Idea sharing this Sunday!

This Sunday we'll meet with the Searcher's class to share the ideas that developed as each of our groups worked through the "Catch" study.  We'll meet in A-6, the Searcher's classroom, and we all know how good their snacks are!  Come prepared to speak up and represent our little class at the end of the hall! :-)

It will be a QUICK discussion, our colleagues work on a tighter agenda than we do, but if we feel like there is more to process, we can always invite a small group to join us for further discussion or decide as a class to tackle a few of the initiatives that get us really energized.

ALSO!!!  We have a couple more months left in the year and we need folks to volunteer to lead our class.  It could be a single Sunday or a series, you can choose a book or a topic, and, like always, it's more of a discussion facilitator than a teacher since our class has no problem taking off with a topic!

This Sunday: Surprise!

Mike has offered to give us a SURPRISE!

Which sounds like a party but really means that he will teach our class on a topic of his choosing...that he has not yet chosen.  So, come, eat donuts, be surprised!

We'll also plan the supper of soup that we're providing for Renew on Wednesday night.  Just to get you thinking, we'll probably need the following:

2-3 soup options
Bread and/or crackers
Dessert
Drinks

Do you need some inspiration?  Here you go!

Brunch!

This week is Fifth Sunday Brunch - right after 9:30 worship. 

Bring a dish to share...make it yummy.

Add cantaloupe if desired.

Catch: The Wrap Up

While four weeks is rather brief considering the history of our class studies, we managed to pack in a lot of good discussion and visioning.  It turns out that all of us have dreams and ideas for Grace UMC and while we didn’t stick to the study all that closely, it did give us a framework for thinking about where we want to go and how we can get there.

We did some thinking and planning about our worship and study space.  We have LOTS of ideas for our church building!

-Brighten up the area outside the sanctuary with light and art

-Create more welcoming coffee and donut area as well as space to gather
-Add recycling baskets (not blue bins) outside of the sanctuary for bulletins and other papers

-Update signage throughout the building

-Utilize Wesley Hall for our Sunday School class

-Find ways to add information at entrances re: Sunday School, Events, Comfort Critters, the church, etc.

-Continue to work on how to utilize the outdoor space effectively and to find ways for it to be used on a regular basis

We also talked about reimagining our identity as a church and thinking about how to embody who we are through a new or updated logo, mission statement, and sense of purpose in our community.

This last week was all about making a plan.  Here’s a summary of what we discussed:

What makes our church unique?

-Great preaching

-Focus on education and learning

-Dedicated members

-A desire to serve

-Members who are humble/serve with their whole lives

-A practical note: our convenient location

-No sense that there are matriarchs/patriarchs with unequal influence

How can we connect with first time visitors and our community?

-Weekly informal social gatherings (Saturday morning/weekday evening basketball, etc.)

·         Also allows for planning simultaneous events

·         Open to the community, regularly scheduled

-Following up with visitors

·         Have the liturgist do follow-up calls.  Why?  The liturgist is visible during worship and therefore familiar AND the liturgist will not be up front the next week and can follow up in person during worship

·         Announcing and passing out registrations pads

·         Add visitor gifts to the narthex, ushers set up during worship, one last point of contact before visitors leave

·         After 3 visits, pastor meets for coffee OFF SITE (to find out more about them, their interests, etc.  More about the people than a “meeting with the pastor”)

-Update information in the pews by the hymnals – give more of a sense of who we are

-Be prepared for youth and older children at any given time, have volunteers ready to create “instant Sunday School” if necessary

-Connect with our GCDC families in a more intentional way

-Additional mailing to consider: 5^th Sunday brunch with all the dates for the year – if there is not the budget for an entire zip code, perhaps just the visitors from the past 6 months-1 year

Several other classes and groups are also working their way through this study and we hope to team up with them soon and share our ideas.  We’ll also be working to educate the rest of the congregation on the work that’s being done to determine our direction as a community of faith.

It’s an exciting time at Grace UMC!

Catch

We're taking a hiatus from the Social Principles of the UMC for a little while and moving our focus to evangelism.  As we continue to think about how we can connect with our community and those who are seeking a welcoming and thoughtful faith community, this four-week study will hopefully give us the opportunity to focus on the specifics of how we can help Grace UMC continue to grow and develop.

Mike helped lead a church-wide study based on Catch by Debi Nixon and Adam Hamilton.  We'll do the same for us beginning this week!

See you on Sunday!

Something new...

Welcome to our new adventure!  Instead of weekly emails, the Agape Class at Grace UMC in Oklahoma City wants to open up our discussion with the larger community.  The blog and the Facebook page are still a work in progress but we are hoping that they can become a place for information and discussion about what is happening in our church, in our community, and in our world.

We look forward to seeing you here again soon!