Ramona United Methodist Church
The Valley Spirit
Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors
June 2012
Notes From Your Lay Leader
Inside this issue: Lay Leader Notes
2
Friendship Circle Church Luncheon Fundraiser
3
LPLC Faith Weavers Birthdays
4
Anniversaries NAMI New Clergy Calendar
5
Volunteers Ministry
6
Sunday School Summer Picnic UMW Scrip Hunger Walk Open Door Dinner
OUR VISION: An inclusive community of faith, learning and serving for the glory of Christ
7
Shortly before Easter I got an email inquiry from someone looking for a church to visit. The first thing that struck was they lived nearby but not in Ramona, so this must have been more than a cursory search. The second thing that occurred to me was that our web site is working because that's how they found us. The third thing that I realized was that because of the questions that were asked, this was not going to be a challenging response. The first question was in regard to our preaching - " I am trying to find a church that is sincere in their sermons; not one just looking to gain numbers and is in it for show." As I read that I considered that we really would like to increase our numbers but I know that is not my primary motivation when preaching. I explained that we were in a period of transition and offered a link to my sermon from Jan. 29 t h http:// www.youtube.com/watch? v=vnFOclUemag (in case you don't remember that one). I was sincere in preparing and presenting it, and I hope everyone hears it that way. Of course there are plenty of others to choose from now. The second question was, "Are you community oriented?" I had to think
about this for a few minutes, and my response was that we try to be community oriented. Some of our activities include:
Sponsoring a Cub Scout Pack
Providing space for the Ramona Community Theater
Serving as the Ramona distribution site for the Golden Share food program
Sponsoring and supporting the Ramona Food and Clothes Closet (a ministry of the United Methodist Women)
A Wednesday afternoon/evening children’s program
Providing a meeting place for the National Association of Mental Illness Family to Family Education program (our newest effort)
Our largest ministry is our pre-school which provides faith-based care and education at what we believe are the lowest possible costs. The more I looked at this list, the clearer it became that I was pretty much defining community involvement with respect to our building and our members, except for
Con’t on Page 2