Whether you are new to HPCUMC or you have been hanging around waiting for an opportunity, there is a group for you.
Adult Ministry
Join a Connect Group today to grow deeper in faith and community! To get connected or to start a new small group, contact Rev. Dave Weaver.
Connect Groups are people who come together to build relationships through encouragement, accountability, guidance, and prayer. Every Connect Group consists of 5 essential ingredients: fellowship, worship and prayer, study, accountability, and mission or outreach.
Groups are made up of women, men, couples, singles or mixed groups. The groups usually meet once a week or twice a month to study the scriptures, engage in Christian conversation and fellowship, pray with and for one another, and serve in ministry/mission.
Weekday Study Classes
Groups for learning meet throughout the week. These groups combine fellowship, study, and sharing in a comfortable friendly atmosphere. For more information and classes available please contact Dave Weaver.
Adult Classes
Meets in Room 205
Join adults ages 35-55 as we explore various Bible studies to deepen our faith journey. Class is one hour and themes usually take 4 - 8 weeks per study. No additional cost to participants. Some studies may include take home materials or video segments viewed in class. This class has lots of positive discussion in a safe and friendly environment. All are welcome. Contact Alisa Snow at 859-240-3476 or alisa.snow@hotmail.com for more information.
Current Study…."The Jesus I Never Knew" by Philip Yancey. This is a 6-week study that we will begin on Rally Day, September 9th.
"Voted Book of the Year, Philip Yancey’s bestselling book The Jesus I Never Knewpeeled away popular stereotypes to present a brilliant and fascinating portrait of Christ. Now individuals and groups can join Yancey in this probing look at Jesus Christ—his teachings, his miracles, his death and resurrection, and ultimately, who he was and why he came. This study guide helps readers press beyond the traditional picture to uncover a Jesus who is brilliant, creative, challenging, fearless, compassionate, and unpredictable.. Each chapter begins with Yancey’s reflections on rediscovering Jesus. Questions that stimulate journaling follow."
Current Study…“The Case for Christ” Starts Sept 9, 2018. Is there credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God? Retracing his own spiritual journey from atheism to faith, Lee Strobel, former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune, cross-examines a dozen experts with doctorates from schools like Cambridge, Princeton, and Brandeis who are recognized authorities in their own fields.
Strobel challenges them with questions like, How reliable is the New Testament? Does evidence for Jesus exist outside the Bible? Is there any reason to believe the resurrection was an actual event?
Winner of the Gold Medallion Book Award and twice nominated for the Christian Book of the Year Award, Strobel s tough, point-blank questions read like a captivating, fast-paced novel. But it’s not fiction. It is a riveting quest for the truth about history’s most compelling figure.
For more information, contact Bill Baker at wswbaker@yahoo.com. or 513.383.7575
The Current Study…discuss the book by Brian McLaren: “The Great Spiritual Migration—How the World’s Largest Religion is Seeking a Better Way to Be Christian”
McLaren writes: “As I see it, religion is at its best when it leads us forward, when it guides us in our spiritual growth as individuals and in our cultural evolution as a species. Unfortunately, religion often becomes more of a cage than a guide, holding us back rather than summoning us forward… it’s no surprise that people by the millions are moving away from traditional religions entirely… But at this pivotal moment, something else is happening.” The New Ventures Sunday School Class will take McLaren’s book and discuss what he believes is happening and what a “better way to be Christian” might be.
Anticipated to be an 8 week study. Contact person: Michael Vilardo (513) 316-1540 or mpvilardo@gmail.com.
Join us on Rally Day, September 9, for a get-acquainted, get reconnected, get organized for the year, discuss hopes, ideas and goals for the class, assign volunteer discussion facilitators for the next five weeks, and view a short video. With a diversity of backgrounds, ages, marital status, ideas and opinions, we value curiosity and intellectual challenges, and we study a wide range of materials in our pursuit of deepening and living our faith.
Current Study…Beginning September 16, we will study the latest book by Rev. Adam Hamilton, Unafraid: Living with Courage and Hope in Uncertain Times, accompanied by the five-session video series.
