e-Soundings

State of the Church: Lancaster United Methodist Church: Jan. 2017

We’ve had a wonderful and blessed year!  This is an exciting place to be…

NEW MEMBERS IN 2016

This last year, we’ve had 20 people join our church fellowship.  That’s twice the number that joined in 2015. They are:

         

Burgess Akers, Jr.

Simone Beke

Kerri Castro-Jackson

Geraldine Coleman

Leah Furubotten

Bill Geosch

Alease Goesch

Robin Hanson

Cecelia Hibbert

Deborah J. Hill

Andrew Johnson

Deana Jones

Dianna Rimer

Dennis Sellers

J.J. Stewart

Mary Snyder

Elaine Stanley

Keith Stanley

Roger Thomas

Marilyn Waggoner

Plus we’ve had three adult Baptisms:

Kerri Castro-Jackson

Duoduo Lun 

Xiujuan Fen

and 5 infant/children Baptisms:

Elyssa Megan Bridges

Jake Carter Bridges          

Elizabeth Marie Foisel

Flynn Thomas-Lee Morris

Max Christopher Situmorang Nealey

All this is happening because of the great love that Donna Horn is providing as our Connection Coordinator.  She makes sure that no one slips through the cracks.

Pastor Ray and Rose Sung, our clergy responsible for our new Chinese congregation report that after starting with 7 in July, they now have 25-30 people coming regularly.

Wow!  That’s the “Extravagant Hospitality” that has become a hallmark of our church!

You can participate in that hospitality simply by walking up to a new worshipper or participant in our many activities and saying “Hi!... I’m ________. I don’t think I know you very well.”  It’s fun and you meet some wonderful people.

Everyone likes to be welcomed and recognized!  I hope you can help us welcome everyone!

When someone is interested in membership, Donna and I meet with them two times to hear their faith journey story, talk about the basic Christian beliefs we share and touch on our uniqueness as Methodists.

Everyone has some “homework” that helps them identify where they are on their spiritual journey.  We meet again a week later to talk about where they see God leading them.

You too can join in the discussion, exploration and discerning of where God is leading you.  You can join the Pastor’s Coffees (usually the first two Thursdays of the month, but sometime on the first two Sundays) and/or any of our classes. 

Call our office (661-942-0419) or let Pastor Terry and/or Donna Horn know you if are planning to attend.

THE REAL DISCIPLESHIP SURVEY

This year we’ve added the “Real Discipleship Survey” to our options. 

It’s an anonymous survey and you can find it on our website: www.LancasterUnited.org.

It gives you a snapshot of where you are as a disciple of Jesus Christ and offers some immediate suggestions as to what you can do to strengthen your discipleship.

OUR CHURCH IS SHIFTING!

All this means that our church is shifting.  We’re shifting to a “Disciple Centered” church instead of a “Program Centered” church.

This simply means that everything we do needs to be measured by how well we are able to help each other become better disciples of Jesus Christ.

The Rev. John Wesley began the Methodist movement with a desire to balance inner faith life (piety) with outward, compassionate life (service). 

We live out the commandment Jesus gave to us to “Love God with all your heart, mind, body and soul” and to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Luke 10:27)

All of our church leaders and our church staff work together to help each and every participant grow with God’s Holy Spirit.

We will strengthen this shift toward discipleship with the “Real Discipleship Survey” (see above).  We will also have a discussion / learning / praying time every week (usually) right after church meeting for lunch @ 12:30 pm on the next 3 months of Sundays. 

We are reading the book:

“Missional Renaissance” by Reggie McNeal, and we are thinking about what it means to make sure we are always disciple making no matter what we do as a church.

You are welcome to join us! 

Please, come and have lunch with us every Sunday, 12:30 pm, (except when church activities conflict)  We will discover our spiritual journey together….and discern what God has for us as a congregation.

What scripture has stayed with you this week?

What have others learned about Jesus Christ because of you?

How goes it with your soul?

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Terry

1 MILLION new disciples of Jesus Christ! How with Lancaster UMC respond? ...with prayer? ...with action?

 

1 million new disciples of Jesus Christ in four years... 250,000 per year. Wow!!!  Thank God!!!!!

