What tribes (groups of people) do we have in our church?

Here's a great article Leading Ideas: A Resource for Church Leaders about the different groups of people in churches today. Do you recognize anyone? What Tribes (groups) do you see at SHUMC? How should we address these issues in our congregation? Does knowing about the different groups bring any insights to some of the complaints we often hear around us?

So why do Reformation Sunday this year?

Reformation Day is October 31 of every year. That is the day in 1517 when Dr. Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. It was Luther's act that caused the initial furor that resulted in the Reformation. Luther had earned his Doctor of Theology degree in Wittenberg and was a respected professor there, as well as the assistant pastor of the Castle Church. Luther chose October 31 because it was the day before All Saints' Day. The Castle Church's front door opened on a main street of the city, and it was a good place to post a notice for public viewing. Luther knew that on the next day, November 1 — All Saints' Day — the church would be filled with worshipers, many of whom were educated and literate. His act of posting his Ninety-Five Theses on the door was the equivalent of publishing a journal article, taking out a newspaper ad, sending out spam emails, writing a new post on a blog, or updating one's status on Facebook. Reformation Day is most often observed today on the Sunday prior to October 31.

At our United Methodist 2008 General Conference, we took an historic vote to join the Lutherans in dialogue about how we might stand together as churches. A study guide, called "Confessing our Faith Together" is available for discussion. News articles about the recent votes this past summer by the Lutherans to affirm this continuing conversation appeared in many sources throughout the church.

My intention is to mention these facts on Sunday and to share through my sermon what being in dialogue with Lutherans is all about.

Home - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Home - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America


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World Communion Sunday

World Communion Sunday Offering

The first Sunday of October finds us celebrating World Communion Sunday—a day when churches all around the world share the common ground we have as Christians. It has always been my custom on that special day of worship, as a United Methodist pastor to serve communion to everyone in the pews and have us all partake as one body the eating of the bread and the drinking of the cup. Join us for worship and for the sacrament of Holy Communion as Christians receive the bread and cup together following the turning of the globe on that special day for those who worship Christ all around the world.

The ways we worship

During these last six months, we have been exploring a “blended” style of worship, with the entire SHUMC community of faith coming together in one time of worship at 10:30 on Sunday mornings. Our primary intention was to allow our whole congregation to join with each other in the acts of worshiping God in our ample sanctuary. Ancillary to that was to encourage the strengthening of our Sunday School programs and classes by setting aside the conflicting times of our first worship service with our SS hour.

After a tremendous amount of prayer, discussion, discerning God’s wisdom, and exploring various suggested options, our church leadership reached a consensus about the ways we worship here at SHUMC. Our decision was to retain one worship service, continue the blending of music (contemporary songs and classical hymns using both our Chancel Choir with piano and organ and our Praise Worship band with drums and guitars) and to continue this worship service with a beginning time at 10:30 am. Sunday School for all ages would continue at 9:00 am, with a coffee “fellowship time” at 10:00 am.

There will however, be a major “tweaking” of this blended worship style—adding in, on a quite frequent basis, the historical elements of Methodist worship passed on from our ancestors in the Faith—more extensive scripture readings, responsive readings from the Psalms (the Psalter in the hymnal), various Affirmations of Faith (Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, etc), traditional sung responses like the Doxology and the Gloria, serving Holy Communion in the pews and at the Altar rail, and a varied music selection covering both traditional and contemporary genres. There is also some interest in weaving in some additional worship arts within our time of worship together—drama, visual displays, artwork, handbells, and other creative expressions of worship.

So, how do we do all that? That certainly generated much discussion when our church leaders met in mid-September. After several suggestions, we agreed that doing all of that in 60 minutes might be impossible, so maybe, it would be ok to stretch our time of worshiping God to 70-80 minutes.

The Bible from Scratch: The New Testament for Beginners

Recognizing that some of our congregation might really appreciate going back to the basics from the beginning, I have opted to lead an eight-session study on the New Testament—in reality, a brief overview of how to study the Bible and what’s in the New Testament—Gospels, a history of the early church, letters from Paul, and letters from others to the world in which these new Christ-followers find themselves.

We will explore what makes a good study Bible, how to find passages in the Bible, how to compare the same stories told in different ways, how to understand the imagery and language of all these different writers of our Bible. We will look at an overview, delve into each of the Gospels, review the Acts of the Apostles, reflect on the Epistles (letters) written, and imagine together the decoding of the Revelation to John.

Our “Bible from Scratch: NT” study begins on Wednesday, September 30 and starts after supper at 6:45 (supper starts at 6 pm) and will conclude around 7:30. We will be meeting in the first floor Chapel. All you need is a Bible, and I will have several good study Bibles to highlight during our first session together, if you want to explore acquiring a different one. My intention is for the study to last eight sessions, with our last session being the first Wednesday of December. (I will need to be gone the second Wednesday night of October for a national church meeting.)

Wednesday nights at SHUMC

Over the two years I have served as your pastor, I have agonized over the best way to lead an adult study following our Wednesday night suppers. I have led Bible studies covering a book of the Bible chapter by chapter; I have focused on general issues and highlighted what the Bible has to say about those issues. I have also selected a social justice issue and we have shared our various opinions on those matters, and what God says about them; we’ve discussed God’s Politics and Being Gray in a Black and White world. Most recently, I took some time away from the adult study to spend time observing and interacting with our children’s and youth Wednesday night programs.

