As Paul closes his first letter to the Corinthians he makes this statement, “…a wide door for effective work has opened to me…” (1 Corinthians 16:9a; NRSV) We are not sure where that “wide door” was, but Paul saw an opportunity for ministry being opened to him.
That is the way I felt after our Bishop’s Dinner on Scouting. We had the privilege of hosting the dinner, as a little more than 100 persons from United Methodist Churches across North Alabama came, at the Bishop’s invitation, to explore the relationship between the local church and scouting. It was pointed out that “Churches of the North Alabama Conference are the principal partner for Scouting in Alabama.” (Rich Kilgore, A Scouting Director)
In his address, Bishop Willimon challenged local churches to consider scouting as an opportunity to fulfill the Conference Priority, “Empowering a New Generation.” Scouting opens the door to connect with the “next generation.” It is our biblical mandate to pass on the faith to the next generation. The Psalmist put it this way: “And he [God] told our ancestors to teach their children, so that each new generation would know his Law and tell it to the next.” (Psalm 78:5b-6; CEV)
I’m not sure that we have really seen Scouting as an opportunity to help us connect the next generation to Jesus Christ. Think about it: has scouting been seen as a ministry of our church or a group that simply meets in our facilities. There is a difference. Sure, we have held Scout Sunday the last two years but is that the same as claiming scouting as a ministry to connect the next generation to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and grow disciples in their relationship with Jesus Christ?
At the dinner, one of the Associates at Vestivia Hills UMC shared these facts about their scouting ministry. They have three hundred families involved in their scouting ministries. The Cub Scout Pack has grown to the point that they have two packs in their church. He said the transformation came when Scouting became a ministry of the church not simply an organization that used their facilities. Of the three hundred families, only about a hundred are church families. The other two hundred are part of the ripe harvest field of the church. We need to learn from them to be more intentional in connecting with the harvest field. Every week we have families come onto this campus that are not connected to Christ and/or His Church. Our children and youth ministries especially need to be more intentional in using this opportunity. We talked about this opportunity in our staff time on Monday. Kelly Wiegert and Paul Turner will be sharing some ideas about this connection with the Children’s and Youth Ministry Teams.
I was asked to share a story about the Scouting connection to our church. That was an opportunity to tell about a conversation I had at the Easter Egg Hunt on Palm Sunday. I had seen a new person in our 11:00 service that morning. That afternoon, at the Easter Egg Hunt, she was there with her children. As we talked, she said that it was scouting that brought her to the church. While bringing her children to scouts, she picked up some of our information brochures. She also read our bulletin boards and announcements around the church and came to the conclusion this was a church that had something for her family. She had been to the 9:45 service and Palm Sunday she attended the 11:00 service. She said her family had found a church home. It all happened because of scouting.
On Scout Sunday, February 14th, we had many first time guests. Later, one of the leaders of the Cub Scout Pack said that we had five unchurched families in worship at 9:45 with the Cub Scouts. Those are five families who probably would never have come to a worship service here if it had not been for Scouting. A door was opened because of Scouting.
Bishop Willimon shared that his work on the God and Country Award played a role in his hearing God’s call to ministry. At their annual Blue-Gold Banquet, I spoke to our Cub Scouts about the God and Country Award. There is such an award for each level of Scouting. The last Scouts in our church to seek that award in our church were Bruce and Lynda Gagle’s children. I was blessed being their counselor. I volunteered to work with any scout who wanted to work on the God and Country Award.
Talking about “Open Doors,” the Saturday night Easter Celebration provided an “Open Door.” Because of the 245 persons who were at the Saturday night service, we did not have the traffic problem on Easter morning that we have had in the years before. We had some new people at that service and some people who saw it as an opportunity to come back.
I believe we also have another door opening to us. For a couple of years some have been talking about beginning a Hispanic Worship Experience or Bible Study. The Council on Ministries is putting together a Task Force to begin more “intentional” work on this possibility. We have learned of some grants to help with the establishment of Hispanic ministries with the church. We are now looking for persons who would like to serve on this Task Force. You can contact me or Jennifer Lindholm. If you are interested. We hope to have a meeting in a couple of weeks.
