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Grace Church in Urbana a United Methodist congregation
May 2008
Quote of the Month: “We Christians, when we practice our faith, pattern our relationships, not on the divisive ways of the world, but on the way of Jesus Christ, the prince of peace, and the harbinger of hope. The secret of fulfilling our mission lies in our own dying to live. The key to our missional engagement lies not in getting our own way, it lies in giving ourselves away. Dying and rising, dying and rising, dying and rising, it is God’s rhythm in the world, and the heartbeat of our church when we dare to be faithful. Through Jesus Christ, the way of resurrection is God’s gift to us and to the world.”
–Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher, in the Episcopal Address to the 2008 General Conference, Fort Worth, Texas, April 24, 2008
Grace United Methodist Church 2004 Philo Road, Urbana, IL 61801 (217)324-1414; www.urbanagrace.org J. Michael Smith, pastor
Gleanings: selections From Organic Community, Joseph R. Myers, pp. 73-80
Five years ago, Chris was hired to develop small groups in a growing congregation. His program was so successful that he wrote a book about it, a book that was widely read and became a model for other small group leaders.
Last month, Chris lost his job. When we talked about the reasons for this, we discovered that his own standard of measurement became his demise.
“We had a chart,” he told me, “which became the reporting tool to evaluate success: number of active groups, number of people meeting per month, number of new groups birthed…”
“The first two years it was great; then we hit a wall. We plateaued…The numbers weren’t down, but they weren’t up either. We were a long way from what I had promised…I started experimenting with anything that had the promise of bringing up the numbers. Some of the ideas worked for a while, and then they didn’t. They didn’t produce the numbers...Finally they let me go. They wanted to find someone who could ‘take our small groups program to the next level.”
Chris, by looking at the bottom line, was actually measuring only part of the truth…He hadn’t measured how the small group program was answering the question, “What are we hoping for?” In the early development of the program there was a lot of discussion around:
Though discussed in the beginning, these values didn’t find their way to Chris’s reporting sheet. Because they were not counted, they lost their importance. Chris’s program was not a failure. Many found their way to Christ…the small groups experience had helped many. Chris’s leaders shared accounts of their own significant personal change.
Yet Chris’s effectiveness was not measured by the help people received while he was leading. Chris’s story illustrates that measurement has these properties:
“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away.” (author unknown)
Kennon Callahan has coined a phrase: “persons served in {ministry}.” He suggests that we remember to count persons served…not just our members, attendees, and former members...Story is the measurement tool of community. Churches don’t become legendary via reporting numbers. They become legendary through the sharing of their story of {ministry} within the community.”
Mark your calendars: Red Letter days in May at Grace Church
May 3: Annual Garage Sale 8:00-2:00.
Contributions may be dropped off Monday, April 28 through Thursday, May 1, 9:00-3:00 and 6:00-8:00pm.
Pick-up of items is also available. Contact Rosemary Woods or Wanda Adams.
Accepting household items, clothing, toys, books, collectibles, jewelry, furniture, electronics, etc. No air conditioners, please.
May 18: Bishop’s Visit Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher has accepted an invitation from Mike and Jie Wu Smith to baptize Jie and preach at the May 18 worship service. This is a double celebration for Grace Church: the baptism of a new Christian and the chance to host our bishop.
May 18: Annual Spring Concert 6:00pm. Come enjoy a variety of music: instrumental and vocal, by individuals and groups. Refreshments will be served in the fellowship hall after the concert. Reports:
Grace Years: There is a revival of the Grace Years Fellowship at Sunnycrest, with the emergence of some new residential leadership there. The Sunnycrest Grace Years Fellowship will be sponsoring a 12 week “Issues in Aging” seminar, led by Pastor Mike Smith, beginning May 1. At Prairie Winds, Bob Bentz has instituted a new weekly songfest for residents. Pastor Mike conducted a memorial service April 25 at Prairie Winds for residents, friends, and family members who have recently died. Parkview held its quarterly potluck dinner April 7.
Member Care: Linda Halbach and Janice Roy have been the deacons of the month for April. Janice will continue on in May, with her new partner to be announced.
Global Neighbor Project: Jie Wu’s project to help poor Chinese students at the university where she is on the faculty now has 13 sponsors from Grace Church. Her goal was to find 26 sponsors, so we are half way there.
Worship: We are now in the third month of our program to have different groups design and lead worship services. For the month of May, worship services will be as follows: May 4: Worship Committee; May 11: Choir group; May 18: Bishop Christopher guest preacher, baptism of Jie Wu; May 25: Spiritual Formation Team.
Finance: The finance committee met April 15 and heard reports for improving our General Fund through two measures: a spring yard sale (May 3) and a spring fund drive (asking people to tithe the tax rebate).
On-going groups at Grace:
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