I am on a pastoral retreat this week, until Wednesday.

This is a time to Rest, Reflect and Relate with and to my fellow ministers.

The schedule leaves lots of time for personal reflection and prayer, but last night we had dinner together as ministers of our network. I got to catch up with some ministers from the town next door and then we went into a worship and prayer session that lasted until about 10 P.M.

This morning I had breakfast with some mister friends from Framingham and the Cape and then we went into a time of spiritual discussion.

One of the main things I have heard as I have talked with ministers is about how COVID has changed the church and how so many of us as church leaders are still trying to figure out how to bring restoration to what we lost in the pandemic.

During my time of spiritual discussion with my minister friend from Framingham we chose to talk about what God did during pandemic to bless the church. How the pandemic wrought change in us that was actually positive.

As I got thinking about it the events of the recent past have really stood to inform my church’s future direction. Here are some of the changes I see in no particular order.

1. We have become much more focused on the value of personal relationships
2. We have become more committed to the purpose of the church in the world
3. We have built new and exciting ideas about outreach and how to do it in a relational context
4. We have grown in passion and love for one another and for those who are within our communities
5. We have grown in the area of creative thinking.

There are more changes that have come to us in the last two years, but these are some of the most profound.

WHAT ARE SOME POSITIVE THINGS THAT TOOK PLACE IN YOUR LIFE AND COMMUNITY OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS?