Special Announcement – Congregational Meeting date has been moved up one week. We will meet at the close of the January 19 worship service. Please be in attendance.
Our Wesley Renewal Weekend begins on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in the Social Area with a light lunch. Dr. Tom Fuller will bring encouraging and inspiring information about John Wesley’s Class Meetings and Bands. RiverStone Women are planning on bringing us a tasty meal and refreshments for later in the day.
Wesley designed class meetings and bands to give practical help in enriching one’s relationship our heavenly Father and Jesus, through the Holy Spirit. The groups utilize the smaller Christian community of four to twelve people to encourage and add gracious accountability. One of the main aspects of that made these groups so effective and positive were the questions members would consider during the week and report on in their weekly meetings.
Class meetings were a group of twelve to twenty and had an appointed leader. This person watched over his members and contacted them regularly. In their meetings, the leader would address each person and each was asked to describe his or her discipleship walk of the previous week. To be a Methodist was too be a class member. Being a class meeting member was a badge of honor, a sign that they were a devoted follower of Jesus who was not only keeping the faith and walking the walk but pressing “on to the goal to win the prize for which God has called…” them heavenward.
Bands were a more serious setting for accountability. They were voluntary but expected to participate fully. They were smaller with a maximum of five members and were segregated by gender and marital status to facilitate open sharing. Wesley took seriously James 5:16, “Confess your faults to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” Probing questions were used to offer direction for their time.
Sunday morning Tom will lead us in worship using a dramatic performance with some help of a few of our own. He will share hymns Charles Wesley composed and give us insight into their part in nurturing, teaching, and encouraging Methodists. We will certainly have a greater appreciation for our heritage as Methodist Christians as a result of Tom’s time here.
Opportunity will be given to provide Tom a love offering. Also, Tom will have a table in the atrium where we can find items he will have for sale. Tom comes to encourage and equip us to Love, Follow, and Serve Jesus , and thrive in ’25!
Loving you in Jesus!
Pastor Brian
Leave a Reply