Southport UMC Newsletter

Dear Friends, This month we are continuing our quest to learn how the church can become a missional movement. I have repeated the definition for a missional movement each month, and I am going to do so again this month.   A missional movement is when the people of the church are so excited about Jesus that they live his ways and his message goes viral, passed on from person to person. A missional movement must have missional DNA or mDNA.   The six elements of mDNA are the following: ·   Jesus is Lord ·   Disciple-making ·   Missional-incarnational impulse ·   Apostolic Environment ·   Organic systems ·   Communitas This month we are going to look at the element of organic systems.   This refers to how missional movements are organized.   When the disciples of a church become excited about and focused on Jesus, they won’t need much organization.   Why? They won’t need much organization because the grassroots (the people) of the church will be activated, and th

Our next opportunity to serve with Kairos Prison Ministry comes in May. There are a number of ways you can be involved. Talk with one of the ministry’s leaders at the Next Steps table Thursday and Sunday, January 7 and 10.   Lives are changed as we express Jesus’ love to women who are incarcerated. Ministering to incarcerated men is also very important and we would like to form a Men’s team in 2016. Information will be available at Next Steps on the 7th and 10th.

Numbers can be important, but people and lives are more so.   So instead of figures and totals, thanks be to God for the generosity you have shown in supporting Faith Promise this year.   Faith Promise is a fund for “extra mile giving” for community outreach so that: ·   Children and youth were able to attend Christian summer camps ·   Struggling individuals in the Fletcher Place area received warm breakfasts ·   Homeless families were welcomed, fed and given a place to rest ·   Women who are incarcerated heard about the forgiveness and love of Jesus ·   Families with critically and terminally ill children found comfort through dinner and    conversation  Community area children and their families experienced love and support for their school needs and during the Christmas holiday with continued contact planned in 2016 Your Faith Promise giving supported the above as well as additional ministries. Much work and many tasks were performed. However, the most impor

MOPS has wrapped up its fall semester and we are moving into a new year!   We had a great time and can’t wait to start the new semester. We would love to have more moms join us!   If you are a mom of a child or children from birth-kindergarten, we would love to have you!   We meet the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of every month at 6:30 p.m. in room E302. Childcare is   provided. Our next meeting will be Wednesday, January 6, at 6:30 p.m. We will have a guest speaker from Gymboree play n’music come to talk about play with your child; then the last 20 minutes of group she will bring the children from childcare and do a group activity with them.   If you have any questions please, contact Tara Walters through the church office 784-9508 or tara@sumc.org.

Three trips are in the planning stages for JOY (Just Older Youth) Travelers for 2016.   They   include the Slugger Museum and factory tour in Louisville and lunch at Huber Farms north of New Albany for April 21, The Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY on July 21 (for which travelers may include school-age grandchildren), and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Museum on in Dayton, OH October 22. Reservations for the first trip will begin January 2.   The deluxe motor coach will leave from Southport Church of the Nazarene at 9 a.m. and return at approximately 5 p.m.   The entire cost for the motor coach, admission to the museum, and lunch is $58.   In order for payments to be made to vendors, the reservation money needs to be received by March 15. (In the event that 50 travelers do not sign up, a full refund will be issued.) Those interested should send a check made payable to Herberta Bierce with the memo JOY Travelers to 830 Cloudy Wing Dr. # 112, Indianapolis, IN   46227.   F