Week of September 20, 2026
The Bright Side
Making Room Before They Arrive
There is something deeply hopeful about setting a place at the table before you know exactly who will sit there.
Beginning in October, we are going to do something small but intentional in worship. We will begin holding space for a Children & Family Ministry Moment.
Right now, our church may not be filled with a crowd of children coming forward. But perhaps that is precisely why we need it.
We believed God has called Krystel to serve as our Children and Family Ministries Coordinator. And we believe children and families matter to the life and future of Bethany. And rather than waiting until families arrive to begin thinking about ministry to them, we want to begin making room now.
That means praying now. Preparing now. Building relationships now. Asking what kind of church we want families to discover when they walk through our doors.
This fall, hosting a Trunk or Treat will give us one opportunity to meet families in our community, offer hospitality, and simply let them know that Bethany is here and that there is a place for them among us. But this is about more than one event. It is about cultivating a congregation that expects God to bring new people into our lives, and is ready to receive them when God does.
There is a beautiful biblical pattern here: so often, faith means preparing for what we cannot yet see.
So when you see that Children & Family Ministry Moment in worship in October, I hope you’ll see more than an empty space waiting to be filled.
See it as an act of hope.
Pray for the children who may one day sit in our pews. Pray for parents looking for a community where their family can belong. Pray for Krystel as she builds this ministry. And pray that God will show each of us how we can help make Bethany a place where children and families are known, loved, and invited to grow in the grace of Jesus Christ.
Maybe one day that space will be full of little voices and wiggly bodies. And when it is, wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to say:
We were praying for you before we even knew your name.
ICYMI:
Here’s Your Sermon Recap!
Jesus makes an extraordinary promise to His disciples: “I will not leave you as orphans.”
Yet the very One given to assure us that we have not been abandoned, the Holy Spirit, can sometimes become the forgotten Person of the Trinity.
Who is the Holy Spirit? What does the Spirit do? And what difference should the Spirit’s presence make in the way we actually live?
In this Week of our current series, Rooted in Grace: Profoundly Christian, Distinctly Methodist, we explore the Holy Spirit through Scripture and our Wesleyan understanding of grace. We’ll consider how the Spirit awakens us through prevenient grace, leads us to new birth, assures us that we are children of God, and continues the work of sanctification, forming us more and more into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
Because grace doesn’t merely pardon the sinner. Grace transforms the sinner.
And perhaps the clearest evidence of the Spirit’s presence isn’t always something spectacular, but a life increasingly bearing the fruit of Christ: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
As you watch, consider this question:
If the Holy Spirit lives in me, is the life of Jesus becoming increasingly visible through me?
Come, Holy Spirit. Fill us with holy love, make us like Jesus, and send us into the world in the power of Your Spirit.
Sunday Sneak Peek
This Sunday, we continue our series, Rooted in Grace: Profoundly Christian, Distinctly Methodist, by turning our attention to something many of us may think we already understand: The Church.
When we hear the word church, what comes to mind?
A building?
A sanctuary?
Sunday morning worship?
A denomination?
A place we go?
But the New Testament gives us a much richer picture.
Paul writes:
“For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.”
Notice what Paul doesn’t say.
He doesn’t say the Church is somewhere we go.
He says the Church is something we are.
We are the Body of Christ.
Different people. Different gifts. Different stories. Different roles.
And yet, through Jesus Christ, we have been joined together.
That also means there is no such thing as a church of one.
Our culture often celebrates independence and self-sufficiency. But the Christian faith reminds us that we were never meant to follow Jesus alone. We need people who will worship with us, pray with us, challenge us, encourage us, carry us when we’re struggling, and allow us to carry them when they need us.
But Christian community isn’t the end of the story.
The Church exists for more than itself.
Jesus gathers us together, forms us by grace, and then sends us back into the world to love our neighbors, serve those in need, bear witness to the gospel, and participate in God’s mission.
This Sunday’s message, “The Church: A People for God’s Mission in the World,” will explore what it means to be the Body of Christ—and why the Church still matters in a world where it can sometimes seem easier to practice faith on our own.
Because following Jesus isn’t simply about going to church. It’s about learning together how to be the Church.
The Music
At our 8:15 a.m. service, we’ll sing “We Are the Church,” a wonderfully simple reminder that the Church isn’t a building or a steeple. The Church is a people.
At 10:30 a.m., we’ll begin worship with “Build My Life” and “Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone.” We’ll close by singing the hymn, “We Are the Church.”
We’ll also join Christians across the centuries in confessing the words of the Nicene Creed, including this declaration:
“We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.”
That little word catholic means universal. We are confessing that the Church is bigger than Bethany, bigger than Methodism, bigger than any congregation or denomination.
Through Christ, we belong to a people that stretches across cultures, nations, generations, and centuries. And yet, that enormous worldwide Church becomes wonderfully personal when Paul reminds us:
We are members of one another.
As You Prepare for Worship
Spend a few moments this week reflecting on these questions:
When I think about “church,” do I primarily think about a place I attend or a people to whom I belong?
Who has God used in the Church to help shape my faith?
What gifts has God given me that the Body of Christ needs?
Where might God be calling me to move from simply attending church to actively being part of its mission?
Bring those questions with you on Sunday.
Come ready to worship.
Come ready to belong.
Come ready to discover again what it means to be the Body of Christ.
And when worship is over, may we leave remembering:
Don’t simply go to church.
Go and be the Church.
We look forward to worshiping with you this Sunday!
Interested in Becoming a Member?
If you’ve been worshiping with us and wondering whether Bethany Methodist Church might be the place God is calling you to call home, we’d love to walk alongside you as you explore church membership.
If you’re interested in learning more, simply click the link below and complete our brief interest form. Completing the form is not a commitment to join—it’s simply the first step in a conversation.
Click here to express your interest in church membership
