May Message from Conference Minister Rev. Dr. Lorraine Ceniceros

There are seasons when church life can feel heavy.

Questions linger. Change comes. The future can feel uncertain. In times like these, it is easy to think the life of the church depends mostly on plans, budgets, committees, and decisions still waiting to be made.

Those things matter. But they are not where the heart of the church has ever lived.

The heart of the church lives in the person who arrives early to unlock the doors and turn on the lights. It lives in the one who prepares the communion table without needing recognition. It lives in the handwritten note sent to someone hurting, the meal left on a front porch, the monthly gift quietly mailed, the prayer offered for another before sleep.

The church lives in choir rehearsals and Bible studies. In fellowship halls and church basements. In hospital rooms, nursing homes, and around kitchen tables. It lives wherever people choose love in the way of Jesus.

During my time among you, I have seen this again and again across Kansas and Oklahoma.

I have seen it in large congregations and small ones. In churches with abundance and in churches doing much with limited means. I have seen generosity, grit, compassion, humor, resilience, and deep care for neighbor and stranger alike.

These moments rarely make headlines. They seldom appear in reports. But they are the reason the church endures.

As I prepare to conclude my service as your conference minister on May 31 and step into another call, this is what I carry most clearly: not meetings or motions, but people – faces, stories, acts of kindness, and faith communities trying, in imperfect and faithful ways, to share God’s love.

So, when the larger picture feels uncertain, remember this:

The church is still alive wherever people love one another well.

And thanks be to God, there is still a great deal of that among you.

Grace and peace,
Lorraine