Staff Retreat

May 15 - 17, the Ridge Church program staff went on a retreat to Chesterton, Indiana. We have been doing this every year for the last five or six years. It is a wonderful opportunity for us to get away from phones, and the "daily stuff" of life and spend quality time together. Our goals are always simple. 1) Do planning for the next year. 2) Grow together as a staff. I think that we accomplished both.

We have heard your concerns! When we did our dinners for the Reaching Out To The Future campaign, we heard over and over again that we don’t know everybody. Unfortunately, we are too large to all worship together in either our sanctuary or fellowship hall (good problem – I know!), and even if we could all squeeze in, our parking lot is too small for all of us. So how do we offer opportunities for the people at11:00 met the people of 8:30 or the people of 9:45 meet the people of 11:00?

We are in the incubation stage of a number of really neat ministry opportunities that will try to bring us together. The most exciting is the creation of WWE @ Ridge UMC. This is a Wednesday night program that will minister to the entire ridge family. The evening will include dinner, children’s program and choir, middle school and youth BS (Bible Study) and adult Bible Studies. As you can imagine, the logistics of putting this together are huge. Over the next couple of months, we will be working hard to get them all worked out.

If you are interested, let the office know, and we will get you on the leadership team!
One of the other big planning objectives was to get the worship schedule put together. We are planning the following upcoming worship series:

Summer The Parables of Jesus (This will coincide with the children’s Sunday school material.) At 9:45 the children will stay in worship until a children’s message, and then they will be dismissed to their classes.
Fall August 26th will be Ridge Fest, a celebration of the ministries of Ridge Church. Jeff and I will begin a series we are calling: Being A Good Neighbor. We will look at Christianity in relationship to the other religious traditions that are a part of our community (Jewish, Hindu, Islam). We believe that this may be the most important sermons we have ever worked on.
Oct. Stewardship of all Creation
Nov. Waiting. How do we wait for God?
Dec. The Places of Christmas
Jan. What Good is the Church
Lent Why?

As you can see, we got a lot accomplished — but this is only the tip of the iceberg. Next article, I will share with you some of the exciting study opportunities that are being put together. Exciting things are happening at Ridge Church — Let’s continue to Reach Out To The Future!