Hello Plymouth! It’s been a little while since I’ve shared Council updates with you all so I figured that a mid-Spring missive was in order.
I’d like to first thank the handful of folks who have made it to one of our monthly Council Drop-in sessions. We very much appreciate it when you visit with us and share what is on your minds and hearts about Plymouth. These opportunities happen the second Wednesday of the month with the next one occurring June 14th at 7pm. If you’d like a link to the virtual (Zoom) meeting, please email Diane Jacobsen at by 5 pm the day of. You can also contact Council by emailing us at council@plymouthchurchseattle.org.
In April the Council officers hosted a meeting with the chairs or representatives from the other Boards, Committees, and lay leader teams where we shared what we have been working on and our plans for the upcoming year. We also compared notes and identified several communication and organizational challenges that sometimes slow things down. Be on the lookout for two things that will help address these challenges: 1) a Who to Go to For What flyer, and 2) a Plymouth staff and clergy organizational chart. These will be posted on the church website in the coming weeks and the congregation will be alerted to this development via announcements in the Herald.
Also in Council news, the entire Council and our clergy ex officio Council members, Revs. Kelle Brown and Kevin Bechtold, gathered for a fantastic in-person retreat at Plymouth this past Saturday. After an inspired and inspiring team building exercise led by Council member Dr. Tiffany Johnson, Rev. Tara Barber led us in what was hands down the best boundary training any of us could recall ever having experienced. Using Ephesians 11-16 to ground us, Rev. Barber gently challenged us to consider questions like “In whose interest am I lifting this up?” and “How would this affect the vision, ministry, health, and future of Plymouth church?” and “What’s my stake in this?” where “this” is any number of things that could come up in the life of our church community that Council needs to exercise prayerful intentionality around. We then broke taco shells together and enjoyed one another’s company before closing out with a round robin about why we each said “Yes” to serving Plymouth by being on Council.
Finally, although you will be hearing directly from them soon, I want to let you know that the Developer Selection Committee (DSC) is off to a beautiful and strong start. As planned, Vice Moderator, Matt Durland, is the primary ex officio member of the DSC representing Council and he, along with the clergy ex officios, Revs. Kelle Brown and Kevin Bechtold, have been folded into the day-to-day and week-to-week workings of the committee. The entire DSC is absolutely committed to the work before them and absolutely committed to doing the work in ways that make manifest the beloved community. In particular, the way the DSC members are collectively forging a non-hierarchical approach to the work is inspiring and exciting. And, they are working diligently in tandem with our consultants, Meriwether Partners, LLC, to faithfully center Plymouth in engagements with developers and the community. As confidentiality is an important part of the early work of the committee, the DSC is discerning its ongoing communication with the congregation, and will share more in the coming days.
The above is just a brief, tiny glimpse of all the great work that Plymouth lay leaders, clergy, and staff are doing on behalf of our entire community and the wider world. If you feel moved to plug in and help in small, medium, or large ways, please let us know!
Peace and love to you all,
Tracy Simpson, Plymouth Moderator