Shiloh 2026 - Post Renewal Leave
Shiloh 2026 - Post Renewal Leave: “Further Up and Further In”
Dear Shiloh Family,
Over the last several months I have been sharing with our Leadership Team many of the reflections and convictions that have grown in my heart since my renewal leave. I’ve talked with them about the spiritual posture I believe God is calling us to, about simplifying where needed, and about focusing more intentionally on discipleship and covenant life together.
Those conversations have been important, and I’m grateful for them. But I’ve also realized something: a vision for the church should never live only in a leadership room. It belongs to the whole congregation. The direction of our life together is not simply an administrative matter—it is a spiritual journey we all share.
So I wanted to speak to you directly as your pastor.
I also want you to know something about my own sense of calling in this season. I remain deeply committed to Shiloh and to leading us well in the years ahead. Part of that commitment includes staying connected to our wider Global Methodist family so that Shiloh is well positioned, supported, and stable for whatever God has in store for the future. Any denominational involvement I carry is meant to strengthen our church, not to distract from it.
Like many of you, I’m also beginning to think in long horizons—about the next chapter of my own life and eventual retirement down the road. But my focus today is not on leaving; it is on finishing well. My desire is to help shape a healthy, spiritually mature Shiloh that will be strong long after my own season of leadership has ended.
In the years since the pandemic, the landscape of church life has changed in ways none of us could have imagined. Patterns of attendance, involvement, and commitment have shifted across the country, and Shiloh has felt those changes just like every other congregation.
Out of that reality, a clear conviction has been growing in me: the future of the church will not be built on casual participation, but on covenant faith. It will be shaped less by what the church provides and more by what Christ calls us to become.
To help express what I’ve been praying and thinking about, I’ve written a brief article titled “From Subscription Faith to Covenant Faith.” I’m sharing it with you because it captures, as best I can, the heart of the vision I believe God is setting before us.
This is not a new program.
It is not a new strategy.
It is a call back to the biblical understanding of what the church really is.
My desire is for every person at Shiloh to hear the same message, to understand the same direction, and to be invited into the same hope.
Thank you for walking this road with me. I am deeply grateful for the privilege of serving Christ alongside you.
With love and hope,
Dan
From Subscription Faith to Covenant Faith
A Word to My Shiloh Family and Beyond About What I Believe the Church Really Is
As I look back over the last few years, I keep returning to one simple truth: the world we live in now is not the same world we lived in before 2020.
The pandemic changed how we work, how we relate, how we spend our time, and even how we gather. For a season, we learned to worship online, to stay home, to keep our distance. Those adjustments were necessary, but they also reshaped habits and expectations in ways we are still discovering.
One of those changes has touched the church deeply.
Many of us, without really meaning to, began to think about church the way we think about so many other things in modern life—like a subscription we can pause when we’re busy and resume when we feel ready. Participation became more optional. Presence became more occasional. Community slowly began to feel more like a service we consume than a family we belong to.
A Deeper Question Beneath the Surface
It would be easy to frame this simply as a problem of “commitment to the local church.” And that is certainly part of it. But I believe the issue runs much deeper than attendance patterns or organizational loyalty.
At its heart, the question before us is this:
What does it mean, biblically, to be a Christian?
Scripture never describes believers as isolated individuals who occasionally gather for religious experiences. The New Testament consistently speaks of Christians as members of a living Body, united by the Holy Spirit, bound together in a covenant of discipleship, and called to share a common life in Christ.
To be a follower of Jesus is not merely to hold certain beliefs.
It is to belong to a people.
The church, in its deepest sense, is not a program we attend or a service we receive. It is the community Christ is forming to embody His love and carry out His mission in the world.
Why Consumer Faith Falls Short
In a culture that treats almost everything as a choice among options, it is easy to start viewing the local church through a consumer lens: What does this church offer me? Does it meet my needs? Do I like the experience?
But Christ asks something very different.
He invites us to be part of His Body wherever we are planted—to share life with real people, to bear one another’s burdens, to forgive and be forgiven, to serve and be served, to grow together in holiness even when it is inconvenient.
Local churches are imperfect. They always have been. They are filled with ordinary, flawed human beings—including pastors. Because of that, it can be tempting to treat church as something we evaluate from the outside rather than a community we build from the inside.
Yet the biblical vision is not of perfect churches, but of sanctified people—believers being shaped by the Holy Spirit as they live out their faith together over time.
The Church Christ Is Building
What ultimately makes a church healthy is not flawless organization or impressive programming. It is dedicated Christian believers who understand themselves as part of something larger than their preferences—men and women who are willing to show up, to stay, to forgive, to serve, and to grow.
