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This week we began the 40-day Lenten season with Ash Wednesday – it ends on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. The word Lent comes from the Anglo Saxon lencten, meaning spring. Lent is traditionally a time for repentance, self-reflection, and recalibrating ourselves spiritually. It is a time when we practice spiritual disciplines in an intentional and concerted effort to grow closer to God in our faith. Giving, fasting, and prayer are foundations of these practices. For Methodism’s founder, John Wesley, almsgiving or giving was an expression of our love for God and neighbor. He gave away all the coins in his pockets on theRead More →

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You’ve all been invited to write about what makes Lent and Holy Week meaningful to you for our 2025 Lenten devotional book.  So – what exactly is a devotional?  It’s a book or digital source of daily readings that help us grow our relationship with God.  Daily devotionals are short, inspirational pieces of writing, often based on scripture, designed to encourage personal reflection and prayer.  Sometimes they include just a brief personal story, and sometimes they include scripture and a prayer for the day.  They often focus on a specific theme or passage.  You can find all kinds of devotionals, some made for 30-40 days,Read More →

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Summertime growing up in rural Iowa usually meant family reunions to see relatives, playing the annual softball game, hearing stories of past gatherings and “where the kids are now”, showcasing vintage photos and scrapbooks along with an endless buffet of family favorite casseroles, salads, hot-pepper jelly, as well as a counter-top full of other “not-on-my-diet” goodies.  Do you have similar family reunion experiences?  (It really sounds like a Methodist-approved event with all the food.) I can still see my folks much more excited than me to rekindle conversations with family.  I was, of course like many of us, a very busy person with high school/college/professionalRead More →

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This guest blog features the introductory and first edition of a new monthly newsletter written by our Director of NextGen Ministry, Dr. Greg Coates. We hope the information is helpful and invite anyone to “Opt-in/Sign-up” to receive these monthly e-newsletters moving forward. May 2024 – Since joining the staff of the United Methodist Church of Geneva last summer, I have spent a significant amount of time observing, thinking, and praying about the state of the children and teens in our local communities.  Having been hired last summer as the “Director of NextGen Ministries,” I took pride in joining a local church that perceived the pressingRead More →

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Being part of a church that says “yes” and doesn’t shy away from doing difficult things energizes me. Who doesn’t want to be around that kind of positive energy? You might not expect to feel that excitement at a Church Council meeting, but you would be wrong. Church Council, made up of chairs from each committee, meets at 7:00pm on the fourth Tuesday every month. The purpose of Council is to oversee the work of committees and make decisions that affect our overall church. If you haven’t been to a meeting, please know that everyone is welcome to attend in person or remotely. What exactlyRead More →

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In our senior year at Agnes Scott College, Nancy was president of the Christian Association. Wanting to host a spring dance in the Rebekah parking lot, how would she and her committee get enough men from other schools to join us? Agnes Scott, after all, is a women’s college. Already strong in prayer, Nancy and the planning group stepped out in faith a few months ahead, praying specifically that a greater number of men would attend than women. Not having grown up with anyone modelling prayer in such specifics, I was the skeptic. If anything, two of my most specific and memorable prayers as aRead More →

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When I pray, I try to be as honest and humble as I can be. I try not to approach God as if I have special problems that are more important than anyone else’s. I try to say, “I need help, please help me,” and “Please help my loved ones,” and “Please help us all.” My interpretation of how Jesus instructs us to pray is that he asks us to be direct, to say what we mean. But I also try not to make any attempt to manipulate God because, like anyone else, I can’t presume to be special enough to do so. I amRead More →

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Wanting to pray effectively is not a new concept. Prayer has been around as long as, well as long as God. Abraham prayed, Moses prayed, David prayed, and those are just some of the big names. None of them were perfect, they were all flawed in some way, but they prayed, because they knew there was a higher power they could turn to. Even Jesus’ disciples, who heard him pray often, asked Him to teach them to pray. Like they were asking for a secret formula or magic words.   But the truth is, there is no “trick” to praying. It is just a talk withRead More →