Our district has invited each church to focus on a
particular area of ministry in which we can improve. This began with the Shift Workshop at First
Centenary UMC back in February. The
focus of the workshop was to enable church to do better in all areas of
ministry by understanding our church and community more completely. The point wasn’t to make us feel bad or to
point out our faults, but to enable us to work to be better. Out of that workshop came an invitation for
each church in the district to focus on a particular area of ministry in which
they would focus to make it a strength instead of something that might be a bit
more mediocre.
In a discussion in our Church Council, we decided that we
needed to spend this year working deliberately to focus on communication and
connection within our congregation. We
don’t always do our best in keeping in touch with one another and we sometimes
don’t pay attention to attendance to the degree we should.
In particular, we need to make sure we are checking in on
those who can’t make it to church. To
that end, we are beginning a monthly visitation program where I and a member of
the congregation will drop by with those who cannot make it to church to visit
and bring communion. We will begin this
program on May 24th at 2:00.
But I need your help.
First, I need people to go with me. I know the time will knock some of you out
of the running, but there are several others of you who can make the afternoon
time, and I need your help. If you would
call the office to sign up for a month, that would be great (we are going on
the 4th Tuesday of each month).
Second, I need the names of people we need to visit. Help us to reach out by providing us with
names and contact information, because we will contact them the day before to
make sure that they are going to be able to receive visitors.
This is just a start for us.
We are going to be doing more to make sure that we are taking care of
our congregation and reaching out to those who have been a part of our
community for a long time and now need us to be there for them. I hope that you will consider being a part of
this ministry and join with me as we set up our new visitation program.
Thanks and I appreciate your help!
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Charles
