WELCOME TO EPIPHANY

On Wednesday, April 28, Union Avenue will have its first big day with the EPIPHANY program, and we’d love for you to be a part of it!

EPIPHANY is a congregational transformation program from Disciples Hope Partnership Services and is part of the General Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  It helps inspire courageous leadership for connecting congregations to God’s mission in the world and in their local communities.  Through learning how to keep God’s mission in focus as we work toward realizing a new future for Union Avenue, EPIPHANY can give us insight into how we can better adapt to the shifting landscape of 21st-century ministry and become the church God needs us to be for ourselves, the communities we serve, our city, and the world abroad.  After the initial six-months of assessment, reflection, learning, and visioning, we’ll put our EPIPHANY experience to work as we implement a new future story and strive to grow Union Avenue in its presence of ministry, inviting new people into the life of our congregation and being coached by Hope Partnership Services all throughout our first year.

There are three big parts to the EPIPHANY program: an initial assessment, a leadership retreat, and a future story retreat.  These will each happen at different times during our initial six-month learning period, and those dates will be shared closer to their time.  The first part, the Assessment, will happen on Wednesday, April 28, with meetings between David Moore (our Hope Partnership Services “Assessor”) and church leaders, a tour of our building, tour of the neighborhood, and a review of our congregation’s demographics and analytical data for the past several years.  Following the assessment, a report will be written by Hope Partnership Services that will help us take a more structured look at who we are as a congregation and what we do as a church – helpful information for future leadership retreats and future story planning.

Most important to the Assessment is your participation in an evening Appreciative Inquiry Session we’ll hold via Zoom on April 28.  At this session, we’ll have a vibrant time of telling stories about Union Avenue, and specifically how our congregation has excelled in and strived toward meeting the spiritual, mission, and relational needs both within the congregation and with the outside community.  We strongly encourage you to be a part of this conversation, and be sure to let both myself and Rev. Michael know of your interest in participating.  This will be a special time to share our experiences of and dreams for Union Avenue that will help give our Assessor a well-informed picture of who we are and how we are as a congregation.

We are very excited to begin the EPIPHANY program and strongly encourage you to fully participate in it so as to help it bring the most benefit for us as we move forward into the future God has planned for Union Avenue.  Thank you for your faithful discipleship, and we look forward to having an EPIPHANY together soon!

— Robert Reed