Last May over eight hundred delegates and countless other United Methodists from all over the world gathered in Portland, Oregon for the quadrennial (every four year) General Conference.

The bishops and pastors, church members and staff, volunteers and visitors, met to , to worship and to celebrate God’s faithfulness, to engage in Christian conferencing, to affirm our global connection, and to make decisions for our church’s future,

Of major importance are the bold new goals that were prayed over and discerned as God’s will for our worldwide fellowship over the next four years:

.....to midwife a million new disciples of Jesus Christ, (that’s 250,000 NEW followers per year);

.....to engage 3 million new people to make a difference in the world (that’s 750,000 NEW people involved in helping others);

.....to transform 400 communities for vital abundant living;

.....to reach a million children with lifesaving health interventions;

.....and to double the number of vital congregations (that’s starting and restarting communities of faith).

Furthermore, Bishop Bruce Ough, president of the council writes in part:

“We celebrated the success of our Imagine No Malaria initiative, which seeks to raise $75 million in the fight against malaria, a disease that takes the life of a child in Africa every two minutes.

We celebrated our ecumenical partnerships as we move into full Communion with the Uniting Church in Sweden and toward full Communion with the Moravian church.

We celebrated our heritage: the 250th anniversary of our oldest church, John Street United Methodist Church, the 200th anniversary of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the 150th anniversary of United Methodist Women, the 25th anniversary of Africa University and others.

We continued in our acts of repentance with a presentation from the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes about the Methodist involvement in the 1864 Sand Creek massacre.

We shared in the consecration of deaconesses and home missioners and the commissioning of missionaries.

We moved toward a global Book of Discipline and global Social Principles. We voted to add five new bishops in Africa after 2020, and approved a churchwide study on our ecclesiology."

The Episcopal address set the tone for the event, focusing on humility and lifting up our accomplishments.

We heard from our laity an invitation to members to be more involved in making disciples and getting involved in ministries to bring the love of Christ to others.

We heard our young people say they “are engaged in Christ’s journey with energy and love.”

We also heard them say clearly that they do not want a divided church and urged us to “be in unity even if we do not have unanimity.” They give us hope for our future.

The body had difficult and challenging work before it as we acknowledged our differences over human sexuality.

Amidst those differences, the delegates affirmed they want their bishops to lead and we found ourselves with an opportunity for a holy moment.

We spoke candidly about what divides us and what our church might look like in the future if we dared to consider new possibilities.

We offered a way forward, postponing decisions about sexuality matters and committing to having a different kind of global conversation that allows all voices to be heard.

Our differences do not keep us from being the body of Christ. They do not keep us from doing good in the world. They do not keep us from making a difference – and so we set forth bold new goals  (mentioned at the beginning of this article.)

Most importantly, we affirmed our commitment to stay united.

We proved that we are more than debates and divisions, more than rules and resolutions.

We stood together as the body of Christ.

As we reflect on our time in Portland, our prayer is for unity in the church for the advancement of our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

As John Wesley reminded us, “Best of all, God is with us.”

Signed on behalf of the Council of Bishops,

Bishop Bruce R. Ough, president of the Council”

Many have asked what is the essence of the Methodist movement.  Our General Conference gives evidence of the answer. 

The Methodist movement is trusting God’s Holy Spirit to move and work through all of us, the gathered body, the church, and through open and honest conversation, prayer and discernment.  In all this we discover God’s will for us as a particular part of the great tribe of God’s people.

Through our conferencing: our General, Jurisdictional (regional), Annual (sub-regional) and Church (Local) Conferencing, we covenant together to consider the way God has brought us together and our future together in God’s Holy Spirit.

On June 15-18, Lancaster UMC sent 7 people to our Annual Conference as Lay Members to “Christian Conference” for our sub-regional area, the California-Pacific region (Southern California, Hawaii, Guam and Saipan.

