Keeping In Touch!

[GUMC Guam United Methodist Church]

Dear Friends and Family:

 

As your pastor I want to share with our congregation the following. Some of these items you are probably aware already, some could still be new.  Often, announcements printed in our Sunday bulletin and verbally announced during worship, are the best way to have the following information.  Some who missed church take the time to inquire about latest activities.

 

Baptism.  We welcome David William Gooding in our midst!  He has been admitted as a new member of our church through baptism  His grandparents, Pastors David & Bonnie Davies flew all the way from Illinois to baptize him.  The Davieses were our guest preachers that same Sunday, and blessed us with their sermon on I Corinthians 13---Love chapter.

 

Lent Season.  Some of the highlights of Lent is our Maundy Thursday (Last Supper) service, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday services.  More information will come our way.  We would like to have more lay people (young and others) to share in the Seven Last Words from the cross. Please call Pastor Fred or get in touch with our secretary, Gina, if you want to take a Word or give a devotion for the Good Friday service.

    ---What is Lent for you?  Why is this liturgical season different from the rest of

       the year? What are you willing to do to make this one special, something

       you feel like doing and hoping this will make a difference in your life? What

       are some of the world issues, community challenges, you want our

       congregation to deal with and adopt as a program or to impact us that we

       might really become a "church for others."

 

Prayers.  We continue to pray for the earthquake victims in Haiti and Chile.  During the month of February, we received offerings to help those in Haiti. Thanks for those who walked an extra mile in their giving.  United Methodist Commission on Relief is at work in both countries.  We will soon be asked to give for more donations to help those victims of natural calamities we are more and more seeing lately.

 

Naomi. Pastor's wife, Amy (Naomi), received her initial medical findings when she went for her annual physical.  She has an M.I. and found out she had "silent" heart attack. She had breast cancer ten years ago, another surgery five years ago and now, this one.  Good news, her cholesterol went down, and diabetes under control.  She needs to have more tests to find out what she needs to do to address her serious heart condition. We need to continue to pray for her, and thanks for those who talked to her and assured her of our loving support

as a congregation.

 

Interpreter Insights.  Interpreter is a publication of our denomination sent regularly to our lay leaders.  It is a ministry magazine full of ideas for us to get an understanding how mission and ministry is done by other churches, up and coming ideas, and challenge churches to be at the cutting edge of church development. An article from Insight by Joey Butler says, "A 'graying' church must look at the world through the eyes of the youth it seeks."  Soon, we will have a lot of H2 workers, by the thousands, coming to the small island of Guam. Whether now or sooner, our church must reflect the members of our Guam community.  And so we need to ask if we want to reach out to generations "X" and "Y", and the adult immigrant workers who are beginning to show up in our church (we got 12 adults and seven children the last few months already), we need to do our business a little different.  But, a little bit different could be a growing pain and a source of discomfort for some.  Maybe we just have to admit we need help, and do some paradigm shifting to let our church become open for some transformation and allow God's Spirit lead us.

 

Dededo Outreach.  A few years ago, I was told, having a sister church started in the Dededo area was a good idea.  Maybe it has to be a different church;  reaching out to people we don't have in our church in Mangilao, a class of people whose social and class background is different that might find more affinity to a brand new church yet belonging to the same UMC family. It could be open to God's Spirit leading, with new lay leaders taking the leadership, self-reliant, and a form of worship that might be more to their liking.  Let us pray that this initiative will be blessed with an end in view that more people will have a chance to worship God and grow in their spiritual life.  Let me know what you think.  Sally Agsalud is the chair of our Evangelism and Outreach and Ruth Camat in Mission.

 

PowerPoint. I have attended many events, been as guest in quite a few churches and using powerpoint seems to be a communication enhancing device.  I heard from some members of our church it would be a good idea to have it in our church.  We could use this to free our hands when we sing contemporary songs not in both UMC hymnals, sermon outline is read, and some graphics to add meaning to just plain words shared by speaker whose accent and microphone failure could get in the way of clarity.  We have a beautiful altar and I don't want to see it blocked, so we could have the powerpoint installed on the side for everybody to see and the beauty of our altar remain an inspiring piece in our worship life.  Technology is here, let us use it!  And it is not something new we have to be scared about.  I have not seen a church in Guam that is not using a powerpoint. 

 

Again, we welcome Pastors David & Bonnie Davies in our midst.  We trust they will enjoy their short visit in Guam.

 

A tree was planted in memory of Becky North's father, The Rev. Dr. Jack North.  It was nice to see more people joined us outside for the ceremony.  Two years ago, Rev. Jack contacted his friends to give donations to the fundraising that allowed our VIM to do mission in Osmena, Nueva Ecija.      

 

Radical Hospitality.  Bishop Robert Schnase says, "Christian hospitality is the active desire to invite, welcome, receive, and care for those who are strangers so that they find a spiritual home and discover for themselves the unending richness of life in Christ."  It could be radical when we do it differently from ordinary practice, outside the normal, that which exceeds expectations and goes beyond the second mile.  How could we welcome more, not less; how could we be radical and outrageous in welcoming them and not lukewarm when we see new people during worship;  how could we communicate to others that we really want them to come and join our church?  And become a disciple like us and serve with us in the name of the Christ who came to serve and not to be served? 

 

 

 In Christ,

 

 

Fred Agtarap, Ph.D.

Pastor, Guam United Methodist Church
Secretary
Guam United Methodist Church