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Church Leadership Journal

Summer Sermon Series Planned for Copper Hill Church

Stop in and worship with us
Stop in and worship with us at 27 Copper Hill Rd.

This summer at Copper Hill Church, during the pastors morning messages, we are reviewing together the primary purposes of the church.    There is no better time than the beginning of a new pastorate to undertake this important review.    It gives us important Scriptural perspective for our work and decision-making and it helps us all to be on the same page.   I enjoy preaching in series of messages and when I do I like to post the series so people can follow it.    Here is the tentative plan for the current series.   

The Primary Purposes of the Church
Date Purpose Title Scripture    Key Verse
July 14 Worship Meditation on Psalm 48 Psalm 48 Psalm 48:1
July 21 Evangelism Jesus’ Primary Assignment Matthew 28:16-20 Matthew 28:19
July 28 Communion Remember We Purpose to Remember 2 Peter 1:12-2:3
1 Cor. 11:23-29
2 Tim. 2:2		 2 Tim. 2:2
Aug 4   Guest speaker    
August 11 Discipleship Teaching to Obey is Different Matt. 28:16-20
Psalm 78:1-8
Prov. 4:1-7,13 		 Matthew 28:19
August 18 Service Serving the Least of These Matt. 25:31-46 Matthew 25:40
August 25 Communion Prayer A House of Prayer Matt 21: 12-22 Matthew 21:13
Sept. 1 Labor Day Sunday Fellowship Cultivating Friendship Rom. 12:6-16; Eph. 4:29-32; Col. 3:12-17 Rom. 12:10
Categories
Church Leadership Forward Look Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

A new assignment

My new assignment
My new assignment

 

Today it was announced at both churches that I have a new part-time pastorate in Connecticut starting in July after my retirement from full-time ministry here in Kirkville.   I will begin serving as the pastor at a very old and historic United Methodist Church at Copper Hill, Connecticut.   There is a very roomy parsonage that comes with the assignment where JoAnne and I will reside.   The parsonage is 10 or 12 minutes from the church and both are about 30 minutes from Keely and Mark and Sam.   

The sanctuary of the church is well preserved and was built in 1839—that’s four years before the Wesleyan Church was founded.   It was near the site of a famous camp-meeting grounds.   Like my home church in Haskinville, NY, it was built at a country crossroads.   However, today the hills and vales are thick with modern houses so there is a great opportunity for expanded ministry.   There is also a golf course across the street and a rails-to-trails trail a few hundred yards away as well. 

The best part was the warmth and genuine sense of ministry anticipation that we saw in the staff parish committee with whom we interviewed.    They made us feel very welcome and appreciated from the start.   I could sense the faithful perseverance in the Christian faith that has enabled the church to survive all these years.   I think they will be very receptive to our ministry there.   

This position for us is an answer to prayer.   We were looking for the good works prepared in advance for us to do after retirement.   This will be very meaningful without being too draining.   The economic boost will  help us to handle Connecticut costs as well.   So we are very thankful for this provision and looking forward to serving God together with the folks at Copper Hill.

Categories
Church Leadership Forward Look Journal

State of the Church address

At the semi-annual church conference, I changed the format of my usual report and instead presented a “State of the Church” address.   It was meant to summarize the achievements of my pastorate and describe the position of our church today as I view it.   I am attaching it in pdf format.

The State of the Church

Having reflected on it now for a couple weeks since I wrote it, there is one section that I should have added to the innovations section.  But we take it so much for granted today and know that there is no going back so I did not think of it.   The item I should have noted concerns all the technological advances we have made in using the computer since I have been pastor.   I arrived at the end of the typewriter era in Kirkville.  During my tenure, all record-keeping has been computerized; we used the computer to keep records and generate mailing lists.  Our current database expert volunteer is Josh Basile.  Of course, all correspondence and bulletin preparation has been computerized.  Currently we are using Word and Publisher 2010 to accomplish our work.   After Mahlon Moon’s thoughtful memorial gift of the the projector and screen in memory of Tillie, we entered the era of projected song words, PowerPoint slides when needed, mission slide shows without carousel trays, downloaded video clips, movies on the big screen, and most recently now, joining in a national simulcast.   All this has required consistent upgrading through the years as technology advanced and equipment wore out.  Finally, with a great deal of help from Steven Sgroi, we have become a church with a viable web presence.   We now have our own domain name  –  kirkvillewesleyan.org, on which we maintain our church website, publish three or four blogs and  have the capability for a sermon database in printed or video form.  In addition, again with Steven’s help, we are now on Facebook.   Our web presence is of increasing importance today as people check out churches online before visiting and expect some technical savvy when they arrive too. Ben Mackey oversees the team that makes possible our projection and sound ministry on Sundays.   Also, thanks to Ed Maum, we enjoy an in-house network.   Thank you to all the other volunteers too who make all this happen.

