Your body has one: an “inny” or an “outty.” It is easy to tell. When you look at your waistline your belly button either goes in or it pops out.
Churches are the same way: they either face in or they face out. Remember the rhyme and what you did with your hands: “Here is the church and here is the steeple…open the doors and see all the people?”
This week the program staff of our congregation studied a church that boldly states: We strive to be a relentlessly outwardly focused church to reach people for Jesus Christ. Through wonderful ministries of hospitality, discipleship, and mission, Church of the Resurrection, a new United Methodist Church plant in 1990, has grown to 20,000 people.
What’s the secret sauce? They align their resources: people, their building, programs, ministries, and finances to accomplish their mission: to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
This week you are invited to the first of two Town Hall Meetings offered in the next several weeks. You will hear about the exciting plan for our building, the result of several years of work from many church leaders at Hyde Park Community United Methodist. You will hear how our building can be restored, renovated, and also open up new, fresh space to welcome new people into our faith community.
You are invited on Wednesday evening, May 23, at 7:00 pm or Thursday, May 24 at 10:30 am for an exciting presentation. These town hall meetings will be offered through June. In late summer or early fall, church members will have the opportunity to officially vote to move forward with a capital campaign.
This is a congregation that is grounded in faith and growing to serve; I am excited to be a part of it! I hope you will come to a Town Hall Meeting soon to hear about where God may be leading us!
Peace,
Pastor Cathy