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Dear Friends,

Numbers are funny things. Depending on who is reading them, they can seem to say different things to different people.
Let me share with you a pastoral letter about some of what is happening with the numbers at First United Methodist Church.
Lately, lots of folks have been asking about the attendance figures at our church. All of a sudden people seem quite interested in just how many people are with us for worship each Sunday morning. In 2005, our average attendance for the year was 309. So far, in the two months of 2006, the average attendance is 306.
Keeping track of our attendance is one way for us as a congregation to assess how we are doing. Attendance is one of the indicators of church health.
In recent weeks, it has been quite unsettling to have people calling the church each week to challenge the attendance that is posted in the newsletter or in the bulletin. The church secretary receives those numbers from the persons who count the attendance at both services. They are not adjusted except in the instance where a group from our church is away together on a retreat or activity. Since long before I arrived here, that has been the pattern of how the attendance figures are determined. From a personal standpoint, I have no interaction with that process at all.
Let me ask you to trust the reporting process at our church. A few of our members have suggested that the attendance numbers at our church are being reported incorrectly. The church office has been told that someone is “padding” the count of those attending worship services. That charge is quite offensive to the integrity of the ushers, the nursery workers, and the church staff. In my observation, no one with responsibility for reporting the statistics of this church has ever compromised their integrity. This note is an appeal is to the ones who are making these accusations to please stop this behavior. It is unhelpful to the peace of this congregation.
Once I was in a congregation that went through a season when attendance was low for a time. In an effort to try to understand ttrends, each week several church leaders gathered to look at how the church was doing. One time, a person in the group asked about attendance. The question had a negative and critical tone. All of us heard it. The Chair of the Administrative Board of that church responded and said, “It is what it is.” That was the end of the conversation. Together we recognized that being critical of the past is not a tool to help with creating a better future.
Last week, in response to a number of comments that attendance at our 11:00 service is lower than we would like, I tried to find some reasons for that trend. Here are some observations of what has happened here over the past two and one-half years. During the time of my appointment to this church, more than 45 people who attended the 11:00 service have moved away from this community (this number does not include military personnel and families), about 15 children are connected to the families that moved away from Hinesville, more than 10 persons in active attendance at 11:00 service have died, a number of persons who used to attend 11:00 service now attend at 8:30
A quick, honest examination of the records reveals that our 11:00 service participation has decreased not by a failure on anyone’s part but as part of the natural attrition rate that affects all congregations. All of what is reported above, both positive and negative, occurred during a deployment of our neighbors in the military. The past year was a difficult time to show positive growth patterns in our membership statistics.
There are explanations that suggest that no one is to “blame” for our circumstances. Trends in attendance and participation are cyclical patterns within all congregations. The answer is to get busy with positive actions --- sharing good gossip about the church in the community, welcoming others to join with us for services, and prayerfully asking the Lord to make our efforts fruitful.
At the present time, there are other indicators that we have to acknowledge. One is that a few families have left our church to attend other congregations. It is a heartbreaking experience when that happens within a church family. That situation has taken place in the past at First Methodist and it will happen in the future. The best option is for us to try to learn what we can from those persons so we can minimize that possibility in the coming years. Second, the present emotional and spiritual climate in our church is not conducive to either sustaining our membership or experiencing new growth. People in the community have told me that they sense that First Methodist is in a fussy mood. Within the church family, we know that is true. The time has come to move beyond the issues that divide us. As John Wesley said to persons that disagreed with him, “If your heart is as my heart, take my hand.” That is my invitation and it is my sincere hope that your response will be to reach toward the hand of peace and reconciliation that is extended to you. Third, our patterns of evangelism need some new energy if we are to be fruitful in reaching new people and maintaining our church membership.
On the positive side of this issue, please remember that over the past two and one-half years this congregation has received 52 persons into membership by Profession of Faith. Our net membership increase during that time is 39 new United Methodist Christian disciples. Those figures are truly something to celebrate.
The final question regarding the numbers attending First United Methodist Church is whether or not each one of us is faithful in our attendance. Not one of us has control over anyone else’s choices. The question comes down to your faithfulness and my faithfulness to be present when our church family gathers for fellowship, worship, and to hear God’s message to us. The promise we made when we joined this congregation is that we would “uphold the church by our prayers, presence, gifts, and service.”
There are services of worship at 8:30 and 11:00 each Sunday morning at First United Methodist Church. Come and be counted among us as we learn and grow in our faith. See you in church!

Blessings!
ARM

Rev Alan R Miller +

I will support First United Methodist Church by…

MY PRAYERS

Elizabeth Hutton, Ann Powers, Dorothy Stagmeier, Davis Darsey, Faye Darsey, Chris Varmecky, Ethelda Lee, Lynn Sikes, Johnnie May, Irene Martin Our soldiers and their families. John Folker, Scot Sikes.

MY PRESENCE
Sunday School:................................................................................158
Worship 8:30:..................................................................................104
..............11:00:..................................................................................270
Total Worship:................................................................................ 374

MY GIFTS
Received Last Week:.... (3-7).................................................. 9,348.00
.....................................(3-12).................................................. 6,409.51

Received to Date:..................................................................86,533.00
Building Fund:............................................................................250.00

MY SERVICE
Ushers:...................................................................... Jeff Arnold, Capt.
Allen Brown, Danny Norman, Tom Ratcliffe, Craig Stafford
Hal Stafford, Durand Standard, George Stagmeier
Security Steward:...............................................................Hal Stafford
Acolytes:.................................Morgan Fermin & Kirsten Schreihofer
Crucifer:................................................................. Brandon Standard
Altar Steward:.................................................................. Judy Shippey
Sound Room: (8:30)..................................................Cameron Smith
........................(11:00).........................................................Bob Dasher
Children’s Church: ...Christine Barrett, Lori Wheeler, Jennifer Mele

Children’s Sermon: ...................................................Heather Garrido

UMW General Meeting
United Methodist Women General Meeting: The first 2006 general meeting of United Methodist Women will be held on Monday, March 20 at 6:30 PM in the church Social Hall. Please put this date on your calendar because you do not want to miss this meeting! Light refreshments will be served at 6:30 and after that, Dr. Alisha Kirk will be our guest speaker for the evening. She has exciting things to share with us about a special project she and others in our community are working on. Alisha is relatively new to our community and to our church family, but she has already found her niche in both. We are blessed to have her come and speak to our group about the Healing Center for Women, currently in the developmental stage, but a program that will be a great asset to our community when plans are complete and doors are opened to receive clients. Special music for the evening will be provided by a quartet made up of members from our own chancel choir accompanied by Rodney Powers. What an exciting evening we have planned!
Please come and invite a friend to share this special time of fellowship with us. If you are not a member of UMW already, March 20 will be a great time to come, get acquainted with our program and learn how you can get involved. Hope to see you there! If you have questions about the meeting or UMW in general, please call Lynda Hall, UMW President at 876-2792.