The time has come for the church to take a step of faith. Normally I would call it a "leap" but since we know the person involved so well and we are confident in the direction that the Lord is leading us, it doesn't quite feel like a leap, just a very big step.
What is that step? The church board has invited our former youth pastor, Rev. Megan Polowski, to come back to the Yukon and serve as our associate pastor in the church. Pastor Megan has considered this call and after prayer and consideration she feels led to accept our invitation.
Why are we doing this? Two reasons:
1) It is clear that the Whitehorse Church has been seeing unusual growth. In my 37 years here, I have not seen anything like it. We literally have some new people with us virtually every Sunday. My rough guess is that at least a third of the congregation has been with us less than a year. We have many more people and we have many more ministry needs among us and more is yet to come.
2) I have long felt that while our church has been growing numerically, I have wanted to see more personal growth. I realize this is incredibly difficult (if not impossible) to measure statistically (and I'm not suggesting that there isn't any personal growth happening in the lives of our people), but it seems like we are missing out on discipleship (and to a lesser part, outreach). I believe an associate pastor with skills in these areas will be an asset to the church in coming alongside the leaders we already have in place.
Why Pastor Megan?
Good question. We already have several ordained and licensed pastors in Whitehorse. The natural question is, do we need another? The church board chose Pastor Megan particularly because we felt confident that Megan is well suited to help meet the growing ministry needs of this congregation. She is an ordained elder, she has been serving as pastor to two congregations for 11 years, she is gifted in the areas of ministry that we are lacking in, she is a skilled teacher, and because we know her and her love for the North, it will be a natural transition for her back to Whitehorse. "Here's the key, here's the office.... go for it!" (I'm over simplifying it, but that's the gist).
Who is Pastor Megan?
Megan Polowski is a graduate of Nazarene University College (now Ambrose). While a student at NUC Megan spent two summers in the Yukon, working in our daycare, leading our VBS and falling in love with the North. After graduation in 2004 she moved to Whitehorse. In August 2005 she began our youth group. In June 2006 she received her first District Ministers license. She has since ministered to well over 100 kids, held hundreds of youth events, and has taken the youth on several trips including; YC in Edmonton, three60five in Nipawin, Saskatchewan, a youth conference in Mexico and a work & witness trip to Poland.
Megan was also involved on our Worship Team, has been Director of VBS nine years, served on our daycare committee, and has been involved in just about anything, especially if there was pizza or iced cappuccino mentioned.
While living in the Yukon, she has taken up hunting caribou near the Arctic circle, hiking the historic Chilkoot Trail and many more outdoor adventures including jumping into near frozen rivers and lakes.
She was ordained an elder in the Church of the Nazarene in June 2011. She served in Whitehorse until September 30, 2011, when she was called outside the Yukon.
Can the Church Afford this?
Bringing on an experienced full-time associate will have serious financial ramifications. This is true, and this is where that "step of faith" comes in. We believe that by God's grace and the continued faithfulness of His people, we can maintain (and even improve) our ministry in the church and the community without going too much into our reserve ministry funds.
For the past several years the church has done well financially. The Lord has blessed the church; God's people have been faithful; and we have been careful with the financial resources that we have been entrusted with. And we really do see it as an entrustment. We do not spend money "just because we have it", nor do we put it away in savings "just because we don't want to spend it". We have put aside a reasonable amount of the excess funds in a "ministry reserve" fund. We believe the time has come for us to make use of those funds as a safety net in our budget.
These reserve funds will enable us to take a step of faith with a good measure of confidence. We are not anxious to exhaust our reserve funds, but having them enables us to move forward with a reasonable plan. Of course, we would like to keep as much of the ministry reserve funds in place for other future ministries as well (and there are some in mind). All that to say, if you have been giving your tithe, I thank you for that and I am absolutely NOT asking you to give more. But if you have not, or if you have let your tithe slip, I encourage you to think about this and let the Lord lead you accordingly. Perhaps this is the time to get on track.
Where do we go from here?
Please continue in prayer. Even good changes are still stressful. As I mentioned at the beginning of Lent, I encourage you to pray over these three "general" areas:
1) The Congregation. We have so many wonderful people, but some of them are facing difficult challenges. Some health, some family issues, some mental health, some loneliness, some aging, some parenting issues. On and on the list goes. Pray for one another. Be a support to one another. Love one another as Christ has loved us.
2) The Church. By this I mean the general direction and ministries of the church. We have taken a step of faith, but it still needs to be realized. In the meantime, there are so many ministry opportunities. We have a wonderfully growing Sunday School (YES, we still need teachers), we have a long line-up of community events that we offer, we have missions projects that we are undertaking, and I know there is more. Pray for the leaders (pastors and board). Pray for our wonderful Filipino congregation. Pray that we can figure out what to do with our growing need for more space for our worship service. These are big items.
3) The Children. My heart goes out to the children (and their parents). I'm sure every generation has said this sort of thing... but it sure seems to be more difficult for children today than it was in the past. Pray for the kids. There are so many demands on them, so many "voices" telling them what to do or what to believe. And in the meantime, it sure seems like the role of parents is being minimized in many circles. Pray that our children will know and love the Lord. And of course, that means praying for the parents as well.
Thank you!
If you have hung in there until the end of this unusually long message... thank you! Thank you for caring. Thank you for being a part of the Church. Thank you for your love and grace and faithfulness. It is because of people like you, that being a pastor is a blessing and a joy.
