Witness

Evangelism is part of our Wesleyan heritage. It’s essential for The United Methodist Church to continue believing in its high tradition, which functions primarily in the service of character formation, faith development, missional engagement, and evangelization. It is crucial to living these core beliefs and even practice them. Our priorities as Methodists are to witness for Christ and invite people into a relationship with God.

Today in the 21st century, congregations are making a mistake in thinking that evangelism is a program of the church. Faith-sharing is not a program of the church. To the contrary, the church, when it is authentic, is a ministry of faith-sharing.

The role of evangelism is to tell the good news of God’s kingdom come in Jesus Christ. Therefore, we do not “evangelize” anyone other than Christ. Evangelism is heralding Christ. We may “evangelize” among a group of people, but we do not evangelize any one person. In other words, we do not convert anyone. Conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit. Our task is to tell the good news story.
Our God is a seeking, saving and sending God. “Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (John 20:21, NRSV)

The call to bear witness, to evangelize the nations, is our ongoing response to God’s gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. The congregation lives out its attitude toward unchurched persons every day in the communication it offers, in its involvement in the community, and in the unique way it expresses and practices hospitality.

As Methodists, we should understand that sharing faith or evangelism demands an openness to the Holy Spirit. John Wesley referred to these ways as the means of grace: prayer and fasting, study of Holy Scriptures, worship, regularly receiving the Lord’s Supper, and Christian conversation or conferencing. Evangelism is very important to Methodists when they reach out to others, welcoming them into fellowship, providing opportunities for them to grow in their relationship with God. Nurturing them in the Christian faith. Sending them out to serve the ends of the kingdom in the places where they live, work and play.

As disciples of Jesus Christ, the great commandment calls every Christian to a ministry of sharing the gospel and inviting others to seek God in Christ. In doing evangelism, people are requested and invited to experience the community of faith. We should remember that some are called to be evangelists, but all are called to be witnesses.

One of the mistakes people always make is to view evangelism as the pastor’s task alone. As children of God, we bear witness to Christ in our lives, based on the personal experiences we have of the encounter and receiving of Jesus as personal savior. We bear witness to God’s grace in our lives as we mature in our faith. While the congregation has ministries that enable the local church to fulfill an evangelistic function, it ultimately comes down to the individual who takes personal responsibility for sharing with others how God has worked in his or her life.

The early Methodist movement was to be an evangelistic movement. Above all else, they were to be concerned with preaching the gospel and the salvation of souls.  Wesley wrote to his preachers: “It is not your business to preach so many times, and to take care of this or that society, but to save as many souls as you can. To bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance, and with all your power to build them up in that holiness without which they cannot see the Lord.”

Today, we have to take our evangelism effort seriously because the world needs it more than before. The world is sick; we have to continue preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. As Methodists, we should not be limited to calling people to justifying faith alone, but to call people to holiness of heart and life.

The Rev. Jean Claude Masuka Maleka is a United Methodist missionary in Côte d’Ivoire.

Witness

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

Witness

Faith Sharing (Renew Ministries)

The following guidelines will keep your faith-sharing community focused and help you to grow in faith, hope, and love. They are included in the front of every faith-sharing book published by RENEW International.

Principles

1. Faith is a gift from God. God leads each person on his or her spiritual journey. This happens in the context of the Christian community.

2. Christ, the Word made flesh, is the root and foundation of Christian faith. It is because of Christ, and in and through him that we come together to share our faith.

3. “Faith sharing” refers to the shared reflections on the action of God in one’s life experience as related to Scripture and the faith of the Church.

4. Faith sharing is not discussion, problem solving, nor Scripture study. It is an opportunity for an encounter between a person in the concrete circumstances of his or her own life and a loving God, leading to a conversion of heart.

5. The entire faith-sharing process is an expression of prayerful reflection.

Guidelines

1. Constant attention to respect, honesty, and openness for each person will assist the community’s growth.

2. Each person shares on the level where he or she feels comfortable.

3. Silence is a vital part of the total process. Participants are given time to reflect before any sharing begins, and a period of comfortable silence might occur between sharing by individual participants.

