Reflections on Three Years
Tonight I have my last duty as a deacon at church. My replacement has been voted in and tonight we are having our first-annual retreat as kind of a hand-off to the new and a send-off to the old. Maybe that send off will be a drop-kick out the door, I’m not sure.
It’s been an eventful three years at our church since I became a deacon. Just before I started, our pastor had left after a difficult period. As a deacon, I served on the search committee for the new pastor, being involved on the building plans, and then being a leader in our Stewardship Campaign this past spring. This is in addition to setting the church budget and being a Treasurer. Thankfully, I didn’t have to do the day-to-day expenses since someone has volunteered their own accounting expertise on this matter, but it’s still good to keep an eye on it. I was also fortunate enough to do to two Classis meetings during my tenure. All this happened in the midst of having a day job, and being a husband and father.
I learned a lot — not just about how church works, but about vision, leading, how other people view church, how to compromise, why decisions in the church take so long to make, etc. And more about myself, too – I am more confident now in my decisions I make and now I am more secure with the other people in church. And my faith has strengthened, too, through this — I got to see God work on the front lines of our church and to see a congregation of tired members became excited about their faith again. Those events didn’t come from me, but God caused them — I just was able to see.
But after three eventful years, I’m ready to step down. Let someone else take the reigns while I rest and find other things that God wants to show me.
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