Several months ago we took a leap of faith and began praying for God’s Spirit to “break through” and “break into” our church with new ideas, new hope, and a new future. It is time to come together and begin the collective conversation about how we are feeling God’s call on us as individuals and as a faith community and to prepare ourselves for the coming of a new settled pastor in July.
Monona UMC will hold its first All-Church Breakthrough Summit on Saturday, February 27th from 9:30am-noon via Zoom. (Contact the church office for the Zoom info.)
We will use this time to talk about WHY we are a church, HOW we are called to be servants of Christ’s mission in our neighborhood & world, and WHAT we can be doing this spring and summer to live out that calling in tangible ways.
A brief look at our Summit Agenda…
9:30am – CONNECTION
- Ice breaker – it has been a year since we have seen one another in person. This will help us re-introduce ourselves to one another
- “Start with WHY” – the pandemic has changed both people’s relationship with the church and the relationship of the church with our community. Moving forward will require us to re-connect to WHY we are a church and WHY Jesus’ message of grace is essential today.
- To jump start your thinking, please take 18 minutes to view this TED Talk by innovator Simon Sinek…https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en
10:15am – COLLABORATION
- This is your opportunity to share how YOU FEEL God is calling Monona UMC to be a servant of Christ’s mission.
- Which core values will become most important to drive our actions moving forward?
11:00am – COMMITMENT
- What experiments will we commit to trying in the next few months?
- What opportunities do Spring and Summer hold for us to begin to live into the future that God envisions for us?
- Who will step up and lead? We have many formal structures in place, and capable leaders for those structures. This is a call both to those formal structures AND to the church body as a whole to respond in small and large ways over the next few months to experiment, grown, and learn together.
A note on Zoom technology…
We want to make this event accessible to all. You will be able to join the Summit by computer, tablet, or cell phone. If you haven’t yet tried Zoom or feel that the technology will be a barrier to your participation, let us know. We are committed to making sure that everyone who wants to participate has the means to do so. We will help you troubleshoot and practice to ensure your voice is included.
In this, as in all things, we encourage you to continue to pray for our church and pray for those who will gather for our first All-Church Breakthrough Summit in a couple weeks. If you have questions, please reach out to either Ad Council Chair Maribeth Witzel-Behl (mwitzelb@gmail.com) or Interim Pastor Laura Crow (pastorlauramumc@gmail.com ).
Grace and Peace,
Maribeth Witzel-Behl
Laura Crow
