The WCC Pandemic Discernment Community (PDC) is a task force of men and women within WCC from varied vocations (healthcare, education, business, hourly wage, furloughed, government, non-profit, etc), socio-economic realities, ages, and ethnicities. We believe each member offers a representative voice of the larger body of WCC. This is also consistent with WCC leaderships desire to listen to the Spirit's work among our church family. Therefore, this task force serves underneath the collective shepherding responsibilities of the WCC leadership (shepherd and staff) and be co-facilitated by Fred Liggin and Dr. Dawn Muench. We expect the task force to exist as long as the Pandemic and its recovery lasts.
The task for this PDC (Pandemic Discernment Community) is specific and focused solely on the WCC church family so together we can listen well from varied angles of society and points of view. We believe doing this will allow us to serve one another well as together we serve our city.
Most broadly there are four main objectives:
1. Assess and discern the needs of WCC family during the Pandemic season, primarily in the areas of emotional, physical, and social realities. We need to nurture life-giving connections to God in minds, bodies, and one another.
2. Assess and discern the needs of WCC family in the same way once the Pandemic subsides.
3. Present what is discerned and assessed to the shepherds and staff.
4. Pray.
Practically speaking there are at least five collective responsibilities:
- Prayerfully and actively listen for and discern the needs/challenges our WCC family faces during and after the pandemic. How is this effecting people emotionally? Socially in terms of their own family health and relational health? Physically, in terms of food and finances?
- Prayerfully and actively explore creative ways to facilitate needs people will have after, i.e. exploring and pooling resources to facilitate challenges.
- Prayerfully and actively assist and develop protocols that may arise.
- Prayerfully and actively serve as a representative voice of and to the congregation, i.e. “The WCC Pandemic Task Force has discerned…"
- Meet every Saturday morning at 9am via Zoom for at least one to one and a half hours to pray, assess the national news, and the week ahead in light of the week prior.
Primary modes of communication will include:
- Email & Zoom.
Our confession: only two among us have led and worked through health Pandemics in other countries. For the rest of us this is new territory . These four objectives and five responsibilities will be fluid. One thing is certain, this pandemic is teaching us is that it will take all of us.
On Behalf of WCC Leadership,
Fred Liggin
one of your pastors