For most of us, summer ends with the beginning of school not the fall equinox. August now means the start-up of our fall programming after the summer break. If you are in a new church it really feels like the kickoff or the new beginning. The summer months are like warm up laps; getting moved, getting to know people, discovering the expectations, potential, and rhythm of this particular congregation. This is the time we move into implementing the means of disciple-making that can have consistency of participation.
However, even though our church year runs June to June, the calendar year is also at work in our thinking about where we are and how we intend to finish the year. It is a time when we begin to prepare for Charge Conference, which means not just looking at next year, but assessing where we are this year. Now is time we look hard at how we are doing evangelistically and financially. Where are we in our connectional giving towards apportionments? Are we so far behind schedule it seems impossible to catch up? What are we going to do to change our giving if in decline? How are we doing in reaching our evangelism goals? What is our worship attendance compared to last year? What are we going to do to continue a good upward trend or reverse a downward one? How is our participation in small groups for discipleship? All these are important considerations as we move into the fall and start planning for next year at the same time.
Sometimes we come out of a busy Spring so exhausted all we want to do in the summer is catch our breath, and as a result we don’t always find time to review, reflect, and retool for the last half of the year. As school begins and the fall schedules crank up, just summoning up more energy to work harder and do more isn’t an adequate answer. Albert Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” It may be that we are getting the exact results we are designed to get in our ministry, whether good or bad. So if the results are not what we want, our energy may need to go into review, reflection, and retooling for a different result. So whether the end of summer feels like the start or the homestretch, finishing well is important and part of that is preparing for where we go next.
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