10Q10Q -- faith, life, rethinking church, following Jesus...stuff

Come join in the discussion of faith at the Koinonia Page where scripture and life intersect in conversation and exploration. Visit on Facebook, Twitter, and Dave's Web Page too! I'd welcome your company at Palmyra First United Methodist Church, where I hang out, too, come and see!

Thursday, September 22, 2016

7 Keys of a Powerful Life

Dillon Rooke at Hot Metal Bridge
Pittsburgh, PA -- A New Thing!
What a wonderful summer.  Thank you for making the time available. Thank you for the wonderful ministry that you cared for with such skill and faith.  Thank you for welcoming Pastor John for your needs;  he did a marvelous job.  Thank you for daring to be God's called people of Love.

Here are some quick observations:

Seven themes arose for me:
o Community -- intentional outward reaching relationships;
o Listening -- Deep, constant, responsive listening to one another and the world;
o Flexibility -- The speed and risk-taking were amazing, faith-filled, and a consistent theme;
o Prayer --  Every last group spoke of prayer and discernment;
o Authenticity --  Holding conversations about all of life in everyday language of faith;
o Focus -- on calling, people, mission and strategy at hand;
o Tables-- There was a lot of eating!  A place of relationships, learning, caring, & holy conversation.
Three Commonalities:
o All sought to Love with the "Everybody's Welcome" Love of God and it showed. 
o All worshipped-- and no two worship services were the same. 
o All cared for administration, staffing, funding, education familiarly and experimentally.

In the weeks ahead I'll be listening to you and to the Holy Spirit for where this takes us.  I have some ideas and invite you to what I hope will be monthly food and conversation.  I do know that we've accomplished some amazing things with God's grace and there are things we have not accomplished.  I do know that continuing to do exactly what we've been doing doesn't hold much of a future and I also know adapting quickly is hard and necessary.  And finally, I do know that God has entrusted this community and congregation to all of us, so it won't be me telling anyone what to do, but God guiding us all.

I'm excited about the possibilities.  Check out the September sermon series on some of the Themes, they're archived on www.pfumc.us.  Join in the fun of food and conversation together in the weeks ahead.  Pray diligently.  Talk with your Koinonia group about where God is leading.  God is doing a new thing!  Can we see it!

10,000 Joys in Jesus Christ, Pastor Dave

This was written for the Palmyra First UMC Newsletter October 2016

No comments:

Post a Comment