2019 Ministry Report: God has blessed our shared work
Dear NWC Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Grace and peace to you in the Name of the Lord Jesus … the Name above all names!
As most of you know, the Northwest Conference 2020 Annual Meeting that was to be held last April at Minnehaha Academy had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, we missed out on a wonderful time of fellowship, encouragement and inspiration. We were also unable to attend to some of the normal business that is always part of each April gathering.
With all that has emerged related to the pandemic, as well as more recent events surrounding the terrible death of George Floyd and subsequent upheaval in our nation, it has felt like a “disconnect” to send out information relative to that which would have been shared at the 2020 Annual Meeting.
Quite frankly, it feels like there has not been an appropriate time to provide a report on past ministry in the NWC from 2019 with all that our churches and pastors have had to do in these days of disequilibrium.
And yet, NWC leadership is ultimately accountable to our churches and those delegated to represent them under normal circumstances. Therefore, we have now chosen to make the information that would have been distributed in person via hard-copy available in electronic form on the NWC website.
Again, please keep in mind that this material is primarily intended to be a retrospective accounting of ministry in 2019. Therefore, do not be surprised that it is shared without many references to current events which were unknown at the time that these materials are intended to address.
We offer this in thankfulness for the ways that God blessed our shared work in the past, confident that He will continue to use all of us for His glory and neighbor’s good, even in the midst of our current challenges and opportunities.
Mark R. Stromberg, Superintendent