Saturday, March 29, 2008

Colonial Hills United Methodist Church Mission and Values

At the March Church Council meeting we continue the very importnat conversation regarding the revision of our congregation's mission and value statement. We agreed to post a preliminary statement on this blog, and then to create dialogue among us regarding these statements.

I am praying that God will bless our efforts.

Mission Statement:

To be a family of disciples for Jesus Christ that radiates God’s healing and transforming love and grace to all people for the transformation of the world.

Core Values

-Being Christ-centered disciples with bold faith and faithfulness.
-Inviting all people into our church as home.
-Embracing all people as an open, welcoming, caring community.
-Offering spiritually vibrant, diverse, celebrative worship experiences.
-Focusing on Spiritual Formation through small groups for all ages.
-Reaching people who are not yet connected or committed to Christ.
-Expressing the gospel through Christian service that seeks to offer both acts of mercy and works of justice
-Preserving our rich heritage of Wesleyan Distinctiveness.
-Striving for excellence in every area of our ministry.

Let the conversation begin

rrpm

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Everything Must Change

I have been engaged in reading a book written by Brian McLaren entitled, ‘Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope, and I would recommend the read for those asking the question, "If you had a few years left, what kind of life would you want to live?"

He suggests that the core message of Jesus is concerned about today’s global problems. In fact, I find his book to be a very hopeful testament. Jesus’ message is not just about personal redemptions, but it is also about the recreation of the human family and the planet. His message is not simply about the afterlife, but for life in this world too. Jesus does not simply offer a way of life, but a new way of life that changes everything—personally and socially, individually and globally.

I encourage you to read his book, and let’s begin the conversation. There is a website: everythingmustchange.org

Friday, March 21, 2008

Easter Revisited

As Christians we are promised
that when we trust and believe in this way,
that when we believe in the power and the love of God, a power and love that can raise the dead to life,
that our lives will be blest, and that we will be a blessing to others.

We are promised that what we believe will make a difference to us ---
And indeed it does....

Let me tell you a true story:

In Russia a few years ago a railway worker accidentally locked himself
in a refrigerator car. Unable to escape or to attract attention, he
resigned himself to his fate. As he felt his body becoming numb he
took a pencil out of his pocket and recorded the story of his
approaching death. He scribbled on the walls of the car:

" I am becoming colder... still colder... I am slowly freezing... half
asleep - these may be my last words.

When the car was opened the man was found dead, but the temperature of the car was only about 56 degrees. Officials found that the freezing mechanism was out of order and that there was plenty of fresh air
available. Although there was no physical reason that they could find for the man had died. It was concluded that he had died because he had believed that he would die.

My friends, what you believe to be true affects you to the core of your being, it shapes you and makes you what you are,
- it either blesses you because it opens you up to the power of God,
or it afflicts you because it blinds you to what you could be and what God is trying to do for you.

The Jewish Philosopher Martin Buber shares this important insight in his book entitled, “I and Thou”: You know, always, in the depths of your hearts, that you have need of God, more than of anything else. But do you know that God also has need of you; that (God), from the fullness of (God’s) eternity needs you.

Indeed the promise of Easter is that God so loved (so needed) the world that he gave his only. God needs you for desires a relationship with all of creation. God seeks to redeem creation; to bring it back to wholeness so that the “Shalom” which the early Hebrews spoke of becomes a reality in our living.