I am currently reading a book called, “Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory” by Tod E. Bolsinger. It’s very good and I can’t wait to finish it. But I wanted to share just a bit of it with you. As you may remember from American history the team of Lewis and Clarke were on expedition to discover the newly acquired land after the Louisiana purchase. They made it to the Mississippi river by navigating waterways via canoes. But once they crossed the great river, they found no more water ways. So, they were forced to make a choice. It’s obvious that you can’t scale mountains with canoes, so they had to abandon them. They knew nothing about the territory, so they ended up with a native American guide know as Sacagawea who led them the rest of the way. At this point they weren’t even sure what their target was. 

What the book describes is the church is often in the same position as Lewis and Clark. Things were going along great and then the landscape changed. The author suggests that like Lewis and Clark as a church sometimes we need to get rid of our canoes. In other words, what always worked in the past might not work for the future. The second thing was because the landscape had changed drastically, they need someone to guide them. As the church sometimes it’s the same way for us. And lastly, what is our goal… what is our Pacific Ocean?

This Sunday we are having an informational meeting to discuss the future of Peace Lutheran Church. We have made some major changes to the budget and would like the input of our members. Going forward I’d like us to ponder these questions for Peace Lutheran Church:

1.) What are our canoes…what used to work, but now doesn’t serve us?
2.) Who will be our Sacagaweas… who can guide us into the uncharted territory?
3.) What is our Pacific Ocean… where are we as a church headed?

So, I strongly encourage you to attend the meeting following worship this Sunday as we work together to see where God may be leading Peace Lutheran Church. These are exciting times for sure!

See you Sunday!