That kind of community cannot be created on a subscription model.
It can only be formed through covenant.
And I want to pause here to recognize something important: even in this difficult cultural moment, I see real signs of covenant faith already present among us at Shiloh. I see it whenever people choose patience over criticism, service over convenience, prayer over distractions, church family commitments over personal preferences, and faithfulness over fashion. These ordinary acts may not be dramatic, but they are holy. They are the quiet work of the Holy Spirit shaping a true Christian community.
The local church, with all its imperfections, becomes more holy—not when it attracts consumers—but when it is filled with disciples who see themselves as part of the Body of Christ and who choose to live accordingly.
A Hopeful Shift
I’m convinced that, even in this challenging cultural moment, God is doing something hopeful.
Many people today—especially younger adults—are weary of shallow connections and disposable relationships. They are looking for something ancient and true, a faith that asks something of them, a community that offers more than convenience.
They are hungry, often without realizing it, for the very thing the church has always been called to be: a living fellowship of believers united by the Spirit and devoted to the Kingdom of Christ.
Where I Believe God Is Leading Us
As your pastor, my deepest desire is not simply that Shiloh remains busy or well-attended. My desire is that we become more fully what the church is meant to be—a body of believers learning to follow Jesus together.
That means focusing less on what the church can provide and more on what Christ is calling each of us to become. It means recovering rhythms of worship, prayer, service, and shared life. It means choosing covenant over convenience.
Where faithfulness already exists among us, I want to honor it and build upon it. And where our habits have drifted toward casual participation, I want to gently call us back to the richer, deeper life Christ intends for His people.
If we do that, the church will never be perfect. But it will be more faithful. And as faithful people gather around Christ, even an imperfect local church becomes a powerful witness to His grace.
An Invitation
So I want to invite you into something deeper than mere participation.
I want to invite you to see yourself not just as an attendee at Shiloh, but as a member of Christ’s Body—called by Him, placed here by His Spirit, and joined to brothers and sisters in a covenant of discipleship.
Local churches may struggle and stumble. Pastors and leaders will make mistakes. Programs will change. But the calling of Christ never changes: to be His people together, for the sake of His Kingdom.
That is the vision I am committed to leading us toward. I hope you’ll walk that road with me—not because Shiloh is perfect, but because Christ is faithful, and He is still forming His Body in this place.
With gratitude for the privilege of serving as your pastor,
Dan
February 4, 2026
Dear Shiloh Family,
Over the last several months I have been sharing with our Leadership Team many of the reflections and convictions that have grown in my heart since my renewal leave. I’ve talked with them about the spiritual posture I believe God is calling us to, about simplifying where needed, and about focusing more intentionally on discipleship and covenant life together.
Those conversations have been important, and I’m grateful for them. But I’ve also realized something: a vision for the church should never live only in a leadership room. It belongs to the whole congregation. The direction of our life together is not simply an administrative matter—it is a spiritual journey we all share.
So I wanted to speak to you directly as your pastor.
I also want you to know something about my own sense of calling in this season. I remain deeply committed to Shiloh and to leading us well in the years ahead. Part of that commitment includes staying connected to our wider Global Methodist family so that Shiloh is well positioned, supported, and stable for whatever God has in store for the future. Any denominational involvement I carry is meant to strengthen our church, not to distract from it.
Like many of you, I’m also beginning to think in long horizons—about the next chapter of my own life and eventual retirement down the road. But my focus today is not on leaving; it is on finishing well. My desire is to help shape a healthy, spiritually mature Shiloh that will be strong long after my own season of leadership has ended.
In the years since the pandemic, the landscape of church life has changed in ways none of us could have imagined. Patterns of attendance, involvement, and commitment have shifted across the country, and Shiloh has felt those changes just like every other congregation.
Out of that reality, a clear conviction has been growing in me: the future of the church will not be built on casual participation, but on covenant faith. It will be shaped less by what the church provides and more by what Christ calls us to become.
To help express what I’ve been praying and thinking about, I’ve written a brief article titled “From Subscription Faith to Covenant Faith.” I’m sharing it with you because it captures, as best I can, the heart of the vision I believe God is setting before us.
This is not a new program.
It is not a new strategy.
It is a call back to the biblical understanding of what the church really is.
My desire is for every person at Shiloh to hear the same message, to understand the same direction, and to be invited into the same hope.
Thank you for walking this road with me. I am deeply grateful for the privilege of serving Christ alongside you.
With love and hope,
Dan
From Subscription Faith to Covenant Faith
A Word to My Shiloh Family and Beyond About What I Believe the Church Really Is
As I look back over the last few years, I keep returning to one simple truth: the world we live in now is not the same world we lived in before 2020.
