Church is not a place you go, it’s something you are and something you do. Encounters with Jesus change people, not just for a moment, but by transforming us into something new. But we are not new by ourselves! We become new as part of a community, the church, held together and sent out by the Holy Spirit to introduce more people to the transformative Jesus! To be the church is to do God’s mission in the world. Designed for Spring.

Week 1: Be A Witness #ToInfinityAndBeyond | Matthew 28:16-20

Week 2: Be a Disciple #notjustachurchgoer | Luke 9:23-25

Week 3: Be Transformational | Romans 12:1-2

Week 4: The Church of the Pentecost | Acts 2:1-21 (focus:17-21)

The heart of worship is celebration! We celebrate who God is, what God has done for us in Jesus, and the new Spirit-filled lives we get to live because of it. By taking the time to celebrate God’s gifts to us — gifts of diversity, unity, promise, and new life – we are attuning ourselves to the good things in life, so that, even in times of struggle and hardship, we can be sustained. Designed for Summer/After Pentecost.

GNJ Clergy Team, Facilitator Gabby Corbet

Week 1: Celebrate Diversity | 1 Corinthians 12:12-20

Week 2: Celebrate Unity| Ephesians 4:1-16

Week 3: Celebrate Promise | Romans 4:3;13-25

Week 4: Celebrate New Life | Mark 5:35-43

Laity Sunday is observed on the third Sunday in October (October 16, 2022). Each year The United Methodist Church celebrates the ministry and witness of laypersons everywhere through a special service.

We often think of blessings as things we receive. While it is true that God, by grace, freely gives us all that we have, we are not just passive recipients of God’s blessings! Just as God blesses us through people in our lives, so does God promise to bless others through us. When we live from a place of gratitude for God’s gifts and trust in God’s provision, we can be agents of God’s blessing in our world.

Week 1: A Legacy of Blessings: “I Know Who I Am” | 2 Corinthians 9:1-5

Week 2: Blessed People Bless Others | 2 Corinthians 9:6-10

Week 3: Overflowing Blessings | 2 Corinthians 9:11-15

Advent & Christmas

Prophets are painters. They paint pictures of a time to come when people will be at peace with one another, hope will be made real, and all will shout for joy! Even if that time seems far off, we know it has already begun in Jesus, who is love come down to transform our lives and the world. This Advent season, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, we celebrate how he has made possible what once seemed impossible – peace, hope, joy and love!

Week 1: Peace Made Possible | Isaiah 2:1-5
Week 2: Hope Made Possible | Isaiah 11:1-10
Week 3: Joy Made Possible | Isaiah 35: 1-10
Week 4: Love Made Possible | Matthew 1:18-25
Christmas Eve: The Impossible Made Possible | Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
Week 5 (After Christmas): God Found in Impossible Places | Matthew 2:13-23

Our world often tells us that being courageous is about strength, bravery, and heroic acts. This series explores what courage looks like in the New Testament and expands our understanding of courage. Together, we will learn how courage can help us raise other people up, transform our communities, and face new and challenging situations. Designed for January 2021.

Week 1: Courage to be Vulnerable | Scripture: Philippians 2:5-11
Week 2: Courage to be Gracious | Scripture: Philippians 1:2-12
Week 3: Courage to be Last | Scripture: Philippians 2:1-5
Week 4: Courage to be First | Scripture: Philippians 3:10-16

Designed for Lent.
Habits and routines help us stay on track in many areas of our lives – whether it’s our physical, mental, or emotional health. They can help us grow in our spiritual lives too. In this series, we will explore several spiritual disciplines, or faithful habits, that can help us deepen our relationship with God. Lent is the perfect time to commit or recommit to a spiritual discipline, as we enter a season of self-examination in preparation for Easter.

