As we strive to RETHINK how our church reaches outside its doors, look for national advertising by the United Methodist Church in April for ideas and ask friends and family to look for these messages.

• How about seeing church as a verb instead of a noun?
• Jesus was a young adult; look what he did in his short life.
• The media of Jesus’ day was his storytelling; how do we use today’s media to tell Jesus’ story?

From the Pastors Desk...

RETHINK CHURCH--The Book of Acts

• What if church was less about Sunday and more about the other days of the week?
• What if church wasn't just a building, but thousands of doors, each of them opening up to a different concept or experience of church, so that whoever knocks might find a journey to call their own?
• What if church was a verb instead of a noun? Outbound. Unbound. Active.
• What if we rethink church--not in terms of what it is, but what it could be?

These are some of the questions at the center of the new movement in the larger United Methodist Church inspired by eight years of opening our hearts, opening our minds, and opening our doors.

These questions and the ministries that are beginning with them have inspired me in my work with all of you. You have heard me begin to preach about rethinking church this summer.  I am going to extend this work in a sermon series on the book of Acts this fall.  I invite and encourage you to read the book of Acts in anticipation of the worship services on Sundays for the next few months.  If you have access to the internet, I encourage you to visit the following websites, doing your own searching and researching of what the early Christians have to show us about our work in the world today:

▪ www.10thousanddoors.org  ▪ www.find-a-church.org  ▪ www.middleburyumc.org  ▪