By: Rev. Katharine Yarnell, Field Outreach Minister North Central District
Swaledale United Methodist Church participated in the Healthy Small Church Initiative this year, and Pastor Travis Stevick invited longtime church member, Don Hanson, to preach.
To Hanson, this was a bold step out in faith, and it was immensely appreciated!
During Hanson's childhood, the Swaledale church would ring their bell to call the town to worship. Over the years, that tradition had gradually stopped. Hanson encouraged the Swaledale congregation to continue their tradition of ringing the church bell.
Since Swaledale United Methodist Church is the only congregation still open in the area, they can let the bells ring out to the entire town now!
Thank you for your witness!
The second “Glory Sighting” is Gowrie United Methodist Church, which this year held its 128th annual Chicken Dinner during the Fourth of July Festival in town.
This event is so popular (and the chicken so tasty) that people need to wait in the sanctuary before it is their turn to go to the fellowship hall to eat. In previous years, bands would play entertaining music, but people usually talked over the music, so eventually they discontinued the music.
This year, however, Gary Vosberg thought it would be a good idea to have mission videos playing (sound off, closed captioning on) for people to watch while they waited.
Vosberg was able to play the mission videos from umc.giving.org and umcor.org under the Resources tab where there are several choices.
To play them using the closed captioning, click on the small black square marked "CC" on the bottom right corner of the YouTube video (about 80% of the videos have this button).
For the first time, while people waited, there was silence in the sanctuary as people watched how United Methodist's mission support and apportionment partnership funds are helping those in need.
As the United Methodist Mission Statement says, “Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World.”
Thank you for this wonderful idea!