Window on Windsor Hills
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Windsor Hills United Methodist Church MAY 2019 Window on Windsor Hills May WHAT! Event Windsor Hills Spring Carnival Saturday, May 4 10 am - 1 pm Games… Prizes… Bounce House… Face Painting… Glitter Tattoos… Fun for all ages! A perfect time to bring friends and neighbors! Super Seniors Lunch May 22 12:05 pm A special program featuring Rev. Michael Copeland, sharing about his recent trip to the Holy Land with his wife, Donna. Come experience the Holy Land! RSVP to the church office by May 20. Volume 5 Page 2 The Pastor Writes… Dear Friends, What a wonderful journey we have had with Simon Peter as our guide and what a joyous celebration of the resurrection. Beyond Easter Sunday is the Great Fifty Days as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and our own, as well. Though it may not hold the pageantry of Easter Sunday, each Sunday throughout the year is a celebration of the resurrection, because that is the one thing that binds us together as disciples of Jesus. We are an Easter people, 52 weeks a year! As we move into the warmer season, let me remind you of the role of regular worship. For us indi- vidually, our gathering for worship helps us maintain a connection to God’s Spirit, so that we may “see thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, and follow thee more nearly.” This quote is from a prayer written by Richard of Chichester in the 13th century and popularized in the musical Godspell in 1971 and since. Gathering together as God’s people, the warmth of God’s Spirit may spread from one to the other. Christian friendships develop from being together, focused on worshipping God together. We grow in our knowledge of our faith, through the reading and proclamation of scripture, learning of our tradition, thinking through God’s role in our lives, day by day, and sharing the experiences of our faith through pray- er and music and story. All of this helps us to grow individually. Yet gathering for worship is not just about us, individually, and our relationship in praising God. Your presence makes a difference in so many ways in building up the community of faith. Our praying, singing and being together helps support the whole of the body, the body of Christ. When no one is within twenty feet of us in worship, it can seem flat and dull. Your regular attendance makes a difference in that way, as well. When guests come to learn of God’s Spirit here at Windsor Hills, if they discover a congregation that seems flat and dull, they may never return and therefore miss the joy of knowing the Lord as we do. Your presence may have made a difference to that one person who can relate to you better than others, due to age, gender or common experiences. You just never know. What I am saying is that some Sundays, your presence may make a huge difference in your own faith journey. Some Sundays, your presence may make a difference for the whole of the body of Christ. And, yet some other Sundays, your presence may make a difference to one fellow traveler on the journey of faith. Ponder that. Even during the summer, those of us who lead worship will commit to making worship lively and edifying, strengthening us both individually and as the body of Christ. Your presence will help enormously, day by day, Sunday by Sunday. Peace, Doug P.S. Preliminary results of our Worship Survey are found on pages 3-4. Volume 5 † WORSHIP SURVEY † Page 3 Worship Survey’s Results-2019 As you may recall, we took a Worship Survey in January of 2019 as a part of the on-going work of our Worship Visioning Team, which in turn was a goal of our earlier Strategic Planning Process. The team con- sists of Dana Bledsoe, HelenRuth Burch, Kay Jacobs, Blaire Liechty, Becky Ring, Tom Simpson, Don Witt, Keith Young, and Doug Paysour. Due to her wedding, Blaire Liechty has taken a leave of absence. Three evidences of their work thus far already includes the encouragement and the use of the praise band, “This Is Amazing Grace,” copies of sermons available for those who are hearing impaired, and the en- couragement for youth and children to be visible in leadership. There were 112 surveys returned, which is approximately 2/3 of our average annual worship attend- ance. That is an excellent return percentage. Of those, 44 were primarily 9 am attendees, 59 were primarily 11 am and 9 attended both frequently. Overall, the sense of satisfaction with both services was extremely high: 93% of 9 am attendees were Very or Mostly Satisfied with the whole service, with 92% of 11 am attendees expressing satisfaction. Yet, at the same time, most were willing to make changes that will enhance our worship together and/or potential- ly reach people whom we are not currently reaching. One age group that are clearly less satisfied and dissatisfied is our youth, 6th-12th graders. We will need to seek remedies through digging deeper into those numbers and spending some time listening to our youth. Interestingly, none of the youth gave responses for the 9 am service, but only for the 11 am. The most popular enhancements (for our current congregation and/or for reaching new people) for us to consider for each service: 9 am—use praise band more often, use of more contemporary music (from last ten years), varying instruments for singing, and using mini-movies more frequently. The next tier of potential enhancements include creating a more worshipful setting, use of banners and other worship visuals and personal testimonies. One question that we had going into the survey was whether there was interest in moving the 9 am service into the sanctuary. Only 22% (10 people) felt that that would enhance our worship together. There was less interest in flipping the services (so that the contemporary service was at 11 am) or starting a new service on a different day and time. 11 am—the most glaring need in the 11 am service is to find a way to create a greater sense of com- munity (either by encouraging people to sit closer to one another or to sit closer to the front). The next most requested enhancement is the use of more frequent special music and more of our young people lead- ing worship. Best practices say that if you wish to reach a certain demographic (in this case, young people), have your worship leadership reflect that desire. Continued on page 4 → Volume 5 Page 4 † WORSHIP SURVEY † PRAISE BAND † Worship Survey - continued from page 3 Summary: This has been an enlightening exercise: in general, we are satisfied with our current wor- ship, while at the same time there is willingness to make targeted changes that may enhance our worship together and help us reach new people. We have a great deal of work to do to help our youth to feel at home in our worship services. The Worship Visioning Team will be concluding its work soon and we are deeply appreciative of their time commitment that extended far longer than anticipated. A special thanks to Don Witt and HelenRuth Burch who took the collated responses and created a report for us. HelenRuth also collated the many Comments that were made for the Visioning Team. Below is a summary of her sense of the common themes of those comments: 10 Common Themes from the Comments from January 2019 Worship Survey 1. At 11 AM Choir cannot see the screen without leaving the choir loft 2. Combined services good-several comments wishing WHUMC only had one service 3. 9 AM more lively with more “contemporary” music 4. Need better sound in 9 AM service 5. Would like the praise band more often in both services 6. Love seeing children and youth at and participating in services 7. Sanctuary is cold – temperature wise 8. Several comments about allowing the pastor more time for the sermon and changing things to make that happen 9. More notes on Power Point or in the bulletin or a place to take notes in the bulletin 10. General good feeling about WHUMC ♫ “This Is Amazing Grace...” Windsor Hills Praise Band, “This Is Amazing Grace” has led both of our Sunday worship services over the last few months. If you are interested in sharing your musical gifts, please contact Steve Stutsman, talk to anyone in the band (Anthony Cash, Julia Bledsoe, J. Fred Eaton, Jasmine Eaton, Travis Johns), Pastor Doug, or Karen Jones Harwood. We principally play Christian contemporary music, but we will mix in traditional hymns and even some gospel-type music. Indeed, if you have a favorite song, please feel free to mention it to a member and we will see if we can do it. Christian Contemporary music is MORE that just guitars, bass, keyboard and percussion. If you play any kind of instrument and want to try it out please come and practice with us. And we can always use vo- calists, especially those who like to harmonize. The Band is very excited about our role in the “music ministry” at WHUMC. Currently we are playing an average of one time per month with 1-2 practices leading up to the service. Check us out at an upcoming practice or next time we lead Sunday worship. We look forward to expanding the band. If you can sing or play an instrument or both there is a place for you in our music ministry.