Church Rebirth and Revitalization
Beginning in January of 2011, Paw Paw United Methodist Church launched an all out Rebirth and Revitalization process with the overall goal of doing a better job of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Guided by the United Methodist Mission as stated in church discipline:
The Mission—The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Local churches provide the most significant arena through which disciple-making occurs. UMC Discipline 2008
and our own local Mission:
The Paw Paw United Methodist Church
- A Community in Christ
- Serving God
- Loving People
- Growing Disciples
- To Make a Difference...
we embarked on a journey to discern God's call for PPUMC and how we would meet His challenge.
As to date we have identified the following areas of focus and goals and are currently moving forward with implementation.
PPUMC Team Action Plan Results
February 25th, 2011
Long Range Direction / Focus
PPUMC will focus on drawing in families with children, ages infant thru 1st Grade. Our Childcare Ministry brings many families like this into our church and we will take advantage of this by creating a welcoming environment to encourage them to join us in worship.
Short Term Goals
These activities are driven by our long range direction/focus. They will be geared with the goal of intentionally inviting those families in our target age group, starting in September, 2011.
Hospitality - Create an environment that is warm and welcoming by rethinking the way we approach hospitality. Hospitality must gone beyond simply providing a greeter and a snack, to encompass all aspects, of welcoming, encouraging, thanking and making those who come to our church feel welcome, appreciated and that we are glad they are with us. We are looking for many people to participate in many areas, and are also looking for someone to coordinate these activities.
Worship – We will continue to grow and improve our worship experiences on Sunday and at other times. This will be done with continued input from our existing members and will start to look at new and exciting ways to create a worship service that attracts those families stated in our long range direction / focus. This task falls under the Worship Committee, those with a passion to participate are encouraged to join in.
Age Level Coordinators – We will create age level coordinators to guide social, educational, spiritual needs of each age group. Examples of age groups are: Under 5, Elementary, Middle School, High School, Singles, Young Parents, Empty Nesters, Seniors. Coordinators will be created on an as needed basis as we grow and the needs of our congregation evolve. Initial coordinators to go support our long range direction / focus will be primarily the under 5 and elementary age groups.
Ongoing
Middle School Youth – Our in house middle school youth group is large at this point in time and we feel that we need to increase support in this area to nurture and grow this group.
Enthusiastic Volunteers or those with any questions, comments should be directed at TAP small group members: Kim Hatfield, Betty Schafer, Laurel Sherburn, Julie Rumsey, Pastor Joe Spackman & Mike Roe.

