December 4, 2007

Dear IN-MI Conference Colleagues in Ministry,

Greetings from the Conference Transition Team as we begin the Advent-Christmas season!

This letter is a simple but heart-felt invitation for you to join us in a journey—a journey of “dwelling in the word” as we anticipate the year ahead.

We as the Transition Team have been charged by you to lead our conference together into a new understanding of what it means to be a community of congregations, who “joyfully follow Jesus and cultivate missional imaginations in every congregation” (our new conference mission statement).

As we enter further into this challenge, we believe our specific committee, and the conference as a whole, will navigate this transition most “joyfully” if we find our source in scripture. In fact, we are proposing a specific passage for not only the Transition Team’s work, but for your elder group, our area councils, our cluster meetings, and our annual Conference Assembly. Will you join us in allowing this scripture to inform and shape our conference transformation process?

The chosen passage is Luke 10:1-12, the story of Jesus sending out the 70. We find this story to grow richer with each reading. We believe its call to leave the familiar and risk the future will be an important place of reference as we go forward.

As we envision the IN-MI Conference of the future, we are convinced that our work is not simply about technical adjustments in our structure. Rather, we are being called to change our whole thinking about how conference furthers God’s mission. And this is exciting!

So we are asking you to let us know how your “dwelling” with this passage shapes your thinking. We believe this corporate listening process will significantly shape our work and the ongoing discernment of who we become as a missional people.

Please join us in listening!

The Indiana-Michigan Conference Transition Team

Gene Hartman, chair

Dan Miller

Phil Mininger

Sarah Rohrer

Bill Scott

Klaudia Smucker

John Troyer

Timothy Burkholder (incoming)

Sherm Kauffman (outgoing)