Quicklinks Menu
'What's Next?' Meetings:
All meetings are complete - please prayerfully consider where God is calling you:
Engaging Millenials
Embracing Mission
Equipping Me!
Follow-up meetings will be held April 15th at 6:30pm!
"Where Do I Fit In?"
Click above form to download, fill out and bring with you to the meeting on April, 15th, 2012.
WHAT'S NEXT? -- HERE IS THE VIDEO:
WHO WE ARE...AND WHO WE CAN BE...ALL FOR JESUS!!
Mission Sunday, 2010
A church on a mission to reach all generations and people for Christ!
The young and the older working together...making a difference...as God has always called us to do...
2008 - Great Day of Service, Serving in the community 2012 - Grow Groups making Blessing Bags for Co-Op
WELCOME TO...
Sugarloaf UMC has experienced phenomenal growth and incredible ministry over the last 15 years! There is much to celebrate in our past. But celebrating our past is not nearly as important as reaching into our future! The time has come for us to ask the question of this moment…”What’s NEXT?” Where is God calling us to go? What is God calling us to do? What is God’s vision for Sugarloaf moving forward?
The vision that guided our PAST has prepared us to pursue the vision God has for us TODAY! Because of Sugarloaf’s commitment to reaching the un-churched through creative and innovative ministry, it is uniquely positioned for the challenges and opportunities mentioned in this report. God has been so faithful to bless and grow this congregation through the years. Now, more than ever, let’s devote ourselves to going where He wants to take us next!
Our passion at Sugarloaf has always been to reach those who have never known Christ or who left the church because it was not relevant to them or their world. We believe that Christ is as relevant as ever but the church has not exhibited that relevance nearly enough. As we seek to honor who we are while straining forward to who God is calling us to be, we have come to believe that we must make the reaching of young families a central priority. Make no mistake about it…we will continue to minister with and seek to reach all persons for Christ regardless of their age or stage in life! We believe, however, that the urgent needs and challenges represented in the next generation compel us to act boldly in efforts to reach this segment of our community.
After prayerful thought, planning and seeking God’s direction, we offer the following for your consideration as the NEXT pursuits for Sugarloaf United Methodist Church.
“Engaging Millennials”
The Millennials
represent that segment of our population currently in their late teens to early
thirties. Reaching this segment of our population will not be easy. It will require deliberate and intentional
effort on our part. But not reaching
these souls is NOT an option for us!
This generation matters to God no less than any generation before them! We believe Sugarloaf UMC can and must find a
way to reach out to these persons. We are uniquely suited to reach out to young families in this demographic and it will require all of us in this effort.
This is an
idealistic people as well. They will be making a difference in the world today
but have lost faith that the Church is the place for it. We are going to challenge this belief! We believe that as we follow more and more
closely the example of Christ, this demographic will see that we are the place
to come to make a difference in the world.
We will engage one with the other – those of us
more 'seasoned' lending our experience and well-tried faith to those younger who
have the passion that comes from idealism and desire to change things. We see a picture of them standing side by
side at the co-op, serving meals to the homeless together, singing praise to
our God passionately beside each other and growing in faith together. This is who we can be. This is who God would have us to be!
“Embracing Mission”
We challenge our
church to move beyond “doing mission” to “being missional.” Being missional means creating an environment
in which each member is encouraged, equipped and empowered to use their
personal lives in service to Christ and others.
“Missional” thinking encourages individual believers to take the
initiative in finding ways to share God’s love through word and deed. Missionally minded disciples don’t wait for
the church to “organize” a mission, they engage in mission as part of their
day-to-day lives. They live out Romans
12: 1, “I appeal to you, therefore,
brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Our “spiritual act of worship” is lived
out in our homes, workplaces, marketplace, and everywhere that we go.
“Equipping Me!”
“Do
not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and
acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12: 2
To achieve the
goals God is setting before us, we must be a body of believers who are still
being “formed and transformed” by the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit at
work in our lives. We challenge each and
every member of the church to commit to personal growth and development in
their relationship with Jesus Christ.
The most pressing question for us is not “When were you saved?” but
“What work is God doing in your life today? How are you going deeper in your walk with
Christ? What steps are you taking to
grow as a follower of Jesus?
The Spiritual formation of our members must become a central goal for our church! We challenge the church staff and leadership to provide meaningful and effective plans and processes to foster faith development in our members. We challenge each individual member to seek out and commit to these opportunities for spiritual growth.