Today, our guest speaker is Rev. Richard Meyer
of the “One Anothering Institute” in Omaha. I want to thank Cindy Waltke and Linda Bierman for their
efforts to bring Rev. Meyer to Beatrice.
They have experienced first hand how great it is to be in a small
group using Rev. Meyer’s “One Anothering” books. Their group started in Cindy’s Maytag Laundry Mat during the
lunch hour and grew so much they had to move to the church.
I believe that if we could get just one-half of our congregation to be a part of a small group study; in Sunday
School, Sunday nights, during the week - the spirit of the congregation would
increase ten-fold. My experience has been that groups have a life all
their own. When groups are able to
build basic trust and respect, everyone in the room grows. So in the end, God has much more to work
with than when the group began. Currently, I am in a Lectionary Bible Study
group, a Covenant Prayer group, a Systems Coaching group, and I lead a
Probationary Minister’s Mentoring Group.
I can honestly say that I would not be half the person I am now without
the experience of these groups.
In Centenary right now, there are Disciple Bible Study groups, a weekly prayer group, United Methodist Women’s
Circles (groups), a lunch-time yoga exercising group, a couple weekly
lectionary Bible study groups, God-parent youth groups, Faith Factor Middle
School Youth group, Wednesday night Kid’s Kamp, (a group of kids, and a
group of adult helpers), Youth Bell Choir Group, Adult Choir Group, Bell
Choir Group, Gracenotes (band and singers) Group, Keystone and G or T
Supper Groups, and I’m not even including all the official church teams and
committees! In September, we’ll add
a Financial Peace University Group and Companions in Christ Spiritual Formation
Group. I think you could even say
that there is an 8:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., and 11:00 a.m. worship group in this
congregation. Then there are
outside groups that use our church like the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Compassionate
Friends and Beatrice Association of Retired Teachers. Jesus started with a
small group of followers who wanted to learn his ways. The Church should still be just a bunch
of small groups, trying to learn Jesus’ ways through study, reflection and
discussion. I look forward to Rev. Meyer’s message during
worship and in this afternoon’s workshops.
I hope you’ll take the opportunity to come back and learn more from
him this afternoon. Grace
& Peace, Rev. Kelly
JOURNEYS
August 28, 2005