This is a time when Fishburn Church needs your prayers. We are undergoing a major initiative called “Matthew 28”. This initiative is a significant outlay of time, energy, expertise, and planning. All of this is focused to help us make disciples for Jesus Christ.
Here’s How Matthew 28 Works:
PRAYER: Each Monday we ask our prayer team to lift Fishburn Church to the Lord asking for wisdom, guidance and assistance in our mission of making disciples for Jesus.
STUDY: We are actively engaged in studying our history from 1960 to the present to honestly reflect on our ministries, strengths, challenges, community culture and Fishburn Church culture.To facilitate this we are evaluating demographics of the greater Hershey area and have created a historical reflection group called “Fishburners”. The Fishburners group is meeting to discuss our church history reviewing pastors, staff, ministries, major events, challenges, strengths, and decision making processes. The end goal of this group is to create a comprehensive historical reflection to be given to our Consultant.
CONSULTANT: A Matthew 28 consultant has been assigned to us by the Conference Matthew 28 Council (a consultant had to be one who helped at least one congregation break the 200 worship attendance barrier as that is part of our journey). Our Consultant is Rev. Dr. Bradley Brown. Please pray for him regularly that God would lead and direct his understanding of Fishburn and God’s will for Fishburn Church. We will provide Rev. Brown a detailed report of our historical reflections, statistical reports from 1960 to present, demographic reports for our communities, and responses to his preset questions about life at Fishburn Church.
INTERVIEWS: September 10th, and 12th will be days where Rev. Brown and our “Coach” (Rev. George Reynolds) will interview paid and non-paid staff including Pastor John and Jane, meet with a Focus group of people from the congregation of all ages who are not elected leaders of the congregation, and meet with the Leadership Council.
SEPTEMBER 13th: The Consultant report of recommendations will be given following worship. September 13th worship will be a highlight of our journey and we will have a congregation fellowship meal following worship.
NOVEMBER: We will hold a Church Conference vote on the consultant’s report. The consultant’s report will have a series of dated recommendations for Fishburn. We will invite all members to vote on November 1st at 6:00pm on whether we accept these recommendations or not. This will be preceded by a fellowship meal at 5:00pm. Our District Superintendent will oversee this event. If we vote in favor of the consultant’s report then our Coach will work with us for one year to help us accomplish those recommendations. That is why the Coach is an active part of the planning and interviews.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Of the roughly 850 congregations in Central PA Conference less than 2 dozen were chosen for this initiative in this its first year. As you can see there are a significant amount of resources (the burden of the financial commitment comes from the Central PA Conference) going into this initiative.
PLEASE PRAY REGULARLY for Matthew 28. Pray for our congregation, our consultant, and our leaders remembering that our goal is to follow God’s will in making disciples for Jesus Christ.I am seeking to make this process as transparent as possible so if you have ANY questions please contact me at 298-1785 or
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.
May God bless your prayers, you and your family.
In Christ,Pastor John
Welcome to the New FishburnUMC.org
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Although our look may have changed a little, we are still giving you the same great information as before. We hope you enjoy our new image and hope to see you at our church real soon!
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