In recent weeks I’ve had a lot of conversations with all sorts of people about Ayden United Methodist Church and the one thing I keep repeating is that, in many ways, this is a completely different church than the one I was appointed to four years ago. Over the past year I have seen a growing passion in this congregation: a passion to know and worship God more fully and a drive to serve others and reach out into our community. I have also seen a recognition that if we do those two things well, we will build the sort of Christian community that will more closely resemble the Kingdom of God.
The year has been full of new activity and new faces with several new families (young and old) joining our fellowship. We have received two dozen new members since last charge conference, eleven of which were baptisms and nine of those were professions of faith. Every week we have new faces visiting with us in the congregation and I regularly note that nearly a full quarter of our congregation is under the age of eighteen. All of this is a miracle. All of this is the work of the Holy Spirit.
As I counted off the weeks of ordinary time this year, (the weeks between Pentecost and Advent) at some point I began giving thanks that this past year has truly been a year of Pentecost. Just as in Luke’s recounting of the early church in Acts 2, the Spirit of God has blown through this place. The Gospel has been proclaimed in word and deed and this church has come alive in worship and in service to the point where we are recognized not just as a building, but as a presence in our community.
We continue to feed under-served youth through our Backpack Buddies program and vulnerable older adults through our partnership with Meals on Wheels. Our members staff the Ayden Christian Care food pantry and others find time to read with children in schools. We have sponsored free family fun days and trunk-or-treat activities and have been an active presence in community events, parades and festivals.
The other thing I keep saying in conversations about our church is how absolutely delighted I am with the ministry going on at AUMC. I am delighted that it is the ministry of the church, and that God is constantly raising up leaders to accomplish the work that needs to be done. I tell people that I am certain that we are merely seeing the first fruits of God’s work in this place. It is evident to me that AUMC, as a congregation, is well positioned to grow over the next few years and that if we continue to live into our mission statement, of “Loving God, Serving Others, and Building Christian Community,” God will supply all that we need to make that happen.
The Rev. Jim McConnell