This is an excerpt of an article from the Villages News.
Saturday, April 8 was designated by the United Methodist Church North Central District as the day for district churches to take it from The Steeple to The Streets.
“We are encouraging people to get out of the pews, get outside and have God show them where to join him,” said District Superintendent Rev. June Edwards said. She also said today was not about getting people to come to their church but to go to different areas of the church’s community and pray, observe and listen.
The church went into the community to pray, observe and listen.
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One of the participants Wildwood United Methodist Church has had great success with going out in to the community.
“We have gone from 30 congregants with an average age of 80 in 2012 to 200 congregants with an average age of 30,” said Pastor Michael Beck. “We did that by meeting people where they are.”
They have tattoo parlor church which includes Bible study and communion. They have a group that organizes Paws for Praise in a dog park. Beck’s wife Jill operates a program for children called Connect in the Martin Luther King building on Saturdays.
Read the full article here.
