Planning for 2027
Grace UMC just had our annual planning meeting and it went well! Several new staff members had a chance to meet with some of our key volunteers and discuss mutual support for the next year. There were many excellent suggestions from events to worship and I want to share a few thoughts as we process all that happened on June 12th.
The calendar was the first portion of our gathering, and we discussed some of the events that happen each year. Once we laid out the calendar year with sticky notes one of the obvious gaps was in April. Easter is in March in 2027 so our calendar was wide open! We moved the 1-day women’s event to April as well as the Blessing of the Animals service to help balance out the year. This year will also see the addition of a special music service as well as some of the usual events, like the Women’s Retreat and the Christmas Fair. We still need to add all-ages events, and events led by our staff, but we are well on our way! Within a few weeks we should have a tentative calendar, which will be reviewed by everyone who participated in the planning meeting and then made available to the congregation before September.
After our lunch the planning meeting transitioned to discussion about worship and music. We discussed the sermon suggestions, which, surprisingly, included the topics of both death and humor! I promise to make those two separate, unrelated sermons! After a time of quiet reflection, I’ll put together a list of sermon series for the year to be shared with church leaders. Someone will create sermon images for each sermon series and we’ll have our basic outline for the year. We also discussed communion, having “buddies” for people that could use the company (both in church and for the homebound), and the music ministry. More advance planning for the choir and the weekly music was suggested, as well as a better way to introduce worship songs that may be unfamiliar to the congregation. These are all great ideas, and it takes a team of people, working together, and stepping up to fill gaps to see it happen. I am very likely to seriously overhaul my worship planning process to better assist the music program. We work together to make good things happen and I’m proud of our team that is willing to be flexible and assist one another to best support the church. You’ll probably see some of these changes showing up by September as we make adjustments. Our hope is always for a fluid, spiritual experience every Sunday and sometimes the smallest changes can make a big, positive impact. Feel free to let us know any time how we are doing, we just ask that you offer your thoughts in a gracious way so that we can all learn and grow together. God bless!
— Pastor Brian Neville