Missioners Preparing to Swarm to the Beehive
Written: 1/6/2010
(Bishop Paul L. Leeland) If you are a member of a United Methodist Church in Mobile, Ala., there is a good chance your congregation was started with the help of Government Street United Methodist Church.
The Christian mission and passion to start Methodist congregations from within the Government Street congregation was so strong, it earned their congregation the nickname “The Bee Hive.” As swarms of members worked with newly emerging congregations to establish the presence of Christ, Government Street UMC became a place of blessing, mission, and worship from the heart of Mobile.
There is little surprise Government Street United Methodist Church’s mission is “Offering Christ from the Heart of Mobile.” Yet, with this unique history, the present congregation now finds itself in need of nurture and replenishment.
Currently, four Mobile-area United Methodist Congregations are offering a unique invitation to their membership to serve as individual members to a mission team who will work with Government Street Church for 40 weeks in 2010. Praise and recognition needs to be offered to: Rev. Jeff Spiller and Christ United Methodist Church; Rev. Paul Wolfe and Ashland Place United Methodist Church; Rev. Gorman Houston and Dauphin Way United Methodist Church; and to Rev. Bill Price and Spanish Fort United Methodist Church. These four pastors and their church leaders are exhibiting creative openness to seek out individuals or families who will work with Government Street United Methodist Church for 40 weeks, beginning the first Sunday of Lent, February 21, 2010 through November 21, 2010.
Those who feel nudged by the Holy Spirit will commit to meet, worship, and serve through Government Street UMC, but will retain their membership in their current congregations. Even though each member of the mission team will return to their present church, they will temporarily serve as affiliate members in order to find ways of rebuilding and nurturing this historic Methodist congregation.
Rather than traveling abroad, these mission work team members will live at home while working to become the hands and feet of Christ, offering Him from the heart of Mobile in order to help this congregation realize its Kingdom mission. After their temporary service has concluded and they have returned to their current church, the web of relationships developed in their service will bring abiding joy for work that could only have been done together.
In preparation for these missional families, the Government Street United Methodist Church has invited Rev. Jim Ellison, a minister from Atlanta, Ga., who has transformed a similar inner city congregation to guide this period of renewal and revitalization.
Offering Christ from the Heart of Mobile. This mission work is not about an individual or an individual church; it’s about the body of Christ and the Kingdom of God.
What would another church or community call this effort? I call it the Connection! I call it The United Methodist Church at its best!
More information may be found here.