Pastor's Notebook: Introducing Our Stewardship Worship Series, #BeUMC

Pastor's Notebook: Introducing Our Stewardship Worship Series, #BeUMC

It is stewardship season at CUMC! Your Finance Team has been hard at work preparing the church budget for 2023. The budget is a practical document that helps us wisely steward the financial gifts that are given to the church. But more than that the budget is a statement of values. It describes who we are and what we do as a faith community. It represents the purpose we have received from the Holy Spirit to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world right here in Coeur d'Alene. This is a purpose that has been handed down to us from previous generations of Methodists worshiping and serving in this community. And it is a purpose that we hope to pass on to future generations, a legacy that will bear fruit for many years to come.

This theme of legacy is the focus of our stewardship series this year. We are joining with United Methodist churches around the world in a denomination-wide campaign called #BeUMC. For the next four weeks, starting with All Saints' Sunday on October 30, we will celebrate our heritage as United Methodists. #BeUMC honors the core values that connect the people called Methodist. Together we embrace our Wesleyan heritage and envision a promising future. Every day offers a chance to live into our mission and strive to #BeUMC — to be a church dedicated to personal and social holiness as we love Jesus and our neighbors.

If you are on our mailing list, you will receive a stewardship mailing this next week. Inside you will find a pastoral letter, narrative budget, and a pledge card. You are encouraged to spend time praying over whether and how much you can financially support the church this next year. Every gift counts, no matter its size! On the pledge card is a spot to dedicate your pledge in honor or memory of someone(s) or something that has made an impact on your faith journey as a Christian and a Methodist. On November 20, all of our pledges will be consecrated to God in worship. Afterwards we will celebrate with a Love Feast potluck and Hanging of the Greens in preparation for Advent/Christmas! I hope to see you in worship, in-person and livestreaming on our website at cdaumc.org/worship, as we celebrate what draws us to Community United Methodist Church and what we aspire to be.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Amanda

P.S. A note about the # in #BeUMC: A hashtag—written with a # symbol—is used to index keywords or topics on social media. It allows people to easily follow topics they are interested in. #BeUMC is partially a social media campaign to help United Methodists share their faith online. But I think the # also has a theological meaning. A # is a unifying tool that brings people together around a single topic. Similarly, our Methodist heritage helps unite us as a church. It draws us together as a local congregation in a particular expression of Christianity, while also connecting us to Methodists around the world and across time and space going back more than two hundred years to John Wesley. So, the # is more than just a social media tool; it is a symbol of our connectionalism as Methodists. If you are on social media, consider sharing about your faith as a Methodist, as well as our church and denomination, with the hashtags #BeUMC and #IGiveUMC. You can also tag the church on Facebook with the handle @cdaumc.