Ash Wednesday: Self-examination | Scripture: Psalm 51:6-12
Week 1: Prayer | Scripture: Romans 8:26-27
Week 2: Scripture | Scripture: Psalm 1:1-3
Week 3: Fasting | Scripture: Matthew 6:16-18
Week 4: Confession | Scripture: 1 John 1:5-9
Week 5: Worship | Scripture: 1 Corinthians 10:31-33
Palm/Passion Sunday: Silence | Scripture: Mark 14: 26-41
Maundy Thursday: Love One Another | Scripture: John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Good Friday: Scripture: John 18 & 19:1-30
Easter Sunday: Gratitude | Scripture: Luke 24:1-12; 52-53

God creates, knows, loves, and sees all of us in our full humanity. But as people, we can fall into the habit of assuming everyone is the same or everyone is like us. While we share a common humanity, these assumptions can be harmful and prevent us from truly seeing other people and listening to their perspectives. By looking at Biblical stories, this series will help us learn how to listen to, respect, affirm, and act for and with others. In doing so, we can also come to know God even more fully.

Week 1: Hearing Other Voices | Scripture: Mark 10:46-52
Week 2: Sisters Are Doing it for Themselves | Scripture: Numbers 27:1-11
Week 3: R.E.S.P.E.C.T. the Stranger | Scripture: Deuteronomy 10:14-22, focus verses: 10:17-19
Week 4: Diverse People, One Vision | Scripture: Revelation 7:9-17

We invite you to be part of a summer of love – no, not the 1960s version! 1 John 4:8 says, “Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” But what does that mean? Through this series, we will look at four different ways we can love God and the people around us by following the example and teaching of Jesus. Embrace your inner Hippie!

Week 1: Loving Friends | Scripture: John 21: 3-4, 10-17
Week 2: Loving Community | Scripture: John 6:1-13
Week 3: Loving Family | Scripture: Luke 10:38-42
Week 4: Loving God | Scripture: Mark 2:23-28

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, insisted that Christian faith was more than just a set of beliefs or a feeling. Faith changes our lives and results in faithful action in the world. The New Testament letter of James gives the same message. This series will look at John Wesley’s General Rules in connection with readings from James to show how our faith can come to life in all that we say and do.

This series follows the epistolary readings from the Revised Common Lectionary for Sept. 5- Sept. 26, 2021 [Year B].

Week 1: Genuine Faith | Scripture: James 2:1-7, 14-17
Week 2: Do No Harm | Scripture: James 3:1-12
Week 3: Do Good | Scripture: James 3:13-18, (4:1-3)
Week 4: Stay in Love with God | Scripture: James 5:13-20

(Stewardship Campaign Kit included)

When we face important decisions and opportunities in our lives, we often weigh the pros and cons. We often find reasons to avoid making changes and to keep doing things the same old way. But there comes a time when we must decide… are we going to play it safe or go all in? John 3:16 tells us that God loved us so much that he gave his only Son for us, “so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” God’s love for us is “all in!” In turn, when we put all our trust in God, our lives can be freed for unimaginable wonder. This series will explore what it means to be “all in” for God with all of our being and all that we have.

Week 1: The Risk | Scripture: John 3:16; Luke 5:1-11
Week 2: Common Good | Scripture: 1 Cor. 12:4-13
Week 3: No Strings Attached | Scripture: Acts 2:43-47
Week 4: Commit | Scripture: Ephesians 4:22-24, John 3:16

God is leading us to let go of the past and to embrace the new things God is doing.

Laity Sunday.

Advent & Christmas

In the season of Advent, we prepare to welcome Jesus, the Messiah in God With Us. This year, as we await our Lord, we will put ourselves in the place of the first people who awaited and celebrated Jesus’ birth. Through their stories, we will learn what it meant for God to be with them, and we will open our eyes to experience God with us, too.

Week 1: God with Zechariah, the Skeptic | Scripture: Luke 1:5-16, 23-25, 76-80
Week 2: God with Joseph, the Dutiful | Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25
Week 3: God with Mary, the Faithful | Scripture: Luke 1:26-38
Week 4: God with the Shepherds, the Dismissed | Scripture: Luke 2:8-20
Christmas Eve/Christmas Day: God with Us | Scripture: Luke 2:1-20
Week 5: God with the World | Scripture: Luke 2:25-35