Love Reaching Out
On Saturday, September 21, nearly 75 people gathered at the Mount Pleasant First UMC to learn, be inspired, and be challenged to think in new ways about how to reach out with God’s love to those outside of our church buildings. We were challenged to rethink the mission and ministries of the church beginning with the Why. Far too often our focus on ourselves; we want to grow our church, have more people in our worship service, so that our church will be here in the future. We were challenged, instead, to Be the church in our communities be focusing on the people of our communities.
Rev. JD Paik, pastor of Elsie and Shephardsville UMCs, joined by Anne Jensen of Mount Pleasant First, lead us in singing with songs focusing on God’s love and the love we are called to share as we reach out with God’s love. DS John Kasper provided our focus with devotions entitled “Who Cares.
Matt Witkowski, Director of Community Ministries at Trinity UMC in Grand Rapids, MI, spoke on ways we can become more familiar with out communities by being more observant, getting to know the people that make up our communities, the official and, perhaps more importantly, the unofficial leaders and go-to people in the community, the places where people meet and talk, and really know the people. He reminded us that the real need is relationship and that we can meet a perceived need by doing for and to but unless we do with we will never develop the relationships necessary to truly love.
Amelia Kasper, licensed social worker and Supervisor of Community Connections at Central Michigan Health Department, told us that we have abundance but are also uncomfortable. She asked us to envision being at a table with many other people and that the table is not ours but Christ’s. Because it is Christ’s table the provision is not limited to what we think we have or can do but is abundant, flowing freely. Amelia then shared that Christ’s abundance is often already at hand in the form of resources, programs, and persons sharing what is available just in the Central Michigan Health Department. But being at Christ’s table is also uncomfortable because we do not know the people at table with us, and therefore often treat them only based on what we assume. Rather than simply pointing people to resources, it is so very important to walk with them to access the resources and to let them know that you really care.
Rev. Kim Bos, Director of Wesley Ministries at Ferris State University, continued to challenge us to be in relationship while also recognizing that our missions and ministries have life cycles and therefore need us to PIVOT so that our ministries remain focused on the goal and do not become something we do simply because we have always done it. Using Pivot as an acronym, Kim explained that on a consistent basis we need to do five things: Protect the Purpose, Imagine who we can be and/or what we can do, eValuate with real data, Own our mistakes and Team Up, with those from within and beyond the church.
We are so very grateful for the hospitality of our host church, Mount Pleasant Fist UMC, and Rev. Don Ferris McCann, sound techs Rob and Kahleel, and hospitality director Linda Darrow.
Attendees left excited to Reach Out with God’s Love in new and exciting ways.