Our Lay Members are: Steve McDougal, Heather KinKennon, Vicki Fisher, Melinda Hunter.  Our Alternate Delegates are Helen Jones, Keith and Cathy Swords.

On June 28, we had our local Church Conference as we connected with the world-wide church.  We also elected our leaders for the coming twelve months and present our yearly budget. 

You are invited to join us Jan. 21 as we explore our next "Readiness 360+ Workshop" at Santa Clarita UMC. (8:30 am to 4 pm.- We'll carpool from the church at 7:15 am)  That day we’ll take the next step in reviewing our 3-5 year Vision.  We will share what we learned from reading "DiscipleShift" and explore the next study.  This process will be completed in the Fall.

You are welcome to join us Sunday, Jan. 8 and Jan 15 @ 2 pm to share and pray about the future of our congregation.  This is a crucial time to come together and share what's on our hearts and minds. 

What are your highest highs and lowest lows this week?

What scripture has stayed with you this week?

What have others learned about Jesus Christ because of you?

How goes it with your soul?

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Terry

Why do we Baptize Infants and Children?

 

Baptism is a major area that divides the church.

Many churches encourage Infant Baptism.  Many other churches prefer Adult Baptism.  

Both sides of the Christian movement end up in the same place, an adult choice to follow Jesus that was initiated by God. 

The Infant Baptism churches, such as the United Methodist Church, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopal, Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, emphasize the fact that God has chosen us, just as we are, and invited us to become participants in God’s heavenly kingdom. 

The Adult Baptism churches, such as the Baptists and Independent churches, focus on our act of response, our choice to follow Jesus as an act of faith, putting our trust in our ever loving Lord.  

It’s an act that we do willfully and in light of the witness from the Bible and all of creation.

 

The Infant Baptism churches realize that, of course,  a child cannot understand all that is happening to them.  They are recently born and oblivious of all that creation has in store for them. 

However, God loves them just the same.  Just as God has loved each one of us long before we ever knew of Jesus and the great sacrifice of unconditional love that Christ made for us. 

 

The child is baptized into the church, the body of Christ, and the church takes on the responsibility to care and nurture them as they grow and come to realize what a profound gift God has given them.

The church provides Sunday School, Mission opportunities, Christian role models and other activities for them to “come and see” what the Christian faith is all about. 

 

Then, at the age of awareness and choice, (usually starting at age 12 or 13), the child is asked to consider the universe of love God has created in Jesus Christ and to make a choice for that Universe. 

 

This is called “Confirmation” and completes the process begun at Infant Baptism.  

When they choose to be confirmed in the church of Jesus Christ, they are then seen as an adult in the body of Christ, ready to worship, pray, serve and grow in faith as a disciple of Jesus Christ for the rest of their lives. 

 

Each year we call our congregation together to renew their Baptism.  Whether it was as an infant or an adult when we were baptized, we join together in renewing that Baptismal vow.

We all stand before our loving God knowing that we don’t deserve the kind of unconditional love God pours out so abundantly on us. 

 

You are invited to join us this Sunday at Lancaster United Methodist Church, to renew your Baptism.  

...To renew your trust and faith in a loving Jesus Christ.  

...To let the Holy Spirit inspire you again.  

...To look to God with your highest allegiance as you seek to live a life of  unconditional love and grace.

 

Please invite your friends and family to renew their faith as well. 

 

There will be an opportunity at both our 9 am and 10:45 am worship services.

Professional child care will be available all morning long.  

Our innovative “SPARK” Sunday School will be offered at both 9:15 am and 11 am.

Join in the community that has offered the love of God in Jesus Christ for centuries, and will continue to offer that love until the end of time. 

 

Our world needs this witness of God’s unending love and power, peace and justice in Jesus Christ now more than ever. 

 

I’m looking forward to seeing you.

 

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Terry 

 

 

Join us at:

Lancaster United Methodist Church

This Sunday Jan. 8 @  9 am & 10:45 am 

 

 

Rev. Terry Van Hook, Lead Pastor

Lancaster United Methodist Church

918 w. Ave. J, Lancaster, CA   93534

www.LancasterUnited.org   661-942-0419