Upcoming Worship Series: What is the Church when the Church is the Church

🕊️ Begins April 27

Join us for a powerful new 7-week worship series exploring what it means to truly be the church. In What is the Church when the Church is the Church, we’ll walk alongside the early followers of Jesus as they encounter Christ’s presence, listen to the Spirit, and respond with courage, grace, and love.

From the road to Emmaus to the Spirit’s movement at Pentecost, this series invites us to reflect deeply on how we can become a more loving, inclusive, Spirit-led community—rooted in the grace and justice of Jesus Christ.

Grounded in United Methodist theology, each week offers an opportunity to explore real-life faith, spiritual growth, and what it looks like to live as the Body of Christ in today’s world.

✨ Come and see how the church becomes the church—when it walks, listens, loves, and lives by grace.

All are welcome. Come grow with us.

Scripture: Luke 24:13–35

Theme: Companionship and Revelation

Focus: Jesus walks beside us in confusion and grief. We recognize him in presence and table-sharing.

Application: We are called to companion others and recognize Christ in the ordinary.

United Methodist/Wesleyan Connection:

• Prevenient Grace: Christ meets us even when we don’t yet see him.
• Means of Grace: Community, Scripture, and table fellowship open our eyes to God.

Challenges:

• Write a note or text to someone going through a hard time and offer to walk with them.
• Host a meal or coffee conversation with someone who may be lonely or grieving.
• Commit to noticing Christ in the ordinary moments this week—sunrise, shared laughter, or communion. Be slow to speak and quick to listen; reflect on how your presence can be a ministry.

Be Challenge:

• Be present. Spend 10 minutes a day this week in silent reflection, asking God: “Where are you walking with me right now?”
• Practice deep listening with someone—listen not to fix, but to understand.

Do Challenge:

• Invite someone to share a meal or coffee. Use the time to reconnect or offer companionship.
• Write a card, text, or note to someone walking through grief or transition. Let them know they’re not alone.

Scripture: Acts 6:1–7:2a, 44–60

Theme: Justice and Witness

Focus: When a group is neglected, the church acts with care and calls forth new leaders. Stephen serves and becomes a witness through his faith. The church responds to need by listening, empowering, and bearing witness.

Application: Being the church means addressing injustice and listening to voices from the margins.

United Methodist/Wesleyan Connection:

• Social Holiness: Faith expressed through justice, advocacy, and compassionate service.
• Lay Ministry: Every believer is called to use their gifts.

Challenges:

• Learn about a justice issue affecting your community and pray about how your church can respond.
• Reach out to someone from a different generation, race, or background in your congregation.
• Volunteer for a ministry that serves the overlooked—food pantry, visitation, or advocacy.
• Reflect: Is there someone or a group in your church who may feel invisible? How might you amplify their voice?

Be Challenge:

• Be aware. Reflect on your own role in systems of inclusion or exclusion. Ask: Whose voice do I need to hear more?
• Spend time each day naming where you’ve seen God’s justice and care in action.

Do Challenge:

• Volunteer with or donate to a ministry that serves an overlooked population.
• Reach out to someone you haven’t seen in church lately or someone from a different background—check in and connect.

Scripture: Acts 8:26–39

Theme: Inclusion and Transformation

Focus: Philip follows the Spirit to someone outside traditional boundaries—and baptizes him with joy.

Application: The church follows the Spirit and extends grace beyond boundaries.

United Methodist/Wesleyan Connection:

• Missional Discipleship: We are called to go—not just stay.
• Inclusive Grace: No one is beyond the reach of God’s love.

Challenges:

• Say “yes” to a Spirit nudge that invites you out of your comfort zone this week.
• Learn about someone in Scripture or history who was excluded, and how God used them.
• Attend a community event or gathering that connects you with people different from yourself.
• Reflect: Who might be waiting for an invitation to belong? Who are the “Ethiopian eunuchs” around you?

Be Challenge:

• Be open. Pray each day: “Spirit, lead me today. Help me notice who You’re putting in my path.”
• Reflect: Are there any barriers you’ve placed on who you think belongs in the church?

Do Challenge:

• Go somewhere new—attend a community event, visit a different neighborhood, or connect with someone outside your usual circle.
• Share a word of encouragement or hospitality with someone who might feel “on the margins.”

Scripture: Acts 15:1–18

Theme: Discernment and Unity

Focus: The early church debates who belongs and decides in favor of inclusion, guided by grace and the Spirit. The church engages in holy listening, seeks wisdom together, and chooses inclusion through grace.