What are fear, worry and anxiety doing to your life and your faith? Some fears have survival value: don’t walk in front of a train or ignore a tornado warning. Most have less well-defined causes and do more harm than good. Global tensions, hateful public discourse, worry about illness or financial problems or abandonment: all rob us of peace and joy of living. The Bible admonishes us more than 140 times, “Do not be afraid.” Rev. Hamilton uses psychology, current research, biblical guidance, and years of personal experience pasturing his congregation, to give us the insight to overcome what oppresses us. We can learn to live with faith and hope as we become the peacemakers that this troubled world needs.
Purchase a copy of the book from your favorite online or local retailer and join us as we learn together. (A small number of copies are available from the church to borrow and share.) Questions? Contact Ronda Deel at (513) 604-4191 or rodeel@fuse.net.
Starts Rally Day, Sept. 9th
Current Study…The Gospel of John is the most deeply spiritual of the four gospels. This writing is filled with rich images and profound truths, but John notes that his aim in writing the gospel is that readers will not only believe in Jesus Christ, but that they “may have life in his name.”
Adults, youth, and children alike can experience a season of spiritual growth and life-changing renewal in Adam Hamilton’s six-week, DVD-series, John: The Gospel of Light and Life. You’ll follow the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus through the Gospel of John and understand the context of some of the best-known verses in the New Testament.
Cost $11.00. Pickup book in class. Class facilitator: Tricia Carter at triciacarter@acomputernerd.com
Join Pastor Doug’s Tuesday morning Study Group. All are welcome, come when you can, miss when you must.
The Book of Joy by The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Class runs September 18 – December 18 on Tuesday mornings from 10:00am-11:30am in the Social Hall. Cost is $10.00. Books can be picked up in the office.
Any questions, please contact Pastor Doug, djohns@hpcumc.org; 513-979-8195
Current Study…."The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have survived more than fifty years of exile and the soul-crushing violence of oppression. Despite their hardships – or, as they would say, because of them – they are two of the most joyful people on the planet. In April 2015, the two met and looked back on their long lives to answer a single burning question: How do we find joy in the face of life’s inevitable suffering? We will examine the nature of True Joy; the obstacles to Joy, and examine Eight Pillars of Joy. . . . In this unique collaboration, they offer us the reflection of real lives filled with pain and turmoil in the midst of which they have been able to discover a level of peace, of courage, and of joy to which we can all aspire in our own lives."
Join Pastor Cathy for this 13- session journey through the New Testament. On Tuesday evenings, from last August 2018 to early April 2019, the class will share appetizers with one another at 6:30 p.m. in the Welcome Center and study the gospels and letters of Paul. Orientation Dinner: August 28. Registration donation of $15 is requested for workbook. Questions or to register, please contact Pastor Cathy, cjohns@hpcumc.org, 979-8182.
In a culture so enthralled with technology, doing, and accomplishment, have you ever wondered what it might be like to slow down, to pay attention, and to wake up to the present moment. Using the bookFully Awake and Truly Alive: Spiritual Practices to Nurture Your Soulby Rev. Jane E. Vennard, we will explore such practices as caring for your body, silence and solitude, and letting go. Classes will begin September 13 and end November 8. Facilitator is Christine McHenry. Books may be purchased through Amazon or Cokesbury for approximately $12. Please read the intro and chapter 1 for the first class.
For questions and to register, contact Christine McHenry at clm2804@gmail.com
Current Study…Join Pastor Dave for this 7-session DVD, book and Bible study by Adam Hamilton. His book invites us into an honest conversation about the Bible. The book begins with foundational questions: “How and when was the Bible written? Who decided which books made it into the scriptures and why? How literally must we take it? Is the Bible ever wrong? We’ll make sense of both the Old and New Testament. Other topics we will tackle is the Bible and science, violence and suffering, and issues of human sexuality and relationships. Whether new to a study or you have been in a study before this class will be most informative and transformative.
Class will meet from Sept. 11-Oct. 23. Book cost $10.00. To register, please contact Pastor Dave, dweaver@hpcumc.orgor 979-8184.