Roadkill

Good Morning Trinity Tribe,

We had a lovely trip to the Billy Graham Library yesterday. If you haven't been, it is quite interesting and well done.

On my way to Durham and back over the weekend, I listened to a lecture I had taped last year. It was Bishop Ken Carder who was one of my professors at Duke Divinity School. In his talk, he wanted us to consider what the metaphor for our church would be.

Looking at Dictionary.com, a metaphor is a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our God.” Or a metaphor is something used, or regarded as being used, to representsomething else; emblem; symbol.

Is it a tree or a lion or something else entirely? And then we are to explain it, of course.

The provocative example that a young pastor in a previous class had shared is that his church was like roadkill. The church was like that animal that has just been hit by an automobile…somewhere between life and death… The church he was referring to had 16-17 members in attendance…didn't want to have any new members unless they were just like the current ones…doing no outreach…etc. As horrible as that metaphor was, it has certainly stuck with me the last couple of days.

In Matthew 28, Jesus says this: 18 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

I do not believe that roadkill churches was what Jesus was talking about. We must go out and make disciples which requires going out not just sitting in our safe sanctuary.

I have been thinking and praying about what metaphor we could use for Trinity UMC today and the Trinity UMC we want to see in the future. I want your input! What metaphor describes Trinity for you? What symbol would represent how you feel about Trinity? Please email me back or post your idea on our Facebook page.

By the way…some of our apportionment money to the Annual Conference goes to support people who support us as church leaders, church members, and as learners. One of those is our Conference Media Center. Here you can check out Bible study materials, personal study materials, and the like. Here is a brochure describing the services they provide.

http://nccumc.org/mediacenter/files/Media-Center-Brochure.pdf


If your Sunday School class needs some new material, here is just one of the many items they have in the Media Center:

The Media Center has a brand new bible study ready for your small group. Stephen Skelton of the Entertainment Ministry brings us a new series of modern parables featuring TV episodes of “The Lucy Show.” Skelton relates each episode to a biblical principle using scripture references and discussion questions. The Media Center has obtained a Certificate of License so that you can make copies of the provided study guide for everyone in your group.