Application: Being the church means learning, unlearning, and staying united in love.

United Methodist/Wesleyan Connection:

• Connectionalism: We discern truth and faithfulness together.
• Quadrilateral: Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience guide us forward.

Challenges:

• Practice listening without interrupting in at least one conversation this week.
• Attend a Bible study or small group not for answers, but to grow in understanding.
• Pray: “God, help me to release assumptions and be open to your Spirit today.”
• Reflect: Where might our church need to rethink practices in light of grace and unity?

Be Challenge:

• Be teachable. Practice humility this week by asking someone else: “What do you think God is doing right now?”
• Reflect on a moment when your mind was changed by listening. Give thanks for that growth.

Do Challenge:

• Join a conversation where you’re not the expert—attend a study, dialogue, or community forum and listen actively.
• Send a note of appreciation to someone who’s helped you see or understand faith in a new way.

Scripture: Galatians 1:13–17; 2:11–21

Theme: Conversion and Conviction

Focus: Paul’s transformation reminds us that we are justified by grace, not our striving. Paul proclaims that we are justified by faith, not works. Grace is the foundation.

Application: Being the church means embodying grace as our foundation and identity.

United Methodist/Wesleyan Connection:

• Justifying and Sanctifying Grace: Salvation is by faith, and it transforms us continually.
• Assurance: We can know we are loved and live in freedom.

Challenges:

• Write down the phrase “I am enough because of Christ” and read it daily this week.
• Extend grace to someone you’ve been holding at arm’s length.
• Let go of one way you’ve been trying to “earn” God’s love or others’ approval.
• Reflect: What would change if our church lived grace first in every decision?

Be Challenge:

• Be grounded. Start each morning by affirming: “I am beloved. I am enough by God’s grace.”
• Spend five minutes each evening reflecting: “Where did I experience grace today? Where did I withhold it?”

Do Challenge:

• Extend grace—repair a strained relationship, forgive someone, or let go of a perfectionist mindset in a task or project.
• Invite someone to worship or to talk about faith—not to convince, but to share freely.

Scripture: Galatians 3:1–9, 23–29

Theme: Identity and Inclusion

Focus: Paul reminds the Galatians that they are all one in Christ Jesus. Identity in Christ transcends divisions of ethnicity, gender, and social status.

Application: The church is the church when it embraces unity in Christ above all labels and divisions, affirming that all who have faith belong fully to the family of God.

United Methodist/Wesleyan Connection:

• Baptismal Covenant: In baptism, we are incorporated into God’s new creation and made one in Christ.
• Connectionalism: We are a diverse yet united community, belonging to one another in love.
• Inclusive Grace: No one is “more” or “less” Christian based on background or status.

Be Challenge:

• Be rooted. Each morning this week, affirm: “I am God’s child, clothed in Christ.”
• Reflect: Are there categories or divisions (race, class, denomination, orientation, gender) that shape your view of others more than their belovedness in Christ?

Do Challenge:

• Learn about someone whose faith story is different from yours—through conversation, reading, or testimony.
• Make a gesture of hospitality to someone who might feel like an outsider—invite, welcome, or include.

Scripture: Acts 2:1–4; Galatians 4:1–7 [5:16–26]

Theme: Freedom and Fruitfulness

Focus: The Holy Spirit comes with power, not for control or pride, but to free us to live as God’s children and bear the fruit of love.

Application: The church is the church when it is filled with the Spirit—not chasing performance or perfection, but allowing love, joy, peace, patience, and the other fruits to define its life together.

United Methodist/Wesleyan Connection:

• Sanctifying Grace: God’s grace continues to work in us to bring about holiness of heart and life.
• Christian Perfection: Wesley believed we are being perfected in love by the Spirit, not by our efforts alone.
• The Holy Spirit: The Spirit empowers, unites, and guides the Church for mission and witness.

Be Challenge:

• Be led. Spend five minutes each day asking, “Holy Spirit, where are you leading me today?”
• Reflect at the end of each day: Which fruit of the Spirit was present in my life today? Which one do I need to cultivate?

Do Challenge:

• Choose one fruit of the Spirit and practice it intentionally all week (e.g., patience in your commute, kindness to a neighbor).
• Commit to a Spirit-led act of generosity or service—let it be spontaneous and joyful, not planned or performative.