4. Before sharing a second time, participants are encouraged to wait until all others who wish to do so have contributed.

5. The entire community is responsible for participating and faith sharing.

6. Confidentiality, allowing each person to share honestly, is essential.

7. The natural culmination of the sharing should be the action commitment, the key to the spiritual growth of both individuals and community.

Witness

How does Trinity United Methodist Church faithfully witness to God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ?

Trinity United Methodist Church is a Scripturally-based and Christ-centered faith community. We are an inclusive congregation, rejecting no one and accepting everyone. Every person is a child of sacred worth for whom Christ died.

All are welcome into our fellowship who profess faith in God’s full self-disclosure in Jesus Christ, promising to love God and love one another. Because we believe in the Risen One, we are compelled by the Spirit’s power to put faith into action through the offering of our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.

We make it our aim to love, not judge. Discrimination is not a part of our spiritual DNA.

Rev. Jim Bowden

Witness

Witness through song

Verse 1
Go make of all disciples
We hear the call O Lord
That comes from Thee our Father
In Thy eternal Word
Inspire our ways of learning
Through earnest fervent prayer
And let our daily living
Reveal Thee everywhere

Verse 2
Go make of all disciples
Baptizing in the name
Of Father Son and Spirit
From age to age the same
We call each new disciple
To follow Thee O Lord
Redeeming soul and body
By water and the Word
Verse 3
Go make of all disciples
We at Thy feet would stay
Until each life’s vocation
Accents Thy holy way
We cultivate the nature
God plants in every heart
Revealing in our witness
The Master Teacher’s art
Verse 4
Go make of all disciples
We welcome Thy command
Lo I am with you always
We take Thy guiding hand
The task looms large before us
We follow without fear
In heaven and earth Thy power
Shall bring God’s kingdom here

Witness

Psalm 145:16 – When I open My Hand I provide for all that I created

When I took physics in college, we studied terms like “static” and “dynamic” states of matter, meaning that there are some things that don’t change and others that constantly do.

The word “statistics” by its very nature is data that is fixed, unchanging, steady-as-she-goes.  Then there’s the word “dynamo” or “dynamite” with the same prefix “dyna”, meaning full of energy, power, and subject to rapid and sudden change.

Maybe that’s why I gravitated to the scientific realm.  I like and appreciate the truths that I can count on, that the law of gravity says that  the ball comes down into the glove, that with the law of acceleration my car goes faster when I press the pedal that burns more energy-producing fuel, that I can bank on this or that anatomical structure is where they taught us it would be when I’m in surgery.  These are static things in my mind, and the training at school drilled that into us.

That’s all well and good until things change.  The blood vessel you thought is to be at point “A” is NOT there when a tumor obliterates it or shoves it into another position.  That’s the dynamics, if you will, of medicine, in that everything you were taught as “normal” changes when it comes to disease and injury.  It has become very dynamic in a heartbeat, so to speak.
“You have to know normal before you can recognize abnormal”, one of our profs said.  I think that’s why they call medicine an art AND a science, because you have to learn to apply your knowledge of normal, and be able to use it in an abnormal situation in an attempt to correct the problem, whatever it is.

I think God has got to be a scientist… everything around us just makes too much logical sense.  We know a lot, as human beings, of our world.  Many truths have been discovered, just as many things we thought were true have been proven otherwise.  The world was flat once upon a time, remember?  And we haven’t even scratched the surface as our basic knowledge is constantly changing, dynamic, if you will.

But God has not changed.  The God who created Adam and Eve, of Moses, Abraham, Mary/Joseph/JESUS, and yes, the God of you and me—has remained the same.  As with science, we will never know all there is to know about Him, but we are provided with His “textbook” to show us the way, to provide us a roadmap and direction for our journey in this world and beyond.

It’s up to us, always has been, to follow the directions to avoid getting lost, to find our way home.
These ancient inspired words from Genesis to Revelation have never changed.  Sure, there are now MANY translations, I think in man’s attempt to adapt the Word to “make them more relevant”, more “contemporary” in this ever-changing world.  The message is clear and very simple: ”You are My children and I love you, and will do anything I can to protect you from harm.”

