Online Donations
Click here to donate to The United Methodist Church of Berea.
You are invited to provide the altar flowers for our Sunday worship service. Flowers may be dedicated in honor or memory of a loved one or to the Glory of God.
2024 Commitments
At The United Methodist Church of Berea, our mission is to make and mature disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
Each year during the fall, we re-consider what this mission statement means for our lives as disciples and our life together as a community of faith.
What is a disciple?
How do disciples make up the community of faith?
What does a community of faith following in the footsteps of Christ do and what does it look like?
We desire to be a unified community that reflects the heart of Christ, embodying the love that Christ has for each of us. With that in mind, I am encouraging the leadership of the church to read Living into Community: Cultivating Practices that Sustain Us, by Christine Pohl. I am inviting the whole church to read this book together. The book itself outlines “four practices that sustain community.”
They are:
- living a life of gratitude,
- making and keeping commitments (this commitment card, and what it represents, is part of that),
- living and embodying truth, and
- practicing radical hospitality.
All of these are important, but I want us to really lean into hospitality as it is one of our main goals for the coming year. We are a loving community, but all of us have naturally settled into certain habits due to the appropriately instituted COVID parameters. I want to help us reset a bit, so that anyone who visits here can feel welcome and feel that they belong–because they do!) We will be sharing more goals with you soon, but in the meantime, I have also asked the leaders of the church to simply encourage one another and encourage everyone in our church family.
The Apostle Paul in his letters regularly encouraged the Christian communities to edify, encourage, and build one another up. Unfortunately, I believe that the North American church is overall discouraged. Let us not forget dear sisters and brothers that we serve the risen Lord! Think of all the things that God has done for us and let us take on a life of gratitude and celebration! We are asking that you think about what you can do for Christ, what you can bring to this community (because you all have something to give and to bring—YOU ARE A VALUABLE CHILD OF GOD!). Together we get to share in those gifts.
The 2024 Commitment Form is available to complete online below. If you prefer, paper forms will be available on tables at the back of each worship space or you may the link below to print. Again, please prayerfully consider your commitments for 2024. I also invite you to bring this completed form with you to worship on Sunday, November 19. Thank you. It is an honor to serve Christ among and be in the community of Christ with you. Whatever we do, my friends, we do it together in Christ, with Christ leading the way.
Grace and Peace,
Dr. Stephen J. Knisely
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