Weekly Greeting - October 2, 2026
I am so excited! Well, the weather finally moderated. Yay!
But what I am really excited about is that almost 2 weeks ago, 30 of our congregation’s leaders came to a training – a seminar – called “From Wandering to Journeying.” It was a foundational session on leading groups in intentional discipleship. A few more who could not attend will come to a repeat session this Sunday from 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. If you want to come, just show up in Conference Room 2 (aka Omni Classroom). No registration required, but no food will be served either.
The training is designed to equip leaders of small groups to meet individuals where they are in their spiritual journey and help them grow at their own pace. This begins with matching small groups to the people’s needs and readiness to grow in discipleship. If that sounds like blah, blah, blah, I guess you will need to come this Sunday afternoon and hear more about it.
The whole Methodist movement started with John Wesley leading one small group of students who wanted to become more faithful Christians. As John and his brother Charles grew in their own faith, they trained leaders and fostered many small covenant groups. The spiritual growth quickly spread across England and crossed over to America.
Today we still see that significant faith growth happens in small groups. The groups don’t all look alike. For instance, our staff at Bethlehem UMC is a small group of people who covenant together to support the work of our church and to grow in our faith. We begin each staff meeting with prayer, Holy Communion, and devotional discussion.
Another example of a small group is the group of people who do the gardening and beautification at Bethlehem. The choir is a small group (they invite new members!). The Stephen Ministers, Soul Sisters, Men’s Groups, Youth Group, Sunday School classes. All these are long-term small covenant groups that are nurturing disciples of Christ.
We believe that having more short-term small groups will help Bethlehem UMC. By “short-term,” I mean groups that are formed for 4-to-6-weeks or for occasional experiences. They would fit busy schedules and be more likely to attract people who cannot commit to long-term groups. They could feature targeted studies, or they could be formed to accomplish a specific task like a mission trip. Actually, they could have many shapes and forms, and the content of their purposes could vary widely. The possibilities for Bethlehem members are endless.
That is why our goal is to build a large cadre of trained leaders at Bethlehem who can propose and lead a variety of small group experiences. As of this writing (Wednesday afternoon), at least a half dozen people who attended the training two weeks ago have suggested new short-term small group experiences they want to propose and are willing to take leadership roles. That’s why I am so excited!
If you want to be involved, just show up this Sunday (October 4) in the Conference Room 2/Omni classroom at 5:00 p.m. You too can become a part of a small group that is doing big things at Bethlehem UMC.
Terry Carty