The Winds of Change
“The Winds of Change’ is a title for a famous speech by a British Prime Minister in the 1960’s. It marked the end of an empire. Great Britain, an empire of which the sun never set because of its global reach, was changing. Many nations broke away from the empire and it was never the same. Though certainly some of those changes had immense consequences, most people look back on that era of colonialism and see how much damage it did. Change is not invariably bad. In fact, change can often be exactly what we need.
When it comes to Grace United Methodist Church we are always on the lookout for change. Not any old change for the sake of change, but the right kind of change that will bring us closer to what God wants for us as a church. Our goal is to “close the gap” between the world as it is and the world as it should be. We hope our changes bring us a step closer to that ideal kingdom God desires for all. Sometimes it the smallest things. Other times its a change that may have an outsized impact. Often we don’t like change, but if it brings us closer to the kingdom, let’s embrace it.
So, there are several changes happening at Grace right now. The first is we have hired a new administrative assistant! Her name is Kristine Pepper and she has extensive experience with the Wyckoff YMCA and is the editor for the Ridgewood Magazine. We are grateful for her connection here and know she will be a tremendous asset. She will work Monday through Friday from 10am-12pm. You can find her in the main office and her contact will be the same info@gumc.org email address you’ve been using to reach the church office. Now, you might be wondering, ‘what about Hilda?’ She uses that info@gumc.org email address. Where will she be? The answer is right at her desk where she always is! When she joined us, she took on two roles at the church; finance and administration. With the myriad of things happening in her own life, she has asked to reduce her role and focus solely on the finances of the church. With Kristine joining us she can now do that, so you can reach Hilda Gomez at her new email address, finance@gumc.org. She’ll be partnering with Kristine for several weeks before setting a new schedule for her finance role.
There’s more change at Grace than that, though. We are also adding a custodian and groundskeeper, Christopher DeMaria. Chris has a background at the Ridgewood Country Club and is a master when it comes to caring for lawns (its true! some of our members are already asking for a chipping green to be installed on church property!). Chris will take on three jobs when he joins us: daily custodial cleaning, weekly lawn care service and maintenance as needed. You may recall we attempted this transition a few years ago and it didn’t happen. Well now its happening and we are hopeful for a positive change that will see almost triple the hours dedicated to these tasks.
A third major change is in the music ministry. After many discussions, the Church Council and SPRC conferred with our music director to set a new course for our music ministry. We are looking forward to hiring a cantor to better support our weekly worship service. You may recall we have gone back and forth on this particular issue. Most recently we were relying on our church choir to provide the vocal support for morning worship. Though they are an excellent choir, there were too many Sundays where only one or two choir members singing. Some Sundays had zero singers, and our online audience had to suffer with the vocals of the pastor alone! So, with some generous financial support, we will look to hire a cantor as soon as possible to support worship and our church choir. More details to come on that front.
Overall, these three changes will add up to some big changes. Because of two specifically directed financial gifts for these areas given to the church there will be no financial impact for the church in 2026. We are hopeful that these changes will draw in new people and give more space and time to better nurture the current members of the church. Its certainly an exciting time for Grace, but know that the winds of change are not arbitrary. They are meant to draw us to the kingdom as we better model the life of Jesus in our own lives, in the church and in the world. Let us know how we are doing as you see these changes happen. God bless!
— Pastor Brian Neville