Summit Family,

Many of you are aware of the journey we have been on with our Easley congregation over the last several years. This year more specifically, we’ve invited you to join us in praying that the Lord would bring us a congregational pastor, so we could replant our Easley congregation.

Additionally, we’ve also been praying, if there is another direction the Lord is leading us, to make it known and give us courage to take that step. And we invited you to join us in praying this way…thank you to those of you who committed to praying with us.

We communicated with the Easley congregation at the beginning of the summer that we felt a sense of urgency to seek God’s leadership for a decision by this fall. Toward the end of summer, the opportunity to join with a partner church to potentially plant a new expression in Easley came to our attention, and we presented this to our Easley congregation.

And for the last month and a half, we’ve been in conversation about this opportunity. What became clear to our Elder Team throughout the process is the need to help our Easley congregation consider the next step we felt led to take as a leadership, which would clarify the steps each member would also need to prayerfully consider.

After prayerfully seeking the Lord’s direction the last few years, we believe this is the end of a chapter in the life of Summit Easley. Coming to this conclusion was one of the hardest decisions we’ve had to make in the life of our church. While we’ve spent a considerable amount of time unpacking the ‘why’ of this moment with our Easley congregation, here is the concluding statement we shared with them: “The best way for us to love and shepherd you is to entrust you always to the Lord first and now into healthy congregations with healthy pastoral leadership that is both personal and local.”

There is nothing easy about this, and yet, in the midst of this moment, there is the reality of hope. Hope is a fixed reality for us as followers ofJesus. A fixed reality that He is renewing and restoring all things. And it is this hope which allows us to grieve well. It is this hope which ensures that our grief doesn’t become unbearable. Grief has many, many things to say right now. Yet Hope quietly but confidently also speaks, “Even though this is the end of a chapter, this is not the end of the story.”

We are inviting our Summit Family to continue praying for the people of Summit Easley as we sit with, process, grieve, and help them consider the next steps God is leading them towards. As you pray, here are some prompts we invite you to name for the people of Summit Easley:

- Pray that they will continue to look only to Jesus. He is sufficient. He is good. He is faithful. He is worthy of their complete trust and allegiance.

- Pray that they will learn to believe that lament is a gift of grace; not something to run from. The things that we cannot understand are often the things God will use to deepen our faith and our joy.

- Pray that they will not give up on the church. The varied local expressions of the church, although imperfect and flawed, is beloved by God and is His vehicle to accomplish His purposes. May God lead them into healthy expressions.

- Pray that no one from Summit Easley will give ear to the lies of the enemy. He is a liar, and he is defeated. He is deceptively at work to deceive and discourage. But, the God who has defeated him is working all things together for our good and His glory!

Grace,

The Elders of Summit