Discernment Committee
Discernment Committee Purpose
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To educate the congregation about the disaffiliation process.
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To equip our congregation to engage in the practice of spiritual discernment.
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To facilitate four informational meetings for the congregation to assist with discernment regarding spiritual discernment.
Charge Conference
March 19th
5:00 PM
FUMC Sanctuary
Prayer Service
March 8
6pm
Sanctuary
Members of the DC will be glad to attend your Sunday school class or other group to discuss the discernment process. If you are interested in this, contact a member of the committee.
Join us for
19 days of prayer.​
Pray for our church in the days leading up to charge conference using the prayer guide below.
Discernment Resources
Frequently Asked Questions:
FUMC Survey Results:
Below are posted two YouTube links that the Discernment Committee believes will be informative as we discern whether to remain UMC or disaffiliate and join another denomination. Each link contains a six-part video series that are relevant to the UMC discernment process. Each video in the two series is approximately 10-15 minutes in length. One series is provided by Reverend Rob Renfroe who is the President of Good News Magazine and a national leader in the Global United Methodist movement.
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The other video series is done by Adam Hamilton in response to Rob Renfroe’s videos. Adam Hamilton is the Lead Pastor at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas and is a leading proponent for UMC churches remaining UMC.
Below are two sources of information that the Discernment Committee believes will be beneficial to the discernment process. The first link is to an article by Pastor Andy Adams entitled, A Pastoral Refection on the UM Church and Thoughts on Disaffiliation. In the article, Pastor Andy provides information about why he believes it to be best for UM churches to disaffiliate from the UMC.
The second link is to an index of question and responses provided by the UMC in an ongoing series entitled, “Ask the UMC Series: Is the UMC really…?
The UMC responses address many of the key points in Pastor Andy’s article.
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Pastor Andy’s article:
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Ask the UMC Series: is the UMC really…?
Index of questions: Ask The UMC Series: Is The United Methodist Church really…?
Presentations
at Columbus First
Vaughn Stafford | January 29, 2023
Rev. Brian Erickson | February 20, 2023