Happy New Year!

Greetings and Happy New Year! I pray that the start of your New Year has been full of enjoyment, fun, fellowship, and needed rest as you prepare to continue your journey with Christ in the year 2012. I am looking forward to being in worship and community with all of you in the year 2012. God has put on my heart that we will continue to discovery God’s vision for this church, live out our membership vows in our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness as we continue to make disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!

God is working in profound ways in my heart and spirit and is moving my heart to understand that He is calling Centerville Church to a greater experience of His presence in worship, to share His love with the community of Centerville and the world, and to be the best church in worship and mission that we can possible be.  Not only has God touched my heart, but He is busy in the hearts of the leadership of the church, moving us to make goals for the “Vital Congregations” initiative this past fall and then to take time to strategize to meet the goals we have made for the church in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.

In addition to all of the good work the board has put toward making Centerville Church a more vital congregation, the Indiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church has invited us to be a part of a process for revitalization called, “Fruitful Congregations.” The Fruitful Congregation Journey is a tool that can help churches, such as ours, to develop leaders within the church to become even more effective in carrying out our mission and take our church into the mission field. The journey begins in March of 2012, and my prayer is that we will have 5-8 people interested in participating in the visioning and leadership process involved in the journey.

I know this is a lot of information to understand and assimilate in one reading. In order to help communicate all of this to the church, the Administrative Council of Centerville Church has asked me to preach about our Vital Congregation process and goals to make sure that we are communicating with everyone what is happening at the leadership level of the church. It is our commitment to you to open wide the doors of communication! So, on January 8^th, during our 10:30am worship hour, we will be communicating to you what our goals are, the strategies we have come up with to meet our goals, and lay out some action items for the year 2012. Please plan on joining us for this very important time in worship. That’s January 8^th at 10:30am!

Happy New Year! May this year bring you closer to Jesus Christ, open your heart to be in ministry and mission to the people of the Centerville congregation, the Centerville Church Preschool, the community of Centerville and the world!

His,

            Pastor Kathy

Jeremiah 29:11

 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for

 disaster, to give you a future and a hope.