This year, the Morris family broke an important tradition. Under normal circumstances, we decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. It’s a big deal for our family. We listen to Christmas music, enjoy some holiday treats and watch a favorite Christmas movie after we’ve finished our decorating. However, this year was different. We decorated the house before Thanksgiving!…
Dear Friends, During the month of September, we’ll be celebrating a churchwide stewardship program called “Defying Gravity.” We’ll examine the generous life—what it is and why it can be hard to experience. We’ll be studying the topic of generosity, including data from surveys, insights from experts, and conversations with generous people about their goals and…
We are having to make some adjustments to better accommodate our ministry with young people. As we increase our efforts to provide appropriate safety and security for our young people, we will also be increasing the visibility and accessibility of our ministries with adults! I’ve written in the Good News and shared in our services about needing to adjust where some of our adult…
There’s a fairly popular contemporary Christian song by Zach Williams called “Old Church Choir.” In the lyrics, Williams proclaims that he will not let anyone steal his joy. In fact, he proclaims, “There ain’t nothing gonna steal my joy!” There are so many distractions in our world today that attempt to steal our joy. From the 24- hour news cycle, to the challenges presented…
First Wayne Street is a church committed to making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of Fort Wayne as we love God and love people by serving together. We desire to create a community of faith where hope is found, healing takes place and transformation happens. We are committed to making disciples because this is…
“Look! I’m doing a new thing; now it spouts up; don’t you recognize it? I’m making a way in the desert, paths in the wilderness.” (Isaiah 43:19, CEB) Olu Brown recently shared that he believes we are living in the greatest evangelistic season of our lifetime. When looking at demographic reports, it’s difficult to argue…
The Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church has an important campaign called Children Matter Most. This initiative reminds us that “children are highly valued in God’s Kingdom. Jesus takes children seriously and harshly warns against harming them.” This campaign urges congregations to “do all the good” we can by “promoting nonviolence, eliminating food insecurity and partnering with…
For this installment of Methodist Mondays, we are sharing the Proud to be UMC website. This resource helps address some of the misinformation concerning what it means to be a United Methodist today. There are links to six videos by Rev. Adam Hamilton where he directly responds to some of the misleading statements made about…
Welcome back to Methodist Mondays. This week features the fourth installment of the “Ask the UMC” series, “Is the United Methodist Church Really…?” I hope that you find these articles to be helpful and informative. Next week, we will share some resources from the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Here is a link to the…
Each Monday, I will be sharing some informative resources from the United Methodist Church. My hope is that these resources will help us better understand our United Methodist Church and see signs of hope for our future ministry together! This week, we have the third installment of the “Is the United Methodist Church Really…?” series.…