10/22/2021
A Time of Discernment
Dear Forest Church family, friends, and supporters,
Ferncliff Forest Church was a dream of a group of community members connected to Ferncliff. Some staff, some board members, some Nature Preschool families. They met together and imagined a worshipping community that would live into Ferncliff's natural spaces - connecting Creation with Creator.
Folks began worshipping together in the summer of 2019, and I joined the team that fall. Forest Church had been meeting once a month less than a year when the pandemic began. After taking a pause for the spring months when Covid-19 cases were high and understanding of transmission was low, Forest Church reconvened in June 2020 and continued meeting once a month since.
During the last year and a half of unprecedented times, interest in and connection to Forest Church has ebbed and flowed. As we learned that indoor worship posed higher risks of transmission, folks felt more comfortable with outdoor worship and many found Forest Church because of that. Park Hill Presbyterian Church invited their whole congregation to worship with Forest Church when their community was seeking in-person gatherings. Other times, as folks were finally able to take the travel they'd been putting off, got to see the grandparents, got back into their churches, or were staying home to keep their risk of transmission as low as possible - Forest Church has seen decreasing interest.
At this point, it's time we take a step back. Forest Church will not be hosting upcoming worship gatherings. It's time to go back to the drawing board and discern what community Forest Church is seeking to serve, and what the needs of that community are, if any. We'll be asking the question: are there folks interested in creating something new together?
If you'd like to be at the table investing in creating the future of this ministry, send me an email at [email protected] or connect with me on my cell at 501-291-0836.
I hope that you will keep Ferncliff Forest Church, and all those connected to it, in your prayers.
Jocelyn