Finally, I would recommend an important parallel anecdotal account of the current state of our church.  If you read my wife’s book, God With Us; Fifty True Stories of God’s Faithfulness, you will see that it reflects who we are as a congregation very well.  So many of the stories describe the ministries of our church co-incidentally as she relays the first person testimonies.   Overall, a very powerful picture of our community of faith emerges.

 

Categories
Church Leadership Forward Look Journal

On Celebrating World Communion Sunday

On October 7, we at Community Wesleyan, Kirkville, will join Christians around the world in the celebration of World Communion Sunday.   This year, I did a little research to see what some others were saying about the observance of this special Sunday.   It was a great way to use the spirit of the day to express its meaning.  Here are some of the inspiring thoughts I found expressed by church leaders of other denominations.

It originated when the world was very divided in order to emphasize unity in Christ

 

World Communion Sunday originated in the Presbyterian Church (USA). In 1936, for the first time, the first Sunday in October was celebrated in Presbyterian churches in the United States and overseas. From the beginning, it was planned so that other denominations could make use of it. After a few years, the idea was welcomed by the wider Christian community as an opportunity to move beyond historical and theological differences and worship together. On this first Sunday of October, we celebrate our oneness –our communion – in Christ, in the midst of a world still in need of the reconciling unity of Christ. The Middle English roots of the word “communion” refer to having something in common and to being in a relationship. On this particular Sunday, it is a blessing to be intentionally aware of being “in communion,” that is, sharing Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, whom we have “in common” with other Christians, congregations, and denominations around the world.(quoted from http://resources.mennonitechurch.ca/ResourceView/43/14412)

It reminds us that in order to overcome the divisions of our world we will need to look beyond ourselves and receive from Jesus

World Communion Sunday is an event that bridges denominations and spotlights our commonality in the Body of Christ. This world would be so much better off if we looked for that which we hold in common rather than our differences. Holy Communion, rightly observed, reunites the Church. This is the pastor’s hope when he or she holds up the loaf of bread and says, “Because there is one loaf, we who are many, are one body in Christ.”

Therefore, our focus is in how to get over our differences and find common power to live in Christ. The Eucharist is a time of positive celebration, reunion, prayer for healing, and a sacred time to put others before ourselves

World Communion Sunday was intended as an occasion when persons would be invited to the Lord’s  Table on the same Sunday in many different churches and denominations, regardless of how often those churches and denominations normally observe communion. The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) participates in this witness and celebrates the fact that many other denominations are also inviting persons to the Lord’s Table on the first Sunday in October. (from a blog by Rev. Tim McClendon found at  http://www.umcgiving.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=qwL6KkNWLrH&b=7080293&ct=11520565&notoc=1.)

 

We may have different liturgies and customs but we have only one Lord and Savior who unites us

As Disciples, we proclaim the message of unity at Christ’s Table every Sunday of the year, not just on World Communion Sunday. We gather with other Christians every Sunday and declare our oneness in Christ as we take our place at the Table of our Lord. There are many different approaches to the serving and partaking of communion. Different elements are used. Different liturgies exist for communion in different churches. Communion is placed in a variety of positions in different orders of worship. But the message of God’s love for us, made known in Christ, is proclaimed boldly through our worship at the Table. It is this love that we proclaim at the Table that has the power to heal wounds, whether they are the wounds within our own spirits, within our families, within our communities, and between nations. God’s love makes us One. In my view, we are not being truly faithful in our worship unless we are proclaiming that message.

May we find joy in proclaiming that message with passion on World Communion Sunday and on all of the other Sundays of the year. Come to think of it, why be restricted to Sundays? Let us proclaim this good news every day that God gives us breath.

(Taken from Resources for World Communion Sunday: October 7, 2012 Prepared by the Council on Christian Unity, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) accessed at http://www.disciples.org/ccu/PDF/World%20Communion%20Sunday%202012b.pdf)

 

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Journal

KNN Up; Church Notes category closing

Our church webmaster, Steven Sgroi, has just finished putting up our newly formatted blog-style Kirkville News and Notes.   As readers of my blog have known, this has been in process over the summer. We have been experimenting on Steven’s computer with various formats to see which ones would present the news well, integrate well with our present site and allow for several key people to be involved in adding info. We decided that the online Kirkville News and Notes (KNN) would continue to feature both announcements of coming events and articles highlighting what has just happened.   The photo masthead is planned as a link to the past printed history of KNN.

I invite you to check out the result at http://www.kirkvillewesleyan.org/news.html.   As a result of this shift, this will be the last entry in my Church Notes category.   I will be taking that one down within the week.  (Previous entries can then be found in the Journal category instead, I believe.)  Articles that I would have posted on Church Notes will now be at the link noted which is under the News Tab on our home page.