As always, your responses to these Reflections are welcome. You can email me at rguess@gmvumc.org.
That is the way I felt after our Bishop’s Dinner on Scouting. We had the privilege of hosting the dinner, as a little more than 100 persons from United Methodist Churches across North Alabama came, at the Bishop’s invitation, to explore the relationship between the local church and scouting. It was pointed out that “Churches of the North Alabama Conference are the principal partner for Scouting in Alabama.” (Rich Kilgore, A Scouting Director)
In his address, Bishop Willimon challenged local churches to consider scouting as an opportunity to fulfill the Conference Priority, “Empowering a New Generation.” Scouting opens the door to connect with the “next generation.” It is our biblical mandate to pass on the faith to the next generation. The Psalmist put it this way: “And he [God] told our ancestors to teach their children, so that each new generation would know his Law and tell it to the next.” (Psalm 78:5b-6; CEV)
I’m not sure that we have really seen Scouting as an opportunity to help us connect the next generation to Jesus Christ. Think about it: has scouting been seen as a ministry of our church or a group that simply meets in our facilities. There is a difference. Sure, we have held Scout Sunday the last two years but is that the same as claiming scouting as a ministry to connect the next generation to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and grow disciples in their relationship with Jesus Christ?
At the dinner, one of the Associates at Vestivia Hills UMC shared these facts about their scouting ministry. They have three hundred families involved in their scouting ministries. The Cub Scout Pack has grown to the point that they have two packs in their church. He said the transformation came when Scouting became a ministry of the church not simply an organization that used their facilities. Of the three hundred families, only about a hundred are church families. The other two hundred are part of the ripe harvest field of the church. We need to learn from them to be more intentional in connecting with the harvest field. Every week we have families come onto this campus that are not connected to Christ and/or His Church. Our children and youth ministries especially need to be more intentional in using this opportunity. We talked about this opportunity in our staff time on Monday. Kelly Wiegert and Paul Turner will be sharing some ideas about this connection with the Children’s and Youth Ministry Teams.
I was asked to share a story about the Scouting connection to our church. That was an opportunity to tell about a conversation I had at the Easter Egg Hunt on Palm Sunday. I had seen a new person in our 11:00 service that morning. That afternoon, at the Easter Egg Hunt, she was there with her children. As we talked, she said that it was scouting that brought her to the church. While bringing her children to scouts, she picked up some of our information brochures. She also read our bulletin boards and announcements around the church and came to the conclusion this was a church that had something for her family. She had been to the 9:45 service and Palm Sunday she attended the 11:00 service. She said her family had found a church home. It all happened because of scouting.
On Scout Sunday, February 14th, we had many first time guests. Later, one of the leaders of the Cub Scout Pack said that we had five unchurched families in worship at 9:45 with the Cub Scouts. Those are five families who probably would never have come to a worship service here if it had not been for Scouting. A door was opened because of Scouting.
Bishop Willimon shared that his work on the God and Country Award played a role in his hearing God’s call to ministry. At their annual Blue-Gold Banquet, I spoke to our Cub Scouts about the God and Country Award. There is such an award for each level of Scouting. The last Scouts in our church to seek that award in our church were Bruce and Lynda Gagle’s children. I was blessed being their counselor. I volunteered to work with any scout who wanted to work on the God and Country Award.
Talking about “Open Doors,” the Saturday night Easter Celebration provided an “Open Door.” Because of the 245 persons who were at the Saturday night service, we did not have the traffic problem on Easter morning that we have had in the years before. We had some new people at that service and some people who saw it as an opportunity to come back.
I believe we also have another door opening to us. For a couple of years some have been talking about beginning a Hispanic Worship Experience or Bible Study. The Council on Ministries is putting together a Task Force to begin more “intentional” work on this possibility. We have learned of some grants to help with the establishment of Hispanic ministries with the church. We are now looking for persons who would like to serve on this Task Force. You can contact me or Jennifer Lindholm. If you are interested. We hope to have a meeting in a couple of weeks.
As always, your responses to these Reflections are welcome. You can email me at rguess@gmvumc.org.
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