If you have attended worship a time or two at Spring of Life you may have heard these words:
“Come as you are and become who God created you to be.” They seem to say, “This is the kind of church God wants us to be – a community where anyone can come and become who God created you to be individually and corporately.”
During our church’s strategic planning retreat last August, the lay leadership of the church, who make up the Church Council asked these questions: Who is Spring of Life now? What kind of church is God’s Spirit compelling us to become?
We celebrated the beautiful things this church is right now: A place that welcomes the community, offers ministry to a broad range of ages – children, youth, adults and seniors, offers shared pastoral leadership from a man and a woman, offers a blended worship services with traditional and modern musical elements, preaching and communion every week, and a place that looks for ways to put faith in action through serving.
We wondered together, “What kind of church does God long for us to become?” This question can’t be answered with clarity in a minute, or even during a 24-hour strategic planning retreat. It requires laboring together and seeking God over time in worship, study of Scripture, prayer, and service in the community. Eventually, a vision emerges! God is faithful!
We considered the immediate mission field where we live. What are the spiritual, emotional and physical needs of our community? We considered the gifts for ministry that God has already given to the people at Spring of Life, and wondered what new gifts God might stir up among us as the church grows?
While the specific details of the future remain to be seen, the next step is clear. The Church Council is committed to “Building the Beloved Community” at Spring of Life. We recognize that our community is diverse (particularly across Anglo and Hispanic culture). You might be surprised to know that within an 8 mile radius of the church building there are about 57,900 white people and about 57,700 Hispanic people – 57% of whom are Puerto Rican. There are many other cultural differences too. You may be interested in looking at this Mission Insite report that gives demographic information about our community.
The Church Council recognizes this diverse mission field we are in and recognizes that God has given our church gifts for ministry to witness to the Gospel of Jesus in our mission field.
This past summer, Evelyn Teran joined Spring of Life. She is a gifted bi-lingual teacher and pastoral leader. Our church affirmed her sense of call to licensed or ordained ministry by recommending her to the District Committee on Ordained Ministry to become a Certified Candidate for Ordained Ministry in the United Methodist Church (this happened at our annual Church Conference on October 22.) Evelyn has been leading a Hispanic Ministry at 10:30 a.m. simultaneous to our second worship service. And on Sunday, December 30, Evelyn, Carolyn and I shared the sermon together because we felt the Spirit prompting us through the story of the three Magi/Wise Men/Kings that Spring of Life is like a “manger” where many different cultures are invited to come and worship the world’s one true king.
So, as this ministry opportunity continued to unfold, we increasingly felt like the separate and simultaneous English and Spanish worship times were not serving our mission to transform our world into “the beloved community” God created us for. We thought, having the Spanish service stay in the youth room at 10:30 would keep it successfully small, second class and separate from the rest of the church.
So a new vision was cast for Spring of Life to “Try On” launching a third worship service that would be primarily in Spanish at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. Evelyn would be the primary preacher since she is bi-lingual. Pastor Dave and Carolyn would now be able to share in the worship leadership too. Space is instantly available for the service to grow and this is something that Spring of Life is doing together in an effort to become a multicultural community of faith that recognizes, understands and appreciates our differences in light of the kingdom of God.
We’re just getting started and the way forward is to keep on laboring together and seeking God over time in worship, study of Scripture, prayer, and service in the community. Eventually, a vision emerges! God is faithful!
There are two specific things I’d like to invite you to consider as we “try on” the launch of our third worship service.
1. Sign up for a “Dinner of Eight” group. These groups are 4 couples, 8 singles, or any combination that will get together for 4 meals over 4 months. We will equip the groups with table conversation starters and encourage people to share about their culture with food and stories. At the end of the four months we will have a big church wide potluck where people will be encouraged to bring a dish that is from their culture and offer an opportunity for people to share things they learned about each other in their "dinner for eight" groups. Click Here to register.
2. “Try on” serving at the third worship service. We need help with hospitality, greeters, ushers, etc. Email Julie at the church office if you can help. We will be meeting at 3:00 pm. on Sunday, January 20 with everyone who would like to serve on the third service launch team.
