Posts by firstumc-admin (Page 15)

Please plan to support the rummage sale fundraiser, and encourage your family, friends, and neighbors to do so as well.

The purpose of this Church Conference is to decide on whether or not to sell a parsonage.

Dear Friends, The mountaintop experience at Camp Colby, during the recent Elementary Camp, was very enriching and fulfilling. We explored the theme of God making “All Things New.” After being inactive from kids’ camping for 13 years, and being away from Camp Colby for at least 20 years, it was a nostalgic and refreshing getaway. The idyllic setting is located above La Cañada-Flintridge in the Mt. Wilson area, with its towering pine trees, a brook running through the camp, and…

On August 17, we would like to invite anyone to come to our social hall at 11 a.m. for a church barbecue.

Dear Friends, July 1st marked the beginning of my eighth year as your pastor. I thank God for such a privilege and honor. When I look back, there are so many milestones that I cherish: those who were single who transitioned to marriage; the births and baptisms; and the coming of age celebrations. Then I get more sentimental when I see confirmands who are now in college or have graduated. I recall the time when some of you were little…

Dear Friends, It’s that time of the year when churches send ministers and lay representatives to Annual Conference. What is Annual Conference? It is the annual summertime pilgrimage to the University of Redlands where we meet, vote, and worship. On the larger ‘conference’ level we receive reports, we approve budgets, and enact new legislation. We also hear about endings and new beginnings. This year we will have a new bishop presiding over our sessions. After twelve years of faithful service…

Dear Friends, While attending the Ken Callahan workshop two weeks ago, I learned that there is a search for an emerging individuality. Certainly this applies to individual persons, but also to groups and to churches. As we all go through life stages and passages, our identity changes within different age brackets, various job positions, and in marital and expanding families. In a similar way, churches undergo transformational stages. Over the decades our church identity has undergone some shifting. At one…

Dear Friends, After the first day of the workshop with Ken Callahan, he’s finished explaining one of the four important searches in which people are engaged.  The four searches are:  emerging individuality, community, meaning, and hope. Callahan is adept at cultural analysis and social archaeology.  He’s able to break down social indicators that characterize individuals as well as groups.  On day one he identified the differences between the first-born child and the second-born child.  One of his theories is that the first-borns tend to…