Grace United Methodist Church Wautoma, WI

I hope your new year is going well. At the council meeting last month I shared an article by Dan Dick our Conference Director of Connectional Ministries. In part of it he writes: “But when we have discussions about the perfect church, rarely do the comments turn to building issues, what curriculum we use, copier contracts, custodians, or technology.  When we talk about the perfect church, we talk about identity and purpose, relationships and engagement.  It is all about who we want to be and who we think God wants us to be.  It cuts through all the superficial clutter to get down to the core.  It takes us to the scary place, where we move from talking about changing to real transformation.  And it confronts us with the BIG question: do people really want to change?  Do we truly want to be the people God wants us to be, or do we wish God would back off a bit and just let us be who we are?

I realize that for me, church by definition is a place for change.  My Christian journey is a journey of learning (change), challenge (change), moving me out of my comfort zones (change), seeking and doing God’s will (change), and personal and spiritual growth (change).  Comfort, security, having things my own way — these things fly out the window when I truly give myself over to Christ.  That’s the basic, entry-level adjustment (change) we make — not my will but thine be done.  However, I wonder how many other people agree with me?  I see an awful lot of personal preference turf-battles going on in the church today.  I see many people putting their personal “Me” agenda ahead of any shared “We” agenda. 

In such a time and such a culture, the simple message — love God, love each other seems immensely appropriate.  We can spend a huge amount of time and energy discovering all the things we disagree about.  Or we can begin to be the perfect church we so hope to obtain.  Love is not something that we can merely teach.  Love is caught as much as it is taught.  We need to become the light in the darkness, the salt in the realm of blandness and decay, the city shining brightly on the hill — by living the love of God and giving people a model of a different way to live in the world.”

Dan talks about the importance of the church knowing its identity and purpose. I shared with the council last month that part of my focus in 2012 will be to help us remember our identity by exploring the early church this spring and beginning a chronological journey through the Bible starting this summer to help us become more familiar with and formed by the story of God and humanity. The goal is to continue to help us grow as disciples of Jesus but also to help us continue to become unified as a church around who God calls us to be together.

Dan also talks about the reality and importance of change as we are formed as God’s people. Even though change can be uncomfortable it is a natural part of growth. With that in mind, I am excited about the opportunities (changes) before us in 2012. As you know we have restructured one of our staff positions into three part time positions to bring new passion and focus to the youth, children, and hospitality ministries of the church. We also have a new Pastor of Hispanic ministries to work with us and our circuit on reaching out to and being in ministry with our Hispanic neighbors. As these new staff people bring leadership and invite us into new ministries we will have new opportunities to serve and face some changes in our ministries. As we continue the current ministries that are serving people of all ages in many good ways already I hope we can also get behind the new things that will be developed to also help us carry out our mission to love God, love and serve others and make disciples of Jesus Christ.

God Bless,
Pastor George