All Are Welcome.
No Exceptions.
You are a
Child of God!
First United Methodist Church in Lindstrom is a welcoming, accepting, and authentic community of faith.
Together at First UMC we grow as disciples of Jesus trusting in His forgiving grace and endless mercy. Our goal is to always strive to stay faithful to the three scriptural imperatives of the United Methodist Church: 1.) To Grow in Love toward God and Neighbor (Matt. 22:37-40), 2.) To Reach New People (Matt. 28:19-20), and 3.) To Heal a Broken World (Luke 4:16-21).
To stay true to these, is to stay true to Jesus and his life and ministry.
God loves all people.
So do we.
Please take a look around our website and Facebook page. We hope you will contact us if you have any questions.
Belonging Leads to Believing
Dear Friends,
A “go-to” book of mine on a bookshelf in my office is entitled, “Growing An Engaged Church: How To Stop ‘Doing Church’ and Start BEING The Church Again” by Albert L. Winseman.
I love this book for many reasons as it helps me understand how to help you, as members of this congregation, to become more engaged, rather than just involved. There’s a big difference between being engaged in a congregation and being involved in a congregation. Mostly that engagement makes one’s contributions feel important, needed, and appreciated. A result of congregational engagement is a feeling of deep joy and satisfaction. If one does not feel that their contributions are making a difference, and that no joy or satisfaction is felt, they are likely involved, and not engaged. A whole other newsletter article could be written about this!
I also love this book for the many direct questions it suggest we ask ourselves in order to determine our level of engagement within the congregation. Some of the questions, in relation to the congregation, include: Why do/don’t people join our church? Why do/don’t they stay? Why do/don’t they serve? What do I get? What do I give? How can we grow? If time and money were no object, what would I do for God? These are questions I would love to hear your responses to sometime. Shoot me an email or call me.
However, while those are great questions, the two most thought-provoking questions the book asks, in my opinion, are, “What do I believe?” and “Do I belong?”
Believing and Belonging. Both impact our daily lives in ways we might not realize but should consider.
Read more...
