I started my series of articles on who we are as Global Methodists and where we need to be going with the July/August Newsletter. Because that was two months ago, I am including a portion of that letter to start this September letter to you. I was sharing from Our Conference Superintendent Scott Pattison’s sermon that began the 2025 Annual Conference of the Great Lakes Conference.
Each of us is called to be in service to God, not having God serve us. Our mission through our call is to be a disciple who makes disciples, who makes disciples...
As United Methodists we became out of alignment from Jesus’ mission for each of us and were comfortable being out of alignment. We needed to be realigned and reset to be who we were called to be.
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No, that’s not a typo. It is an acronym for If you keep doing what you‘ve been doing, you keep getting what you’ve been getting. That is the result of being out of alignment. So, how do we get aligned? We enter into a new life cycle. We, as Global Methodists, are in infancy, moving to childhood. We are now aligned with the Wesley Holiness Church and the Evangelical Church.
We were part of a denomination that was high in program, high in structure, allowed for limited relationship and limited vision, while requiring its churches to pay large amounts to cover expenses.
Now we are moving into a denomination high in vision and relationship. As Global Methodists, we desire unity in the church where Christ is the standard. Our goal should not be filling the pews and the offering plates, but finding a place for new people. How exciting that we are part of a new expression of Methodism where the lost are saved, the broken are made whole, and the hurting are healed
Reverend Dr. Pattison ended his message with the theme from Buzz Lightyear in the movie Toy Story, To infinity and beyond. The Great Lakes Global Methodist Conference is going forward this next year and beyond. Scott said, Grab a friend as we grow forward!
I’m going forward by sharing from Sam Rainer, one of the Conference Speakers, who is affiliated with an organization called Church Answers. Our churches have resources available to us through Church Answers. The scripture on which he based his talk was Matthew 24:14-And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
The first thing that Sam said was that our church address is not an accident. God has sovereignly placed us here. We see many church closings, but what God began in each of our churches is not supposed to stop until Jesus returns. We need to sustain and grow our churches doing something right here in our neighborhoods. We need to cross geo-political, language, socio-economic lines and others to welcome new people. We need to meet the moving van when a new family moves into the neighborhood, perhaps offering them a plate of cookies. We need to get involved in our local schools. Have we thought of volunteering at Rather Elementary or Coon School in Ionia or any of the schools in Saranac or Portland? Yes, Berlin Center, when I mention Saranac, I am speaking to you.
Sam is a statistics guy. He said that the mega church movement in the United States, churches with over 2000 in weekly attendance, peaked in 2012 with 1700-1800 churches. There are under 1000 mega churches today. In fact, most Global Methodist Churches are small to medium with 100-200 in worship on Sunday morning. He believes something is happening and we need to be a part of it. He believes there is a revival of the neighborhood church. 80% of people are in church because they were invited. So, we need to focus on being invitational, even offering to bring someone to church. We need to be hospitable. Even younger people like the intimacy of hospitality.
We need to be fiscally responsible. Another of Sam’s statistics was that 90% of a building’s cost occurs after the church is built. An example for us is the $80,000 it’s costing LeValley for a new roof. The roof is a necessity, but we do need to monitor our expenses. Church members want their money to go to missions, not infrastructure. As your pastor I have the responsibility to speak the truth of the Gospel with love. As Sam put it, the pastor needs to have a shepherd’s hand and a prophetic voice.
We are very good at some of these things, but we could work a little harder at thinking outside the box for other ways we can be the church in our neighborhood, for our neighbors, that we should be. As we continue to look at mission and vision, perhaps thinking of how we can be the church in our neighborhood will help us tweak those statements.
The last thing that Sam said was that we need to make sure all are welcome in our churches, but, at the same time, we need to be aware that we will not be the church for everyone.
So, don’t be upset or take it personally if someone visits, but doesn’t return.
Love in Christ,
Pastor Nancy
