From the Pastor

 

July/August 2010

Dear friends in Christ,

 Our new summer worship schedule (traditional services on Saturday at 5:30pm and Sunday at 11:00am, but only one contemporary service at 9:00am) affords us the opportunity to pursue something a little different in the life of our congregation.  Since there will be more time between the Sunday morning services and since there aren’t any classes scheduled on Sunday mornings for the summer, the Worship & Music Team and the Church Council have encouraged me to invite various members and friends of Holy Spirit to share (speak about) their faith journeys.  We have done some of this during Wednesday Lenten worship in the past and the sharing has been very well received.

There are two possible avenues for this.  First, there is the option of a longer time for sharing – half-an-hour from 10:20 to 10:50am on Sunday mornings in the Fellowship Hall.  Speakers are invited to talk about their experiences of God’s presence and God’s absence.  They are invited to talk about how their faith has changed, and how it has changed them.  They are invited to talk about their convictions and their questions, their affirmations and their doubts.

Second, people can do a similar, but more condensed, version in worship services, for three to five minutes.  Since we are in the season of Time after Pentecost, during which the Bible lessons encourage our spiritual growth as we seek to put into practice the teachings of Jesus, a suggested theme (in addition to any of the topics noted above) might be to especially focus on how their faith has changed, and how it has changed them.  Be aware that, while speaking during the worship service seems like a smaller commitment, the preference would be for the speaker to share at all three services on a given weekend, or to come in several days prior to the weekend to be video-recorded and, thus, shared at whichever worship services for which one was unable to be present.

Even if we only hear from just a few of our folks this summer, it might be the start of something that could grow in future summers or other times, as well!  If you would like to “nominate” someone for sharing his or her faith journey, please contact me as soon as possible!

 

Your friend in faith,

 

 

 

P.S.  The online survey our congregation participated in, a couple of months ago, revealed the perception that we don’t do a very good job retaining our new members.  Please think and pray with me about how we can improve in this area.  Let me know what you think!  (By the way, we had a strong rate of participation in the survey!  Thanks to all who took the time to let your thoughts be known.)