"New Churches and New-Again Churches"

e-HUM Bishop

November 15, 2004

"New Churches and New-Again Churches"

Yesterday it was my privilege to attend the "grand opening" worship service for Faithpointe -- our new United Methodist Church in the New Albany District. It was a lively and energetic service, with a good message by Pastor George, and excellent music from their praise band. I was introduced as the Bishop, I offered some words of greeting from our 1200+ other United Methodist congregations in Indiana, and then I offered a brief prayer of blessing. During the greeting time after the service, a little girl came up to me, tugged on my sleeve, and when I bent over to listen to her, she said to me, "Thanks for giving us a fun new church."

I certainly cannot take credit for giving her a church, much less giving her a "fun church", but I celebrate that one of our new churches had that impression upon this little girl. Church can indeed be "fun" in the sense of celebrating God's love, welcoming all who wish to draw near to God, and enjoying Christian fellowship. In fact, one of the reasons that new churches often reach so many new people is that our new churches intentionally focus upon celebrating and sharing God's love.

That characteristic is needed in all of our churches. Every one of our United Methodist churches here in Indiana can be new or "new-again." A "new- again" church is one which focuses upon celebrating and sharing God's love.

A "new-again" church does not look inward and worry about its survival, it looks outward and moves in mission and outreach to others. Most importantly, a "new-again" church, no matter what its age, is a church full of people who are constantly renewed by God's Spirit.

I look forward to the day when every church I visit is filled with people who say, "Thanks for giving us a fun new church."

from Bishop Michael J. Coyner

Indiana Area of the United Methodist Church
"Making a Difference ... in Indiana
and around the world"

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