Dear Lay Servants,
God’s creation is awesome, spectacular, wondrous, glorious, abundant, and often overwhelming in its bounty and, yes, also sometimes challenges us in our narrow bandwidth as humans. We who live out our lives in so small a slice of eternity, what can we know for certain?
We can know that God loves us (all of creation) as a father (Abba – Papa perhaps) loves a child. We can know that we are all made in God’s image and that God gives us an example of what living out that image looks like. It looks like Jesus – loving mercy, doing justice and bringing relief to the hungry and imprisoned. We know that God fills us with the Spirit to empower us each to live our lives as those born in the image.
While we struggle with our human understanding and our rules and regulations, we can often hear Micah and John Wesley’s simplicity: Do Justice, Love Kindness, Walk Humbly, Do No Harm, Do Good, Stay in love with God.
As those in lay servant ministry, whether certified as Lay Servants, Lay Speakers, or Lay Ministers, or not certified in any “official” status, we are seeking ways to live out God’s love; in our Wesleyan tradition to do as much good as we can for as long as we can.
We, your LSM directors in the California Pacific Conference, are called to help you explore and find paths for your call to serve. We have heard that you would like more classes, in more areas of our rather large Conference, and that you would like opportunities to serve.
Notwithstanding that, the only thing we may be sure of is that God is with us always, and we will humbly do our best to help you.
Please check the Conference Web Page and your District’s Web Page for classes. And Be A Disciple offers many excellent classes online.
The following are opportunities that will be offered in the next few months:
- Basic Lay Servant Ministry Course – March 29 and 30 – Glendale FUMC
- Lay Servant School – Beginning April 24 – Sherman Oaks UMC
- Lay Servants Class – April 27 – May 24 – Harris UMC
- Lay Servant School – Beginning May 17 – Contact the South District Office for additional details.
May God’s Grace, Peace and Hope be with each of you,
Howard Fallman
