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Church Conference: Challenges
By: Pastor Dave | November 20, 2025 | Church Conference, Discipleship, Holy Spirit, Pastoral Letter
Dear Minooka UMC Found Family,
Last week in this space, I shared a bit about our Church Conference that occurred at the end of October. You can read part one by clicking here. Today, I offer the second part.
I asked our committee chairpersons and the leaders of our various ministries to offer a narrative reflection on these three questions:
1) We’ve celebrated wins all year. As you look back over your ministry in 2025, what wins stand out the most?
2) We’ve adopted an attitude of experimentation. As you look back over your ministry in 2025, what challenge stands out?
3) We continue to be people guided by hope. As you plan your ministry for 2026, how will you embody hope?
I encourage you to pick up a copy of the 2025 Church Conference report to read all their inspiring responses. Again, you can also read my response to the first question here. Moving on to question number two:
Getting people to fully engage with our Offering of Letters was a big challenge this year. Participation was down from 2024. Perhaps the political climate in our country contributed to people not being as engaged in that effort. Perhaps the ask of the letters wasn’t inspiring enough. Perhaps the presentation of the issues and letter writing procedures weren’t clear enough or good enough. So many questions! We are definitely still experimenting with our Offering of Letters.
Our Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Holy Week worship experiences were—according to feedback from those who participated—powerful, meaningful, and appreciated. Yet, those worship services were also sparsely attended. More fully engaging with more people as we encounter the final days and hours of Jesus’ life remains a challenge.
Minooka UMC is very good at offering a plethora of small groups for learning and serving…during the daytime. One of our biggest challenges right now and into 2026, is finding leaders for and then offering more evening gatherings for those who work or are otherwise unavailable during the day.
Plotting Goodness,
Pastor Dave
