our church to engage in the work of reconciliation as a response to the command Jesus gives to his disciples in Matt 22:36-40. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself…” We will continue to focus on our mission and work towards an appropriate process and response.