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Dear Perry Methodist Family,
I want to share an idea with you that has been growing in my heart over the past several months.
As many of you know, one of the major outcomes of our Vision 200 process was a renewed commitment to helping people become more deeply connected to one another. We heard repeatedly that Perry Methodist is a warm, faithful, caring church. We also recognized something else: it can be difficult for newcomers to move beyond simply attending worship and into meaningful Christian relationships.
Vision 200 challenged us not only to welcome people exceptionally well, but to help people find a place where they truly belong.
As we’ve been talking about in the Culture Change sermon series, culture is often simply the way we function without even realizing it. It is possible for someone to attend worship faithfully for six months—or even a year—and still not really know anyone. That may sound surprising, but it happens.
Our worship services are vital. They are the center of our life together. But if we want people to let down their guard, take off the mask, become known, share their struggles, discover healing, and grow in Christ, that almost always happens in smaller circles of Christian community.
I’ve often heard the phrase, “Circles are better than rows.”
Rows are wonderful for worship.
Circles are where relationships are built.
The early church understood this well. Scripture tells us:
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers… Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts.” (Acts 2:42, 46)
The first Christians gathered in both large and small settings. They worshiped together, but they also knew one another.
That is exactly what I hope we continue becoming as a church.
With that in mind, I want to invite you to begin thinking about Sunday, September 13, which we are calling Everyone Belongs Sunday.
Our hope is simple.
We want to make it easier for people to discover the many wonderful opportunities for connection that already exist at Perry Methodist.
I’m imagining something a little like a college orientation fair—not in a gimmicky or commercial way, but simply a day when the many opportunities for connection at Perry Methodist are visible and approachable.
Imagine someone walking into our church and being able to meet Sunday school teachers, Bible study leaders, choir members, handbell ringers, small-group leaders, youth leaders, children’s leaders, and others. Imagine people being able to ask questions like:
- What ages are represented?
- Is it discussion-oriented? Fellowship? Music? Study?
- When and where do you meet?
Our campus is a wonderful blessing, but let’s be honest—it can also be intimidating.
We have multiple buildings. Multiple entrances. Multiple floors. Multiple hallways. Even if someone studies the campus map on our website, walking alone through unfamiliar hallways and opening the door to a room full of people they don’t know is a much bigger leap than most of us realize.
We’ve actually heard this repeatedly from people who now love Perry Methodist and consider it home.
Several have told us that becoming part of a group was one of the hardest parts of joining our church. These weren’t casual visitors. They were committed Christians, many of them leaders in their previous churches, who intentionally came here because they believed God was leading them to Perry Methodist. If even they found it difficult to connect, imagine what it feels like for someone walking through our doors with no church background—or someone carrying hurt, loneliness, or uncertainty.
Vision 200 calls us to become a church where belonging happens intentionally instead of accidentally.
Over the next several weeks, you’ll be hearing more about Everyone Belongs Sunday. I hope every one of us will begin praying about it.
If you’re already part of a Sunday school class, Bible study, choir, handbell choir, small group, or fellowship group, I hope you’ll begin thinking about how you can help someone else take that first step. Sometimes all it takes is an invitation, a smile, or walking with someone to a classroom they’ve never visited before.
And if you’re not yet part of one of those groups, I hope you’ll come with an open heart. There really is a place for you.
Some of you may also be wondering about opportunities to serve.
I’m thinking about that too.
In fact, I’m already imagining a similar emphasis in October around the theme Everyone Matters, where we’ll highlight the many ways people can use their gifts to serve Christ through Perry Methodist.
Because people need two things.
They need to know they belong, and they need to know they matter.
Belonging happens when someone finds a circle of friends who know them, love them, pray for them, and walk beside them.
Purpose grows when someone discovers that God has gifted them to make a difference.
Both are essential to discipleship.
Friends, Vision 200 belongs to all of us. Culture changes when all of us begin thinking differently, praying differently, and acting differently.
My prayer is that Everyone Belongs Sunday will become one small but meaningful step toward the culture God is calling us to create.
And maybe—just maybe—someone whose life is quietly falling apart, but who has become very good at hiding it, will discover that they don’t have to carry those burdens alone anymore.
That’s the kind of church I believe God is calling Perry Methodist to be.
Grace and Peace,
Tom
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