{"id":24797,"date":"2026-04-22T10:37:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T17:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greaternw.org\/news\/?p=24797"},"modified":"2026-04-22T10:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T17:37:08","slug":"god-is-already-ahead-of-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greaternw.org\/news\/god-is-already-ahead-of-us\/","title":{"rendered":"God is already ahead of us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">By Rev. David Valera<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"dropcapp3\">If you\u2019re like me, you can almost feel it these days, a quiet sense that something is shifting in the life of The United Methodist Church. It\u2019s not always obvious, and it doesn\u2019t come with clear headlines, but it\u2019s there\u2026 enough to make you pause, wonder, and maybe even pray a little more closely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In my role as Executive Director of Connectional Ministries, I find myself in a lot of those in-between spaces, conversations with clergy and laity, moments before and after meetings, the honest reflections that don\u2019t always make it into reports. And lately, I keep hearing the same questions surface: Where is God leading us? What\u2019s taking shape among us? How do we stay connected and faithful in the middle of all this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I spent some time sitting with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.umnews.org\/en\/news\/church-leaders-chart-new-future-for-bishops\">this excellent article by Heather Hahn<\/a> on how church leaders are charting a new future for bishops, and it stayed with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At first glance, it may sound structural or distant. But the more I read, the more it felt deeply pastoral, because at its core, it\u2019s about how we are led, how we care for one another, and how we remain rooted in connection even as things change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This isn\u2019t simple. There\u2019s history here. There are real questions. And the future is still taking shape. But what I felt as I read wasn\u2019t heaviness, it was a steady kind of hope. The kind that reminds us that even in seasons of change, God has not stepped away. God is still present. Still shaping us. Still calling us forward, together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I want to invite you to spend a little time with it. Not just to understand what\u2019s being discussed, but to listen for what God\u2019s Spirit might be stirring in you. Pay attention to what resonates, what stretches you, what calls you into prayer, and what this might mean for how we live as the Church in this moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And as you do, may you be held in the quiet assurance that we are not navigating this alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>May God give wisdom to our bishops, clarity to our leaders, and grace to all of us as we continue to be the Church together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And may we move forward, not with fear, but with a deep and steady hope, trusting God, who is already ahead of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Salamat po, O Dios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Rev. David Valera<\/strong>&nbsp;serves as Executive Director of Connectional Ministries for The Pacific Northwest Conference of The United Methodist Church.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Something is shifting in the life of the United Methodist Church. Rev. David Valera, Executive Director of Connectional Ministries for the Pacific Northwest Conference, reflects on the questions he keeps hearing in conversations with clergy and laity: Where is God leading us? In the middle of change and uncertainty, he points us toward a steady, grounded hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":24799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,74,16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-24797","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-devotional","8":"category-opinioneditorial","9":"category-pacific-northwest-conference"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>God is already ahead of us - Greater Northwest Area | News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/greaternw.org\/news\/god-is-already-ahead-of-us\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"God is already ahead of us - Greater Northwest Area | News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Something is shifting in the life of the United Methodist Church. 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