A Messige from Julie
I wanted to write one last "Full Circle submission" as a Stephen Ministry Leader. Writing this chapter in my 26 years in Stephen Ministry has been such a rich plumbing of what the people of First Congregational Church of Bellingham, United Church of Christ, has given to my life. There have been so many countless hours of reflection after amazing changes in our church life. Sharing our history, our culture, our devotions, branding my heart with so much love over so many years. I like to think about the growth that happens to us all when we love a life over long years. Somewhere in the moldy recesses of my brain, someone said once, "our faith is like biology, growing … if it isn't growing, it might be dead."
Seeing wonderful life happening, knowing the miracles that create it all together, again and again, over the years, is what I think might be the challenge given to us all when we're born. I certainly feel one such challenge happened to me when I joined this church and stayed to "biologize" ... to choose Stephen Ministry as a way to do that. There were many inspiring contributors who pried open thoughts that came along. Stephen Ministry gave those thoughts permission time and again. I always prayed thoughts that flew in would have resonance for others of our church family. Believing in the value of Stephen Ministry programming in our lives, having seen the "miracles" happen and lives enriched, convinces me it is one very essential ingredient to faith community health. Bless all of you who have honored the thinking by reading when I have written, allowing YOUR thinking to grow. May those thoughts "flow on in endless song," always. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Julie Gorrell
