Pastor Jeremy, in his sermon of May 5: Now the real work begins… liberate
us from the comfort of the pews!
If you were in church or watching online at our first worship service after General
Conference, you know that Pastor Jeremy spoke in detail about actions taken at the
Conference, and how exactly they will affect us, typical Midwestern United Methodists.
The Book of Discipline and other documents will be updated, they are after every
General Conference, and they will no longer contain language describing certain forms
of sexuality as “incompatible with Christian teaching.”
Nobody has to adopt new sexual practices or new philosophies. We all are expected to
love one another, as Jesus instructed us to do more than 2000 years ago. If you reflect
on our church’s vote to be welcoming and inclusive more than a year ago, you won’t
find any changes in our liturgy, or our spiritual practices.
More recently, BRFUMC voted to join with Third Avenue UMC and Paris UMC and
become United Methodist Ministries of Mecosta County as of July 1, 2024. So much
change! Why do we have to do this? WHAT do we have to do to accomplish this?
At the first meeting of the Transition Team, Pastor Jeremy gave us a three-page list of
tasks related to the merger. This was not three 8.5x11 inch pages, but three 11x17
pages! Anyone who is determined to be upset will rejoice that he has listed all these
things, so you can object line by line.
Most of the tasks, while important, are details. Most won’t require you to do anything
different. Example: instead of three membership lists, one for each church, there will be
one list. Does that matter to you?
Did you know that BRFUMC now has more than a dozen CATEGORIES of membership?
Do you know which category you belong in? Do you care? If you became a member by
transferring your membership from the UMC in another town, do you worship differently
than the person in the pew behind you, who became a member by profession of faith?
What about the person in front of you, who became a member by leaving another
denomination?
The names on bank accounts and insurance policies will change. Policies for employees
and volunteers will be updated. Have your ever seen these, or worried about them? Do
you want to help with this process? Volunteers are needed!
The most obvious change will be the addition of an associate pastor or director of
community care. Jeremy will NOT preach three times every Sunday; another person will
do some of this. The position is supposed to begin July 1, 2024, when the three
churches become one. The other two churches have had several years of intermittent pastoring. Some of the people were more qualified than others. Some were more local
than others. There has been nobody to provide pastoral care other than the
congregations themselves.
To fill this void, it is important that we hire the right person. Stay tuned. We may not
meet the deadline; the ideal candidate may be applying right now as you read this. Pray
for it. We will be moving forward with new resources and new energy to make disciples
of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!
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