My agony arises in that, week in and week out, those folks who participate in the Wednesday night “studies” have been basically the same small group of people. While people like Conard and Jill and Margie and the others have great insights to share and I appreciate their dedication and faithfulness in participating, I wonder who are we not reaching that might also have their spiritual formation enriched with these Wednesday night studies?

I do know that some of the people who might otherwise participate are actively connected in the leadership of the children’s and youth programs; others are working as busy beavers cleaning up the kitchen after supper. I also notice a handful of folks who simply enjoy continuing the fellowship time together. However, I wonder if we have, somewhat unintentionally pushed people away. If that fits you, I hope you will reconsider and join us for Wednesday nights. And, if for some reason, we have kept you away, let us know what it is that has been a barrier to your full participation and maybe we can work harder at correcting it. Has it been the cost of the meal, the contents of the menu offerings, the labeling of a “family night” supper, the seating and table arrangements, the loud noise of the Hall, or maybe, the subject matters covered in our adult study?

Selecting our leaders for next year

It’s that time of year when our nominating process needs to be fully underway as we line up church leaders for the various slots and positions needing folks who are willing to serve. Our annual Charge Conference comes at the end of October, so now is when we need to know who is willing to serve. (Here is a link for the "leadership form") Over these past few weeks, we have listed all the positions and persons who are currently serving. If you found your name listed and you would prefer serving in some other way at this time, please be sure to let us know. If you believe God is leading you to take on a task or role for your church, please let us know that as well. Thanks to all who are willing to serve your own church.

Desperately seeking crafty & creative creatures of God!

One Sunday at another church, on a communion Sunday, I hooked up a bread maker and had it going so that as people came for worship, they smelled the baking bread—while it wasn’t a visual, it certainly added to the scent of worship. I so much want to add “more” to our worship experience other than just words and music.

As your pastor, this week, I made a trip to a local Michael’s to acquire some means of counting the number of Salty Servants in our church (see other side of insert). I asked several workers where to find some of those little flattened marbles, as I thought that might be a good way to use in counting. The employees all looked at me as if “duh, everyone knows where those things are” and generally pointed towards the middle of the store.

I envisioned a table in the sanctuary to lift up “salty servants”—maybe a salt shaker or a bag of salt on display with some flowing linen, some hand tools shown as examples of serving others, several nicely designed and printed “handouts” of ways to serve, along with a creative way to count the Salty Servants.

It dawned on me that being crafty wasn’t one of my God-blessed gifts; but I suspect that we have some crafty folks right here at Seminole Heights.

Additionally, I have really desired a “worship display” table or altar that would highlight that Sunday’s worship emphasis. As the worship is planned for the week, a crew of folks might brainstorm how one aspect of the worship service could be emphasized in an artistic manner.

Looking around Michaels I saw lots of great craft ideas—candles, fabrics, objects, pictures, statutes, etc. that could easily be a springboard to showing a visual of what is happening in worship.

Would that be something you might be interested in taking on as a project? Maybe one time or once a month or once a season? Grab some buddies and do it together?

I would be glad to suggest several ideas and scriptures I am using to plan for the time of worship and then encourage you to go forth and multiply using the visual arts to enhance our worship time together.

One great resource to tap into is an upcoming worship seminar hosted by the Temple Terrace UMC and led by the Rev. Kandace Brooks (she has been designing the worship displays at the Florida Annual Conference for several years); we worked together at a church in Gainesville. Ask Judy about attending this worship seminar next week; she has all the details. Who’s up for being crafty?

Sending out Salty Servants in ministries of mercy & justice

“This last week, I joined Jesus as a Salty Servant to persons beyond our congregation for at least one hour in one of the following ways”

Mercy Ministry ♦ Relationship Building
Justice Ministry ♦ Earth-Care

Jesus was clear that his followers are to be servants: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant . . . just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.” (Matthew 20:26-28) Service flows naturally and inescapably from the teachings and example of Jesus. “Let me tell you why you are here,” says Jesus. “You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness?” (Matthew 5:13 The Message).

Beginning this Sunday, our Bishop and Annual Conference leaders are asking each church to begin “tracking” and reporting the number of people in our congregation that perform at least one hour of their week in a ministry of mercy and justice (examples could include volunteering at the Clothing Closet, working with Habitat or Metropolitan Ministries, tutoring in a school, collecting food from your neighbors for a food drive, painting a house in “paint your heart out” etc.)

Each week when you come to worship, if you would like to indicate to God that you have spent at least one hour in “Salty Service” beyond our local church, please take one of the pebbles and place it in the “family” bucket. We will count the number of pebbles after worship on Sunday and record that as the number of Salty Servants from our congregation, reporting that number to the Annual Conference. This is a weekly “self-reporting” effort; if you are going to miss a Sunday—arrange for a friend or family member to move your pebble for you (or just double up the following week). We are not counting the hours, but the number of “Salty Servants.”

After this Sunday, our table of pebbles will be located in the narthex, so if you don’t come in that door on a regular basis, plan to head there before you leave. We will also report to the congregation the number of Salty Servants identified the previous week. Remember: if you serve during the week, move one pebble from the tray into the little bucket (wouldn’t it be great to have to get a bigger bucket)!