Dear Beloveds of NDPC,
We celebrate another year of ministry together and congratulate each other that we have made it through another year of the pandemic. When we ordain elders each year, we ask them to serve with “energy, intelligence, imagination and love.” As your co-pastors we give thanks that all of our leaders and volunteers serve with these gifts. 2021 required other gifts, too, such as flexibility and grace and the ability to upgrade our technological skills as we had to pivot many times and change plans.
Our ministries look very different than they did in January of 2020. We have had to learn how to track worship attendance differently and how to fellowship in smaller virtual groups rather than in large gatherings with coffee or food. Our service opportunities are socially distanced. We mourn the lack of the face-to-face events we love but also celebrate the innovation of feeding neighbors through the Free99Fridge and the space to evaluate and invest in our property with solar panels and a playground renovation.
2021 was not the church year we planned. And yet, we welcomed new members and baptized babies. We studied the Bible together, proclaimed the Word and praised God with song. We supported non-profit partners, old and new, above and beyond our budgeted commitments. We helped individuals in need. We advocated for justice. We sought to keep the vulnerable safe. We followed the example of a Matthew 25 church.
2021 was not what we planned and yet we fulfilled our church vision as it is stated:
God is calling us to new places in faith and mission,
And to ministries not yet imagined.
We seek to follow Jesus Christ,
empowered by the Holy Spirit,
emboldened by the love of God.
This report is a letter of gratitude from your elders to you for all you have offered of your time, talents and prayers to be Christ’s hands and feet in the world and to help North Decatur Presbyterian Church be a loving body of Christ on earth.
With the Peace of Christ,
David and Beth
Read Annual report 2021