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Open Letter to Rosebush UMC, What a blessing it is having you as part of our Rosebush UMC family! Your presence is well appreciated as together we represent Christ to each other, our families and our community. Again, thanks for being a part of our church! I want to first of all wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas and the best of what God has planned for 2019. My hope is that 2019 will be a year that will see deeper connections to all that God has placed in our lives, as well as new relationships with the many faces around us. May God build strong relationships within our workplaces, families, community and church. In the coming year there will be several new opportunities for worship, outreach and church governance that will enhance our way of reaching the community for Christ. These changes have been designed to enable new individuals to find and follow their God given call to serve and participate in the many ministries and organization of RUMC. 2019 will be a year of new initiatives. One of those initiatives is the inception of "Church at the Diner." With the extreme busyness of families today, Sunday morning is not necessarily the most ideal time to attend church. We get that. Sporting events, week-end travel and such have changed the dynamics of church attendance dramatically. Our ultimate goal at RUMC is to offer you relevant options that work for your family. "Church at the Diner" is a way that you can still reap the benefits of a worship service while not being limited to a traditional setting, time or place. My hope is that everyone will join me on Monday nights at Roz's Diner in Rosebush for a relaxed time of prayer, worship and a hearty bowl of soup! Space is limited so leave an attendance number at 989-433-2957. Another new initiative for 2019 is the formation of the “Nomination and Leadership Development Committee.” The purpose of this committee is to prayerfully analyze the effectiveness of our current RUMC structure and to help identify new individuals that God is calling to serve in the various ministries and positions within the church. This committee also is charged with ascertaining the direction and effectiveness of the current programming as well as identifying the leading of God towards new areas of ministry and outreach. Another thing that we need to be acutely aware of as we enter 2019, is the steady decline in attendance we are experiencing. This decline is not out of the ordinary in today’s society. One of the issues that leads to a decline in church involvement today is one of witness. We have to start asking ourselves as the church where we are putting our efforts and resources. Who is in charge of evangelism and outreach? How do we as a church witness to the community and invite others to join us? These are only a few of the great number of questions that need to be explored in 2019 as we seek to remain a vibrant living witness for Christ in Rosebush and the surrounding area. We also need to remain acutely aware of the issue of change in our culture. The world is obviously changing at an alarming rate .... and WE need to change with it! If not, we are simply doing the same things we've done for years but expecting different results. Your church is simply not going to grow without dramatic change. None of us are magicians or prophets in that we can see the future. It’s hard to know what to do tomorrow much less in a year or five down the road. But God has called us to be faithful yet open to His leading. As His Church, we are to offer Him our best, for Him to use in ways that only He can foresee and ordain. It’s not about us .... it’s about Him! We have the challenge to be willing to let Him lead our congregation through His faithful people and to accept His ways in the same fashion that Moses, Noah, Jeremiah and so many others did without hesitation. 2019 is destined to be a year of "letting go and letting God." I hope you will be open to joining me on the journey... Joe |
