I have been a member here at Bethany for almost seven years now. I have been a member of the thoughts prayers action team for six of those years. For the majority of that time we have been learning, working on and prayerfully considering this RIC journey we have been on. I'm so proud of the time and effort and the thoughtfulness that has been used in discerning Bethany Lutheran's participation in this project.
In June of 2019, the Thoughts, Prayers, Action group(TPA) marched in the first pride parade in Woodstock. We carried a banner and handed out candy. We were overwhelmed with the love and support we were shown. We also saw that there was so much excitement and gratitude that we would walk and proclaim our support in a public venue. We realized that there was a need in our community that members of our community felt underrepresented.
TPA leadership began discussion on what we can do to fill this void and support our community. This is when we began looking into RIC certification and if it would be a good fit for Bethany Lutheran Church. In the early fall there was information courses and core group planning meetings that we could sign up for. In October of 2019 TPA received permission from our church council to attend these courses and explore going through the process.
On November 6th and 7th of 2019 I was fortunate to be one of the TPA members that was able to attend this RIC meeting.
In February of 2020, several other members of the TPA were able to attend another meeting reconciling works hosted. Sadly COVID struck and halted most of the progress we made in this area. TPA shifted to helping with food insecurity in the community. Always intending to return to the RIC process.
In May 31st of 2022 Karla Malpica and Nichole Nordschow made a presentation to council. Council advised to continue progress and create a timeline for final processing.
A series of life events and changing circumstances led to Karla Malpica, Kristen Cannon, and Nichole Nordschow no longer being involved with the process.
This delayed things even further. New leadership of TPA picked up the work on the current program that we all are familiar with. RIC has long been in mind for this congregation with over five years of effort and research going into it. With presentations given to three different church councils and earning support from each of them. I'm so excited that we are nearing the finish line and I'm proud of the work the TPA committee has done.
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