Siblings in Christ,
At our annual Appointive Cabinet retreat, the Western PA Cabinet met with the West Virginia Appointive Cabinet and representatives from the Susquehanna Appointive Cabinet. After a time of worship and collaborative conversation, our WPA Appointive Cabinet developed its priorities for the 2022 appointment season.
Those priorities as we make appointments are:
- Anchoring ourselves personally and our work collectively in Christ
- Bathing all that we do in prayer and discernment
- Making the mission of making disciples the top priority
- Working to foster connections among clergy and lay leadership and with the district and annual conference
- Empowering lay and clergy leadership on the district level
- Caring for our clergy and their families
- Being intentional about striking a balance between caring for pastors and congregations
- Honoring different expressions and contexts of incarnational ministry around the conference
- Stewarding our differences and unique giftedness
- Stewarding current divisions to cultivate vital church communities
- Fostering innovative relationships and ministries in the midst of COVID
- Attending to the spiritual vitality of our churches irrespective of size
Because of the number of people requesting retirement as of July 1, 2022, there will be several new appointments this year. So we will have many opportunities to match gifts and appropriate settings for ministry. I want to remind us all that clergy are appointed to ministry settings which include, but are not limited to, the local church. Therefore, I will be mindful of the opportunities for the clergy person to work in the local community, including with those who do not yet realize they are part of the family of God, when I make appointments.
I will honor the priorities listed above as I make those appointments for the overall good of the annual conference. As an Appointive Cabinet, we will anchor ourselves in Christ and bathe all that we do in prayer and discernment.
Mission, not salary or degree of comfort with the appointment, will be the top priority. While, I know this might provoke anxiety in some, I truly believe scripture when it says, as recorded in Matthew 6:33 NRSV:
“But strive first for the kingdom of God and all his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.”
And as one of our District Superintendents frequently says, “Trust the process.”
We will, as we do every year, post the appointments on the Conference website (www.wpaumc.org) after they are announced in the local church. We will include in each announcement something about the gifts of the clergy person and the opportunities for ministry that led me to discern that it would be an appropriate appointment.
As the Cabinet does its consultative work in appointment-making this year, I invite all to pray that God will grant the Cabinet members wisdom and courage in our discussions and me wisdom and courage to make kingdom-building appointments.
Blessings,
Cynthia Moore-Koikoi
Resident Bishop
