"Bless Your Neighbor" Inspiring Stories

A little over a month ago – during the first sermon in our “Party Planning” sermon series -- I offered an invitation and challenge to reach out over the next month or so and to “bless your neighbor” using one or more of the ideas shared in the bulletin insert that day (Click HERE for the posting of these in this blog). 

Then, I invited you to share some of those stories with me as a form of inspiration and encouragement to/with your fellow church members.  While many of you verbally shared things that you did to “bless your neighbors,” as promised, here are a few of the stories that I received via email:

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We had to take some trees down in our yard, and went ahead and paid for the neighbor’s tree to come down too. Not a random tree, of course, one that needed to come down anyway.

We had a woman in our neighborhood whose house was repossessed last week. She’s older, with 2 full time jobs. She was caring for her autistic adult son was living with her, and I guess he’s now living with his dad, which is a bad situation for him. She was also the main caregiver for her grandson, and other random family. She’s currently sleeping on a friend’s couch,… and I don’t know if we can go that far to help her with GDOS. I’m trying to get to the bottom of what services she may need (besides money, of course) so we can get her on the docket.

There are many children in our neighborhood that have absent parents. I am so blessed to be the neighborhood “mom” to many of these children. They come over just to show me their new shoes, or share a good grade, play games with [my husband], or just hang around with a family who accepts them in with real generosity of love.

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Pastor, I dropped off this blackberry cobbler and card at a new neighbor's house Sunday. I had thought of doing it before the sermon series began and once you preached on it, well, it was a done deal.

I got to meet our new neighbors from Kansas and their two preschool daughters. It was a front porch visit that only lasted a few minutes. Pretty painless - for me at least - don't know how that cobbler tasted!

Thanks for the extra "nudge!"

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A few days later, this same member shared this note…)

This one moved in next door and got a pineapple crisp. Look what you started!

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My wife and I just moved to a new neighborhood, so this sermon gave us the “excuse” and nudge we needed to introduce ourselves to our new neighbors. We learned not only the names of the families around us, but where their kids went to school and where the parents worked. It was a great way to get to know our new neighborhood! Thank you!

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Thank you all for the blessings that you shared with your neighbors!  Keep up the good work throughout the rest of this year and the next!

McKendree Beyond the Walls: New Online Worship Ministry Coming Soon!

“[Jesus said,] ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.’” (Mark 16:15)

Over the last ten years, increased access to the internet has transformed the way people interact and communicate. It’s almost impossible to be in a public place for more than a few minutes without seeing someone use a smartphone to check Facebook, read an article, or send a quick text.  In observing this, churches across the world have increasingly acknowledged the need to stay relevant to the needs of today’s high-tech era meeting contemporary people where they are:  online.   

We here at McKendree UMC already offer a great church website, a helpful weekly “Happenings” eBlast email, and a robust platform for online sign-ups and giving.  However, starting September 15^th, we are proud to introduce and add live-streaming and online worship to our repertoire of ministry tools to help us to be about “nurturing community, [and] connecting all to Christ.”

As you’re reading, you may be asking yourself, “Why would someone sit at home and attend a virtual church on their computer when they could go to church with their neighbors and be together in the same building?”  Let me share three important benefits that this new ministry will help us do better in our church’s mission and ministry:

1.         Introducing New People to McKendree UMC

Live online video streaming (and storing several weeks’ worth of online worship for later viewing) will allow us to reach people we’ve never reached before. Imagine someone who’s never set foot in a church, whose parents never spoke about God, and whose friends don’t identify with religion. Still, that person might be curious about the Bible and wants to learn more. Though we’ve all driven by hundreds of churches, most people who fit this description will start their search on Google instead of walking through the doors of a church.  Offering our services online can show them a glimpse of who we are as a faith community that they may eventually choose to visit. 

What’s more is that even for those who are already Christians, before they move here, many  often search online for the new church they want to be part of.  Showcasing our sermons and services online can allow them to be more comfortable with who we are, what we’re about, and what they should expect from our ministry; it lets new families see if we are the right fit for them as a church

2.         Connection for Those Who Are Away

On an average Sunday morning, most churches in America (including our own) could fill the rosters of several baseball teams with people who have stayed home - either because they’re sick, or because they’re caring for someone one who is. One of the most practical and consistently relevant applications of streaming is that it allows (for example) the 34-year-old mother to stay at home with her coughing 6- year-old while still tuning into take part in her weekly Bible study, or the 95-year old shut in who was a backbone of our church when he was younger but not now able to attend – with the help of his family, online worship can be a way for him to re-connect with his church family.

And what about members of the military or missionaries from our church who may be deployed or temporarily living abroad?  They can watch one of our services at the same time as family members who are still at home. Perhaps afterwards, the family goes home for lunch and Skype with the missing parent. Now, around the dinner table, they can all talk about the same service, share what touched them, etc. It might be midnight where mom is deployed, but she feels like she just stepped out of church and is having lunch with her family. For just a moment, she feels like she's home instead of half a world away.

Finally, what about when we’re on vacation? Most of us have good intentions while we’re away, but visiting a new congregation as a guest is different than experiencing worship with your own church family. With live streaming, you’ll be able to worship with your fellow McKendree family, even if you’re away on vacation.

3.         Sharing of Important Moments/Events in Life

Every year, our church hosts hundreds of important events - weddings, holiday concerts, bible studies, Baptisms, Confirmations, VBS, funerals, and more.  Sometimes, however, the people who want to be there just can’t make it.  Being able to watch the event streamed live (or even recorded) lets these people share those important moments, despite their physical distance.

You might be able to think of a lot more, but these are just a few to demonstrate that, when used properly, online worship and ministry never takes the place of in-person ministry, but merely enhances and strengthens it!  By offering this new form of worship, we have the possibility of taking McKendree’s ministry beyond our walls and connecting with more people than ever before! 

So, join us September 15 for the inaugural pubic streaming of our worship services (normally we’ll stream the 9:30am service, but that day we’ll be streaming both 9:30am and 11am services) either by visiting our church’s website mckendreeumc.org and clicking on the “Sermons” tab (HERE), or by going to YouTube.com and searching for “McKendree UMC” (HERE).  Always remember that God loves you and I do, too!

[Note: the points of this blog are inspired by an April 5, 2017 article by Lena Kelly at https://www.boxcast.com/blog/top-5-reasons-your-church-should-be-live-streaming]