I want to offer a word of thanks to Deerfield UMC for
hosting the poverty trainer, Susan Pennock, from Communities In Schools and the
Duke Endowment who came to present 6 seminars here in Boone last week. These
events were sponsored by the Watauga Missional Network and I want to thank you
for helping make the meetings possible.
A few of big ideas came from our work last week:
1. Try
to learn the names of one in four children in our community who live in
poverty.
2. The
answer to working towards a solution to poverty is through education and
building relationships. How can we promote education especially to work to help
people who are in generational poverty? How can we build relationships with
people who are in poverty?
3. Our
business leaders who met last week showed a strong interest in trying to make a
difference to bring real change for those in our community who are living in
poverty. People who are called to make a difference by working for a change of
life for people in poverty will be given a chance to plug in their efforts
locally.
4. One
way to begin to connect to the educational needs of our community is to
volunteer at Parkway School. Please see the pastor for a volunteer application.
Please Keep these questions: Post them on
your desk or somewhere important and prayerfully think about these items:
Our District Superintendent met with the
Watauga Missional Network, including Deerfield UMC this past Sunday and asked
some important questions. Please consider these as we head into planning for
2014. These are great questions for our church to prayerfully consider:
1.
If your church ceased to exist, who would miss
you? Who would notice? Who would care?
2.
What
is our greatest kingdom offering for Christ?
What work do you currently do that makes a difference in the lives of
others?
3.
What
is your vision for the future of your church? What is the snapshot of what God
is calling your church to do and be in the next 3 years? If you can’t quote the
mission statement of your church, we need a new one. What might be preventing
that from happening?
4.
What
must you change in order to be more able to serve kingdom? What is holding you
back? What is our reason for existing? What does it mean to be the church?
5.
What
one step will you as the leaders of the church agree to do or work on before
the end of this year?
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