{"id":10080,"date":"2016-01-09T17:15:44","date_gmt":"2016-01-09T21:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=10080"},"modified":"2016-02-25T15:50:21","modified_gmt":"2016-02-25T19:50:21","slug":"mens-fellowship-to-gather-with-pastor-chris-heckert-1816","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=10080","title":{"rendered":"Men’s Fellowship Gathers with Pastor Chris Heckert (1\/8\/16)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Men’s Fellowship group held their monthly gathering on Saturday January 8.\u00a0 The gathering took place in a brand new year, but our speaker was a familiar face.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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\"GNJAC15Joining us was Rev. Chris Heckert, who is now serving as the senior pastor in the Haddonfield United Methodist Church.\u00a0 Pastor Chris was our associate pastor between 2004 and 2006 (during our “tabernacling days” after the fire while we met in the downtown storefront).<\/span><\/p>\n

During his time here he blessed us with his amazing guitar playing, real-life sermons (with heartfelt stories about his school teachers while growing up in western PA), and with his love and leadership as a brother in Christ.<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

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Means of Grace<\/span><\/h3>\n

Pastor Chris opened his time with us by giving us the background on a 300 year old sermon.\u00a0 No, it wasn’t given by Pastor Jim… this sermon was given by John Wesley, and it rattled the established church.\u00a0 The sermon and the topic Wesley preached has become to be known as the \u201cWesleyan Means of Grace.<\/a><\/span>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Wesley presented the church with the challenge that they were looking at certain church practices such as communion as an end unto themselves.\u00a0 Instead, he urged us to look at sacraments such as communion, baptism, and even prayer and worship to be only various means to a common end.<\/p>\n

The things done by a church must bring people into God’s arms of grace (both those inside the church and outside of it).\u00a0 Much of what the church does is done (sometimes better) by other organizations.\u00a0 The Kiwanis Club, Scouts, and even bowling leagues provide things which are similar to what the church provides.\u00a0 But the church is the one organization which must purpose to do these same things as a means to bring people into a closer relationship with God.<\/p>\n

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What, How, and Why?
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We’re good at planning the “Whats”: Sunday worship, Bible School, Tuesday Night Dinners, Men’s Fellowship “Gatherings”… even church website posts.\u00a0 We can even work out the “Hows” of how we organize and put these activities together.<\/p>\n

But where’s the “Why” in all of it?<\/p>\n

The “Whats” and the “Hows” can change over time in order to adapt to an ever changing audience and circumstances.\u00a0 But our “Why” should be consistent.\u00a0 Consider two companies: Blackberry and Apple…<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

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