April 2023
Spring is upon us! The plants are bringing forth new growth and the landscape is changing. We see blossoms on many trees, and some even are displaying their new leaves. Yes, nature is moving on with another season. In the same way, we are moving on here at Somerville Methodist Church (Where Love Abides). As we approach this Easter with all of its activities, and then soon after, Vacation Bible School, we must begin to display the church that we are and will continue to be. We are already Somerville Methodist Church, even though we maintain our membership in The United Methodist Church (UMC). If everything goes as planned, we will be disaffiliated effective June 1, 2023. Regardless, we are and will continue to be Somerville Methodist Church. We are not required to drop the symbols of the UMC until June 1, 2023, but we certainly are not required to maintain them on our letterhead, posters, and other promotional materials. Many UMC churches have long since changed their public name to leave out even the word “Methodist”. We at Somerville Methodist Church are proud to be Methodists as we have been since the early 1800s.
I hope that all of you were able to participate in the Easter/Lenten activities, and hope they were meaningful to you. Our Lenten Luncheons are intended to be for the community, and I hope that you invited all of your friends to join us as we worshipped together.
As we, a small part of the body of Christ, move through the days ahead, may we do it with LOVE as our guiding light. If you have thoughts or issues with the direction that you perceive that our church is going, please bring them to me or one of the transition committee. We truly appreciate your input. Your transition committee is working hard to think of everything that needs to be done to make our transition to an independent Methodist church as smooth as possible. That being said, if you can think of something that we might not have considered, please bring it up sooner than later.
I urge all our members and friends to get back to the habit of attending in person. We miss many of you that have been reluctant to come back. Our Sunday School Classes are going strong, and our worship service has been averaging just over 100 in attendance since January. It is wonderful seeing the sanctuary filling up with fellow Christians, as together we worship a most gracious God!
Grace and Peace to All,
Bro Don VanVoorhis
