• Both Morrison Zion Leadership Team and Immanuel Shirley Council met last week Wednesday, August 7 and committees were formed.

• Great care was given so that there would be fair representation on the subcommittees, even when there were fewer Immanuel members who volunteered than Morrison members.  

• The subcommittees are: Ministry, Finance, School, Property, Human Resources, and Governance. Both men and women were selected to serve on the subcommittees. The History subcommittee was not seen as necessary at this time since our joint ministry plans do not necessitate its formation.  

• For the executive committee (which oversees the entire process), co-chairs of Nick Dobberpuhl from Immanuel and Kris Scheider from Morrison Zion were elected. 

• The chairmen (men) of each subcommittee will also serve on the executive committee. 

• The term “Merge for Missions” was discussed. Does this term cause confusion and allow for misinterpretation?  Does “Merge for Mission” communicate the main question of “Can we do more together, for the gospel and sharing Jesus, than if we are separate?” There are many issues to consider when we are asking this question:

• The gospel mandate and ever-changing work of reaching out in the community
  • Caring for members, active members and those who are either inactive or straying
  • Distance no longer being the obstacle it was 120 years ago
  • The shortage of called workers
  • The time to consider this idea seems to be now for many reason

• Both councils saw the need for both church buildings/locations to be used in worship and ministry, so what might be a better term for what we are discussing?  “A partnership?”  “A marriage multisite?”  The work has just begun and is entirely separate from the joint early childcare ministry effort.

Morrison Zion and Immanuel Shirley Joint Ministry Committee