Eden Prairie United Methodist Church
Connect with Us!
  • Home
  • Being Church
    • Crops For PROP
    • Serving Our Neighbors
    • Fellowship >
      • Women's Retreat
      • Church Directory
  • 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
    • Sermons
    • Calendar
  • Prayer
  • Online Giving
  • Contact Us

Weekly Memo for September 29

9/29/2016

Comments

 

Keep the Faith,
Pastor Dan
A Challenge of Vitality
 
The other day Deb (our Director of Children’s Ministry) and I were talking and celebrating a great September at EPUMC.  We’ve had something of an influx of families with younger children.  This has meant enough new kids around that we had to add a Sunday School class.  This in turn means that Deb gets to find more teachers.  Deb is the best at this and so as we talked, both of us laughed because we realized that we were discussing The New Challenges of Vitality at EPUMC.
 
Each one of us on staff has talked about these new challenges of vitality at one time or another, and we think it is great. We feel it is what a lot of people call a blessing and that it is something to be celebrated…especially because we believe that along with the challenge of vitality will come a response from a sense of vitality.
 
A few months ago I was talking about this using the phrase “passion, not obligation.”  By that I meant that when any of us responds to even the most mundane need less out of “somebody has to do this” and more out of (what I’ve been hearing a lot of lately )…. “I can do that…”  then great things happen.
 
This acting out of passion, not obligation is contagious, and it is creating even more vitality at EPUMC.   Last night I saw someone I would have never dreamed of staffing the nursery along with Elicia.  By the way, did you know that we need at least two people in the nursery on WEDNESDAY NIGHTS because we have so many young families participating in choir. If that isn’t a challenge of vitality, I don’t know what is.
 
We’ve had to take more time in staff meetings to coordinate the use of the fellowship hall on Wednesday nights, because we have all kinds of people coming at 6 to hang out together.  If you haven’t checked it out…and have been around here for a while…it’s like the soup suppers, without the soup but with the people.
 
Here is something else…. Coffee in the narthex has been, forgive me for this, a HUGGGEE success.  Being a coffee drinker and knowing other coffee drinkers, my guess is that if we stop doing this we will have some questioning hearts during worship and it won’t be about the love of God in Jesus Christ. The coffee will be there this Sunday, but I’m still trying to figure out how and who will help make sure this keeps happening. 
 
Now I am not trying to say that we do not have some other, less appealing challenges in front of us….we certainly do. The point is that I want to encourage us to respond to them with the same sense of vitality as we face these other challenges. 
 
In the Bible Jesus is constantly reminding his disciples that they have all that is needed to be about the work of proclaiming the good news of faith. Its not just a few pep talks Jesus gives…Jesus isn’t a motivational speaker…he is a life giver.  And when we respond to our challenges in life with the faith that God will provided what is needed we experience the new life, the vitality in life…. Jesus promised.

Keep the Faith,
​Pastor Dan 

Comments

    Archives

    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