Visiting a church for the first time can be a challenge. Sadly, sometimes the challenge is just locating correct information about the church. Case in point: One Saturday night I searched for the Facebook page of a local UMC only to find that the posts were 6 months old & nowhere could I find the …
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A friend who is a retired UMC clergy person shared with me how hard it was for him and his wife to find a new church home. They had moved into a new community and visited the five UM churches driving distance from their house. At each one they filled out the registration pad leaving …
Read more “#07 – 9 Actions to Grow Worship Attendance and Professions of Faith”
One disheartening trend is that people attend worship less often. In today’s world, worship can be one of Sunday’s many opportunities. As life has become busier, as people are caring for children and parents, as children’s sports become a regular part of Sunday and as people are just plan exhausted, they attend worship less often. …
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One weeknight after 9/11 I was part of a candlelight walk around the neighbor where the church I attended was located. I will always remember the people who came out of their houses as we journeyed with candles and prayers of peace for our world. Getting out of the building matters. This summer I am …
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When I was in my 20’s my husband and I moved into a new community. It was the 4th of July weekend and the little town had a parade. As I sat on the curb, drinking my lemonade, the “float” for the local United Methodist Church went by. I watched as they laughed, smiled and …
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This summer I am sharing a list of 9 ideas for Cal-Pac pastors and laity as we live into Bishop Grant’s challenge to increase worship attendance and professions of faith. Here are earlier posts: #1, #2 Today I want to talk about #3 – Sharing with Others about Your Community of Faith. A bit of …
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This summer I am sharing a list of 9 ideas for Cal-Pac pastors and laity as we live into Bishop Grant’s challenge to increase worship attendance and professions of faith. Here are earlier posts: #1 Idea #2 – Prayer Are we praying for our churches to reach new people? Are we praying for people who …
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Welcome! Over the summer I am going to share 9 short blog and video posts on how churches can grow worship attendance and professions of faith. This series is inspired by Bishop Grant’s challenge at Annual Conference to increase worship and professions of faith in the Cal-Pac Conference. It’s a great challenge, but how? How …
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Small groups where people develop their faith have been the bedrock of Methodism. We began not as churches but as a movement of small groups. Today less than half of our churches have small groups. Why? One reason is that we are too busy in committee meetings. I experienced this recently when I was told that …
Read more “Fall Reflection Pt 1 – Small Groups from Church of the Resurrection Downtown”
My last Core Competency for pastors is being Spirit Centered. You can call it Christ Centered, God Centered, Kingdom Driven, Spiritually –what you call it may depend on your background and on what connects with you. But whatever you call it, it is core to pastoral competency. Faith and trust in God is a lifestyle for …
Read more “Spirit Centered 06 – Six Core Competencies of Pastors”