Pastor Norman
What is that step? The church board has invited our former youth pastor, Rev. Megan Polowski, to come back to the Yukon and serve as our associate pastor in the church. Pastor Megan has considered this call and after prayer and consideration she feels led to accept our invitation.
Why are we doing this? Two reasons:
1) It is clear that the Whitehorse Church has been seeing unusual growth. In my 37 years here, I have not seen anything like it. We literally have some new people with us virtually every Sunday. My rough guess is that at least a third of the congregation has been with us less than a year. We have many more people and we have many more ministry needs among us and more is yet to come.
2) I have long felt that while our church has been growing numerically, I have wanted to see more personal growth. I realize this is incredibly difficult (if not impossible) to measure statistically (and I'm not suggesting that there isn't any personal growth happening in the lives of our people), but it seems like we are missing out on discipleship (and to a lesser part, outreach). I believe an associate pastor with skills in these areas will be an asset to the church in coming alongside the leaders we already have in place.
Why Pastor Megan?
Good question. We already have several ordained and licensed pastors in Whitehorse. The natural question is, do we need another? The church board chose Pastor Megan particularly because we felt confident that Megan is well suited to help meet the growing ministry needs of this congregation. She is an ordained elder, she has been serving as pastor to two congregations for 11 years, she is gifted in the areas of ministry that we are lacking in, she is a skilled teacher, and because we know her and her love for the North, it will be a natural transition for her back to Whitehorse. "Here's the key, here's the office.... go for it!" (I'm over simplifying it, but that's the gist).
Who is Pastor Megan?
Megan Polowski is a graduate of Nazarene University College (now Ambrose). While a student at NUC Megan spent two summers in the Yukon, working in our daycare, leading our VBS and falling in love with the North. After graduation in 2004 she moved to Whitehorse. In August 2005 she began our youth group. In June 2006 she received her first District Ministers license. She has since ministered to well over 100 kids, held hundreds of youth events, and has taken the youth on several trips including; YC in Edmonton, three60five in Nipawin, Saskatchewan, a youth conference in Mexico and a work & witness trip to Poland.
Megan was also involved on our Worship Team, has been Director of VBS nine years, served on our daycare committee, and has been involved in just about anything, especially if there was pizza or iced cappuccino mentioned.
While living in the Yukon, she has taken up hunting caribou near the Arctic circle, hiking the historic Chilkoot Trail and many more outdoor adventures including jumping into near frozen rivers and lakes.
She was ordained an elder in the Church of the Nazarene in June 2011. She served in Whitehorse until September 30, 2011, when she was called outside the Yukon.
Can the Church Afford this?
Bringing on an experienced full-time associate will have serious financial ramifications. This is true, and this is where that "step of faith" comes in. We believe that by God's grace and the continued faithfulness of His people, we can maintain (and even improve) our ministry in the church and the community without going too much into our reserve ministry funds.
For the past several years the church has done well financially. The Lord has blessed the church; God's people have been faithful; and we have been careful with the financial resources that we have been entrusted with. And we really do see it as an entrustment. We do not spend money "just because we have it", nor do we put it away in savings "just because we don't want to spend it". We have put aside a reasonable amount of the excess funds in a "ministry reserve" fund. We believe the time has come for us to make use of those funds as a safety net in our budget.
These reserve funds will enable us to take a step of faith with a good measure of confidence. We are not anxious to exhaust our reserve funds, but having them enables us to move forward with a reasonable plan. Of course, we would like to keep as much of the ministry reserve funds in place for other future ministries as well (and there are some in mind). All that to say, if you have been giving your tithe, I thank you for that and I am absolutely NOT asking you to give more. But if you have not, or if you have let your tithe slip, I encourage you to think about this and let the Lord lead you accordingly. Perhaps this is the time to get on track.
Where do we go from here?
Please continue in prayer. Even good changes are still stressful. As I mentioned at the beginning of Lent, I encourage you to pray over these three "general" areas:
1) The Congregation. We have so many wonderful people, but some of them are facing difficult challenges. Some health, some family issues, some mental health, some loneliness, some aging, some parenting issues. On and on the list goes. Pray for one another. Be a support to one another. Love one another as Christ has loved us.
2) The Church. By this I mean the general direction and ministries of the church. We have taken a step of faith, but it still needs to be realized. In the meantime, there are so many ministry opportunities. We have a wonderfully growing Sunday School (YES, we still need teachers), we have a long line-up of community events that we offer, we have missions projects that we are undertaking, and I know there is more. Pray for the leaders (pastors and board). Pray for our wonderful Filipino congregation. Pray that we can figure out what to do with our growing need for more space for our worship service. These are big items.
3) The Children. My heart goes out to the children (and their parents). I'm sure every generation has said this sort of thing... but it sure seems to be more difficult for children today than it was in the past. Pray for the kids. There are so many demands on them, so many "voices" telling them what to do or what to believe. And in the meantime, it sure seems like the role of parents is being minimized in many circles. Pray that our children will know and love the Lord. And of course, that means praying for the parents as well.
Thank you!
If you have hung in there until the end of this unusually long message... thank you! Thank you for caring. Thank you for being a part of the Church. Thank you for your love and grace and faithfulness. It is because of people like you, that being a pastor is a blessing and a joy.
Pastor Norman
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