By All Means..

2013 starts off with a bang for a few of us at Hopewell UMC. I was blessed in Dec 2012 to preach on National Associate Pastor’s Sunday (ie the Sunday after Christmas) and the last Sunday of 2012. I challenged people (as I often try to do) to act on their faith and if they didn’t feel their faith was strong enough – to act in order to have stronger faith.

So today we are starting a new small group. Its my kind of small group. We don’t have regular meetings. We don’t have major homework. But we still are holding each other accountable. We are all connected via our smart phones using a texting app. I’ll be posting various articles, suggestions, and thought provoking questions each day to help us to do one “means of grace” every day for 30 days. The texting app will keep the focus of our small group mission in our minds more often and give us the support we need when we might need a bit of a push.

Some of the means of grace are easy for Christians on their faith walk. Others take a bit more of a push.

The means of  grace are:

  • prayer (both public and private)
  • fasting
  • reading scripture
  • healthy living
  • communion
  • baptism
  • attending worship
  • sharing faith
  • Christian conferencing
  • good works
  • visiting the sick
  • visiting those in prison
  • feeding the hungry
  • giving to the needy
  • seek justice
  • work to end oppression 
  • work to end discrimination
I’m excited to share this experience with others. I’ve done exercise boot camp where I had to exercise for 30 days. I’ve done a 30 day diet kick start with no junk food for 30 days. Both times I noticed a significant change in my body and attitude when the 30 days was over.
This time we are doing something for us and the kingdom for 30 days. I know things will be different when we hit Feb 2013. I’m curious to see what God has in store for us!
Until Everyone Hears,

What are your thoughts?