I take great comfort that He is who He says He is, that, no matter what this world throws at us, we will always have safe harbor from the storms, that Jesus will guide us safely home, providing everything we need.

Dr. Dale Butler

Witness

Matthew 25: 35-40

The young mother struggled to put her toddler and infant in the grocery cart so that the groceries could also find a home. Diapers, formula, eggs, bread, etc., all the regular items needed for nourishment for growing children. The grocery basket was full of children and bags of groceries. The clerk told the Mother the total for the groceries. I was busy emptying my cart onto the conveyor belt to be ready to be checked out when the young Mother finished. I had everything out of my basket and was ready to go.

However, there seemed to be a slight problem. The cashier and the young Mother were looking through each bag of groceries and were removing items. Smiling, I asked what was happening. The cashier said that the young Mother was $37 short so they were removing $37 worth of groceries from her cart. The young Mother appeared to be quiet embarrassed and the little girls were becoming restless.
As I stood there and watched them searching for items to remove, I found myself saying, “Let’s just leave everything in the bags and I will cover the difference”. I wasn’t sure where that voice was coming from, but I put my credit card in the machine to complete the transaction. The young Mother tried to protest, but with a gentle hug, I assured her that it was OK. She said that she would give me the money next time that she saw me.

When I got to my car, I sat for a moment feeling the power of that still small voice, thanking God for giving me the opportunity to be His hands and feet for that young Mother today.

We witness for Christ in many ways. As Matthew 25:35-40 says, we can feed, clothe, provide shelter and minister to the sick and this is a witness of our faith no matter how insignificant the act may seem to us. Our biggest challenge when witnessing is to listen and look for that small voice and opportunity. We tend to be so busy and wrapped up in our happenings that we often miss the opportunities that God provides for us.

Dear God,
Please give each of us the eyes, ears, and hearts to react to your small voice when you are calling and leading us to be a witness for you. Thank you for all the many witnesses who have gone before us and will continue to follow us. In Your Son’s name. AMEN

Patty Clark

Service

Missions Committee
The Missions Committee Strives to be the servant hands and feet of Jesus in our church, our community, and even in the world. funded partially by our annual garage sale and semi annual plant sales, the Committee makes financial and physical donations to those in need or to charitable organizations. We rely on our Lord Savior Jesus Christ to guide us in our endeavors. The Missions Committee meets every third Tuesday of the month at 6:00 p.m. in the Conference Room and welcomes everyone who would like to serve.
Led by Jean Peterson

Service

“The only thing that counts is faith working through love.” Galatians 5:6

Service

Dr. Martin Luther King

MLK Day – a national holiday to honor Martin Luther King Junior and all that he did to advance civil rights in this country. He was a great leader, activist, speaker, and humanitarian. But he was also an exemplary servant. Here are some things we can learn from Dr. King about serving other

Always act with compassion and love.
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
Lead with compassion; it’s far too easy to justify inaction when you don’t. Having compassion for others makes serving others much more meaningful. One great lesson we can learn from Dr. King is his propensity to spread love not hate. While his world was surrounded by hatred and injustice, he chose instead to lead with love.

Have a voice for those who don’t
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Injustice happens around us every day. One way to serve others is to be a voice for those who don’t have one. Dr. King was a voice for those who lacked the civil liberties that others were born with – liberties he himself did not have. He chose to speak out.

Seek out opportunities to serve others 
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”
We are all born with privileges we may not be aware of. Maybe we were raised in a good home, given opportunities others were not, or live healthy lives… whatever our privilege may be, it’s important to acknowledge that there is always someone out there less fortunate who needs help. Seek to serve and your life will be filled with more joy than you can imagine.

While Dr. King is most known for his influence on civil rights, he also led social welfare campaigns like the Chicago Open Housing Movement and the Poor People’s campaign.

Find something to be passionate about
“If a man hasn’t discovered something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”