Eden Prairie United Methodist Church
Connect with Us!
  • Home
  • Being Church
    • Crops For PROP
    • Serving Our Neighbors
    • Fellowship >
      • Women's Retreat
  • Children | Youth
    • Nursery
    • Sunday School (Preschool through 7th grade)
    • Especially for Families
    • Rooted (3rd - 4th grade)
    • Vacation Bible School
    • Middle School Youth (Grades 7-8)
    • Confirmation (8th-9th grade)
    • Higher Ground (10th-12th grade)
  • Music
    • Adult Music Opportunities
  • About EPUMC
    • Worship
    • Staff
    • Notes from Pastor Becky Jo
    • Lay Leadership
    • A Reconciling Congregation
    • Tumbleweed Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Annual Report
    • Calendar
  • Prayer
  • Online Giving
  • Contact Us

Weekly Memo for October 15

10/15/2015

Comments

 
We’ve gotten some feedback on some of the different things we’re doing on Sunday morning.  It’s a good time to respond. 
 
Last Sunday we started including the registration of attendance in the bulletin itself on the backside of what has become the commitment section.  The commitment section gives you two or three actions items to respond to for the coming week.  There is always one prayer request.  We’ve had some very positive response to this section and then some Sundays not so much.
 
The intention for this commitment section is to encourage all of us as Eugene Peterson puts it in his translation of the Bible entitled, The Message. “Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear!”  (James 1:22)  I believe practicing and holding ourselves accountable to these “commitments” is one important way to act on what we hear. And I’ll just say it, I believe each one of us can commit to praying about something specific and related to our congregation’s life together. 
 
The other change last week was that we took away the attendance pad and provided the opportunity for people to sign in on the back side of our commitment section. The responses we got from a couple of those who wrote on this back side all made a statement like:  I miss passing the book down the aisle so I get to see the names of who is sitting next to me.
 
It’s a great question.  And yes this is something that will be different about registering our attendance. Let’s look at some things this asks of us and what is behind this change.
 
First, if I may say the obvious, it encourages all of us to wear our name tags. Just sayin’.    
 
Second; If you have someone sitting near you or in your pew you don’t know, and they are not wearing a name tag, this is a great excuse to go ahead and ask that person’s name when we welcome one another.  I know not everyone is comfortable doing that, but those of us who are willing to take the chance or who are comfortable with this will help us to get to know one another better.  We are a church big enough not to know everyone’s name, small enough to want to.
 
In a few weeks we will have perforated paper for our bulletins so that tearing the registration and commitment sections off will be much neater and easier. This simple act, which every one of us can do, is a way of reminding our selves that the faith we celebrate is not only something God does for us, it is also how we are  “doing” for others.  So take the time, fill out your registration, mark your commitments for the week, and have something to place in the offering plate even if you gave to church in another way.
Keep the Faith,
Pastor Dan
Comments

    Archives

    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2012

    RSS Feed

Connect with us!
office@prairiechurch.org
(952) 937-8781

15050 Scenic Heights Road
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
Picture
Picture