Impact Newsletter-May 5

Welcome To Gateway

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.”

– Acts 16:25

Happy May!

Happy?

Yes, we still have a variety of COVID precautions and restrictions upon our ministry life. Yes, we have stretched ourselves to do MORE new and different approaches to ministry then probably at any time in our calling. Yes, we often stare out at a remnant of congregants compared to what we observed on Sunday, March 8 of 2020.

Happy. None of these above truths need to steal our joy in the Lord. None of the above truths stop us from sharing the Love of God through Christ Jesus and sharing the way of salvation. We still exercise a calling that though practiced differently then we had grown accustomed to, brings freedom to the oppressed, downtrodden, prisoners of sin, and those distanced from God’s grace.

Embrace serving God in every new opportunity rather than sulk, wishing we could go back to the way we used to minister. God’s Spirit promises it is active everywhere regardless of the fallen world’s hindrances. Remember, if Paul and Silas can lead their jailer and his entire household to salvation in Jesus Christ we can seek to recognize the Holy Spirit’s work around us during the closing days of the pandemic. NOTHING will stop the love and message of Christ Jesus which reconciles sinful people to a holy God. ( Acts 16:25-35)

If you don’t have enough people to do the ministry like you used to, ask God to show you how you will do it now. Yeah. It probably will be different. This is a GREAT opportunity to grow closer to God, see His hand move directly in front of you and embolden your faith! Move forward knowing that new stories of faith victories are soon to occur!

Happy May!

On the Adventure with you,

Supt. Ben

Are you ready to RESET?

Join 5,000+ church leaders from around the world to learn, share insights, and connect online for The RESET Summit on Wednesday, May 19 from

11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. ET.

When's the last time you stopped to really think and consider...

How I am defining my personal ministry scorecard?
How do we know we when are really having success in our church?
How can I truly help the people in my church be mobilized for real impact?

Now is the time to think differently about how we measure what truly matters in ministry.

Click here to register

Cross-Cultural Collaboration by Bishop Linda J. Adams

Crunch! I watched in horror as the hood of my VW Jetta crumpled like tinfoil while I honked the horn with all my might. The driver of the big truck in front of me had backed into me so fast he totaled my car in two seconds.

“I’m so sorry!” he groaned. “I never even saw you!”

I guess the load piled high in the back of his truck blocked his rearview mirror, and his side mirrors’ view proved too wide to see my little car. I was in his blind spot. He didn’t mean to hit me. He just didn’t see me.

It’s sort of like that with cross-cultural blind spots. Without intending harm, we make false assumptions about people’s existence because we’re seeing them only through our own cultural lenses. As Jesus warned, we could very well have a plank in our own eye while we point out the speck of sawdust in another person’s eye (see Matthew 7:1–5). An African proverb says it this way: “Strangers have their eyes wide open, but they see very little.”

For the American context, it is significant to know that 75 percent of Whites have “entirely White social networks without any minority presence” and that the same kind of reality holds true for almost two-thirds of Black Americans (“The Third Option: Hope for a Racially Divided Nation” by Miles McPherson, quoting statistics from the Public Research Institute). This social divide inevitably creates blind spots. How can we learn not to judge one another without understanding each other? Can we find ways to “walk a mile in each other’s shoes”? How can we work collaboratively to reach the variety of people in our cities and communities with the Good News of Jesus if we live in isolation from one another?

For many Free Methodists in the U.S., cross-cultural exposure has first been experienced on short-term international mission trips. Tens of thousands have gone on Volunteers in Service Abroad (VISA) trips to visit and serve in another part of the world. Almost always, VISA teams return home reporting eye-opening and humbling experiences: “The people we met had so little but were so generous!” “The children were poor but so happy!” “The church’s high-energy worship went on for three hours and nobody got tired!”

Lasting impressions have often been formed around memories of passionate faith, sacrificial hospitality, family solidarity and delicious, exotic food. The beauty of another culture was on full display, and the VISA team eventually realized, “We went to help, but actually we found out we were there for God to open our eyes to ourselves and our world. We learned far more than we taught.” And that is, in fact, one reason to send teams. People gain from the experience of “Crossing Cultures 101.”

Click here to read more

2021 Gateway Leadership Summit

Saturday, August 7, 2021

7:30am-6:30pm

The LeClaire Room, 600 Troy Road, Edwardsville, IL

"The Free Methodist Way"

Highlights:

Bishop Keith Cowart speaking on "The Free Methodist Way"

James Clark, Vice President of Public Safety & Community, Metropolitan Urban League of St. Louis

Ordination Service at The Bridge

Dinner afterwards catered by Bella MIlano (reservations required) at The LeClaire Room

Click here to learn more about "The Free Methodist Way"

Work of the Day Printed reports will be available at Leadership Summit

Additional reports and videos will be available on our website:

http://gatewayfmcusa.org/leadership-summit-at-a-glance/2021-reports

More Information in next newsletter.

Live Streaming for Churches Course:

June 14-17

June 21-24

Contemporary Music Center

559 Church Street E.

Brentwood, TN 37027

The LIVE STREAMING FOR CHURCHES course is designed to help small to mid-size churches improve their “live streaming” services. But it’s also intended to connect pastors and technical staff/volunteers, away from the pressures of a worship service, so they can work more effectively towards the goal of communicating God’s word with excellence.

On those Sunday mornings when theology and technology collide, it’s usually miscommunication or misunderstanding that causes the breakdown. When pastors and technical staff/volunteers set aside time to learn more about each other’s worlds, the entire church body is strengthened.

Enroll today for this highly personalized, unique experience.

Click here for more information

Local Church Initiative Grants Letter of Inquiry due May 31:

To further the goals of the Free Methodist Church USA and Gateway Conference, you are invited to submit a proposal that advances the opportunity for local churches to begin new initiatives that support these goals. Specifically, the Conference desires to support initiatives that engage the local church in the life and lives of the community in which they serve.

Click here for more information