Dear Fellowship Family, 

 

Surely, you all are enjoying your summer! I have missed seeing you and your children, and the campus is certainly much quieter and less lively without you all here. The staff and I continue working, preparing to welcome our new and returning families to campus in August.

 

It has been several weeks since you last heard from me, so I would like to share what God has put on my heart recently. During the last several weeks, I have been blessed with the opportunity to engage many valued members of our Fellowship community in some very raw, honest conversations. I am thankful for their transparency, candor, and genuine concern for the future of our covenant, Christian school. I appreciate their partnership as they have trusted me enough to engage in these, at times, difficult conversations. I found the experiences encouraging and truly believe that, through these conversations, relationships have been enriched, perspectives broadened, and empathy deepened while embracing the truth embedded in God’s Word.

 

Over the past 18 months, a lot has happened in our country that has, most likely, provided opportunities for many of us to engage in difficult conversations. I want to encourage our Fellowship family to not shy away from potentially controversial conversations, but to continue to engage with one another in order to foster understanding of perspectives. When engaging with truth and love, it is possible that growth, awareness, and deeper connections lie on the other side.  As believers, I rejoice that we can rely on prayer and the Word of God to help us navigate these conversations. God has given us the roadmap; we need only to humbly follow His directions.

 

In our interactions, may we all:

• “Clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” (Colossians 3:12 )
• Heed Paul’s call: "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." (Romans 12:18)
• Choose our words carefully, remembering that “gracious words are a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and healing to the bones.” (Proverbs 16:24)
• Seek first to understand, rather than be understood as Philippians 2:4 tells us that we should “not look to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
• “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” (Romans 12:10)
• Approach each other without assumptions or judgment as we are reminded that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”(Romans 3:23)
• Respect each other as image bearers, recalling that “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
• Follow God’s greatest commandments as stated in Matthew 22:37-39: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

 

As we look forward to the year ahead, may our constructive conversations and open hearts strengthen our partnership, allowing us to better know and understand one another, thereby bringing glory to our Father, our primary purpose.            

 

In Humble Service, 

 

Dr. Kathryn M. Teston