Digital Bulletin Board

UPDATED August 29:

JC-CU bulletin board 2011-08-28 v3.pdf

June 12: If you didn't get  a close look at the bulletin board on Sunday, here's a digital version in pdf format.  Zoom in for more detail:

JC-CU bulletin board 2011-06-12 v1.pdf

Pastors' Update July 2011

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

  We hope this letter finds you well and we pray that during these summer months you have been able to find time for rest and relaxation with family and friends. The reason we are writing you today is to give all members, both the family of Christ Ballenger Creek UMC and Jackson Chapel UMC an update on our merger.  As many of you know, this discernment process has been going on for some months and much thought, discussion, time and prayer from both congregations has brought us to the point we are now.  During the Merger Team meetings and within the Pastoral meetings much of our time together has been dedicated to prayer and scripture study.  We feel that God has given us a Word and a Vision for the immediate future and we want to share that with you. 

As of this week, the merger team and pastors are in agreement that we are not called to merge this current Conference year.  Several leaders discerned that they felt that God was not calling us to complete the merger this year but rather to focus on strengthening the two congregations and allow the merger to happen according to God’s time not our time.  We want to be respectful to the Vision that we feel God is laying before us.  This decision was not made lightly, and we pray that you hear this news with open hearts and open minds.  As the merger team and pastors came together during this process it became clear that much work needs to be done before these two congregations can come together as a healthy and vital part of the Body of Christ. 

We want to make it clear that we are not saying a merger will not take place in the future.  Both congregations are open to this possibility as the Spirit leads and as we continue to grow as individual congregations. 

The vision that we believe God is laying on our hearts is one in which the congregations of Christ Ballenger Creek UMC and Jackson Chapel UMC will continue to share space and continue to work together in many ways.   The goal is to strengthen each individual church while at the same time continuing to build relationships between the two congregations, as we allow God to lead and to guide us in the future.   The main ways we feel God is calling us to strengthen each congregation in the immediate future is through  three vital and important parts of our ministries:

            1.  Strengthen the worship services in order to unite the congregation and welcome the community. 

            2.  Strengthen lay leadership within each congregation.

            3.  Strengthen our mission and outreach into the communities

We feel that as we work and build up these areas our congregations will grow, mature, thrive and will truly become what God is calling us to be as the Body of Christ. We want to take a moment to highlight two of these areas: worship and leadership. 

 Worship:  As many of you know, we will be kicking off our new worship schedule on Sunday August, 7th.  This new worship schedule is something that we are very excited about and we want to share the details of this schedule so everyone knows what is coming in the near future. 

The 8:00 service will be in the style of contemporary Gospel and will be led by Pastor Rex Bowens, Sr.

The 11:00 service will be a contemporary service and that will be led primarily by Pastor Jason Shank.  This service will begin with praise music starting at 10:45 with the formal welcome at 11:00. 

 We believe both of these services will offer much to the congregations, to the community around us and will glorify God in amazing ways.  Within this schedule is also a dedicated Sunday School hour in between the two services which will be held from 9:45 to 10:45.  It is our prayer that everyone who attends worship will also come to Sunday School in order to study the Word of God and to build relationships with your brothers and sisters in Christ from both congregations. 

Leadership:

As we said previously, leadership is another important part of both congregations that we feel God is calling us to strengthen in order to make the kingdom of God a reality within these church bodies and the world.  The first way we will begin to do this is by holding a joint Administrative Council on Friday, August 5th at 6:00 at Christ Ballenger Creek.  This meeting is for the Administrative Councils of both Christ Ballenger Creek and Jackson Chapel. During this meeting we will discuss which areas and ministries within our congregations we will continue to do together and what areas in the future need to be brought together. During the summer the theme which has been the center of our worship services and the theme of the sermons has been “Called out for Greater Things.”  We truly believe that God is calling both congregations out for greater things within the community.  God has amazing things ahead for both congregations.  We know God is leading both congregations and as long as we keep the love of Jesus Christ at the center of all that we do, in all things, God will be glorified and others will come to know the transforming love and grace of God through Jesus Christ.  We hope that you will join us as we continue to journey together and as we continue to go as God calls and leads.  Greater things truly are ahead!

 In Christ,

Pastor Bowens, JCUMC

Pastor Jason , CUMC

Meet the New Pastoral Team

On May 19th, we held a joint meeting of the Christ UMC and Jackson Chapel UMC congregations to meet the new pastoral team and to hear how we all will work together during the transition.  Christ UMC will participate in the cooperative parish as Christ and Jackson Chapel continue to work towards becoming one body.   Present were Pastor Jenny Smith, Lead Pastor of the 3-church cooperative parish (Mt. Carmel, New Market and Christ), along with Pastor Scott Clawson, Pastor Jason Shank and Pastor Rex Bowens, Sr., Pastor of Jackson Chapel.  We are blessed to have the gifts of these all pastoral leaders contributing to both our congregations.  Below is a link to the slides from the presentation, the audio recording and a copy of the appointment announcement for Pastor Shank.

Presentation for pastors at CUMC Jackson.pdf

2011_0519_meetpastors.mp3

Jason Shank 2011 Appointment Announcements.pdf

Multi-Cultural Church Visits

Purpose
We will visit different local multi-cultural churches to 1) experience God’s blessings in these places of worship, 2) observe how they welcome and spiritually feed worshippers, 3) understand how their leadership and ministry organizational structure lets them achieve God’s vision, and 4) implement insights from these visits to help us achieve God’s vision for our church.

Who can go?
Anyone who wishes to see how God works in other multi-cultural churches and seeks to apply learnings in our journey to become a unified and spirit-filled multi-cultural church. We especially encourage lay and ministry leaders to join these trips as part of their efforts to help create something new from our two congregations.

When are these visits?
Below is the planned schedule for visiting. Since the best times to visit these churches are often on Sundays, it will mean that we will miss our Sunday activities. Visits will start after Easter Sunday.

Who is organizing these trips? Who do I talk to about coming along on these trips?
Talk to Shayne Boucher (email) or Jackie Thompson (email) for more information.

Sun, May 1
Bridgeway Community Church, Columbia, MD
10 am service, leave church at 8:45 am
www.bridgewayonline.org

Sun, May 15
First UMC of Hyattsville, Hyattsville , MD
10 am Sunday School, 11 am service; leave church at 8:30 am
http://www.fumchy.org

Sun, Jun 5
Asbury Shepherdstown, Shepherdstown, WV
9:30 am Church School, 11 am service; leave church at 8:30 am
http://www.4pillarchurch.org