United Methodists and Food

What makes a United Methodist? For some, it's food. I've served churches where you couldn't have a meeting or event without food and coffee. For others, it's our traditions. Many of those traditions are unique to each Methodist congregation.

For me, one of the essential things that makes a United Methodist is our connection, meaning that we are not a solo church; we're a network of churches. As a pastor, I love this because when I am trying to figure something out, I have people I can reach out to locally who are all on the same path. We all want the same thing: to see our local congregations grow for the sake of God's Kingdom.

I have gotten to know Pastor Jennifer Ahrens-Sims at Asbury UMC because of the connection. We met at Annual Conference last year in the Clergy Session. Since then chatted about the realities of ministry like, "Can I borrow a nursery worker," or "What have you been doing for accounting?"

A few weeks ago, she texted me with the idea of doing a 2-part potluck to celebrate our heritage of being United Methodists and our connection. The first event will be:

I can't express how excited I am to get to know our brothers and sisters at Asbury UMC, share a meal and celebrate our connectedness that started with the Methodist origins in 1784.

I encourage you all to mark your calendars to join us at Asbury UMC. We'll host them here in July. You can click below to sign up for your favorite casserole. If you'd like to carpool over, meet at Fleming Island UMC at 5:30.