The pandemic changed how we work, how we relate, how we spend our time, and even how we gather. For a season, we learned to worship online, to stay home, to keep our distance. Those adjustments were necessary, but they also reshaped habits and expectations in ways we are still discovering.
One of those changes has touched the church deeply.
Many of us, without really meaning to, began to think about church the way we think about so many other things in modern life—like a subscription we can pause when we’re busy and resume when we feel ready. Participation became more optional. Presence became more occasional. Community slowly began to feel more like a service we consume than a family we belong to.
A Deeper Question Beneath the Surface
It would be easy to frame this simply as a problem of “commitment to the local church.” And that is certainly part of it. But I believe the issue runs much deeper than attendance patterns or organizational loyalty.
At its heart, the question before us is this:
What does it mean, biblically, to be a Christian?
Scripture never describes believers as isolated individuals who occasionally gather for religious experiences. The New Testament consistently speaks of Christians as members of a living Body, united by the Holy Spirit, bound together in a covenant of discipleship, and called to share a common life in Christ.
To be a follower of Jesus is not merely to hold certain beliefs.
It is to belong to a people.
The church, in its deepest sense, is not a program we attend or a service we receive. It is the community Christ is forming to embody His love and carry out His mission in the world.
Why Consumer Faith Falls Short
In a culture that treats almost everything as a choice among options, it is easy to start viewing the local church through a consumer lens: What does this church offer me? Does it meet my needs? Do I like the experience?
But Christ asks something very different.
He invites us to be part of His Body wherever we are planted—to share life with real people, to bear one another’s burdens, to forgive and be forgiven, to serve and be served, to grow together in holiness even when it is inconvenient.
Local churches are imperfect. They always have been. They are filled with ordinary, flawed human beings—including pastors. Because of that, it can be tempting to treat church as something we evaluate from the outside rather than a community we build from the inside.
Yet the biblical vision is not of perfect churches, but of sanctified people—believers being shaped by the Holy Spirit as they live out their faith together over time.
The Church Christ Is Building
What ultimately makes a church healthy is not flawless organization or impressive programming. It is dedicated Christian believers who understand themselves as part of something larger than their preferences—men and women who are willing to show up, to stay, to forgive, to serve, and to grow.
That kind of community cannot be created on a subscription model.
It can only be formed through covenant.
And I want to pause here to recognize something important: even in this difficult cultural moment, I see real signs of covenant faith already present among us at Shiloh. I see it whenever people choose patience over criticism, service over convenience, prayer over distractions, church family commitments over personal preferences, and faithfulness over fashion. These ordinary acts may not be dramatic, but they are holy. They are the quiet work of the Holy Spirit shaping a true Christian community.
The local church, with all its imperfections, becomes more holy—not when it attracts consumers—but when it is filled with disciples who see themselves as part of the Body of Christ and who choose to live accordingly.
A Hopeful Shift
I’m convinced that, even in this challenging cultural moment, God is doing something hopeful.
Many people today—especially younger adults—are weary of shallow connections and disposable relationships. They are looking for something ancient and true, a faith that asks something of them, a community that offers more than convenience.
They are hungry, often without realizing it, for the very thing the church has always been called to be: a living fellowship of believers united by the Spirit and devoted to the Kingdom of Christ.
Where I Believe God Is Leading Us
As your pastor, my deepest desire is not simply that Shiloh remains busy or well-attended. My desire is that we become more fully what the church is meant to be—a body of believers learning to follow Jesus together.
That means focusing less on what the church can provide and more on what Christ is calling each of us to become. It means recovering rhythms of worship, prayer, service, and shared life. It means choosing covenant over convenience.
Where faithfulness already exists among us, I want to honor it and build upon it. And where our habits have drifted toward casual participation, I want to gently call us back to the richer, deeper life Christ intends for His people.
If we do that, the church will never be perfect. But it will be more faithful. And as faithful people gather around Christ, even an imperfect local church becomes a powerful witness to His grace.
An Invitation
So I want to invite you into something deeper than mere participation.
I want to invite you to see yourself not just as an attendee at Shiloh, but as a member of Christ’s Body—called by Him, placed here by His Spirit, and joined to brothers and sisters in a covenant of discipleship.
Local churches may struggle and stumble. Pastors and leaders will make mistakes. Programs will change. But the calling of Christ never changes: to be His people together, for the sake of His Kingdom.
That is the vision I am committed to leading us toward. I hope you’ll walk that road with me—not because Shiloh is perfect, but because Christ is faithful, and He is still forming His Body in this place.
With gratitude for the privilege of serving as your pastor,
Dan
February 4, 2026
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