What happens when a Full Gospel and UMC pastor get together?

What happens when a Full Gospel/Non-denominational pastor and a United Methodist pastor get together?

Well they have church of course!

Last night I had the privilege of joining Pastor Mark and Pastor Carol and numerous others at Faith World Outreach Center and Church for worship. A few weeks ago, Pastor Mark and Pastor Carol came with some of their folks to a worship service that we had at Edom United Methodist Church. After that visit, Pastor Mark called me and asked if I would bring the message this past Sunday evening.

I can't begin to tell you what a blessing this has been for me. I love connecting with new people and getting the opportunity to share the gospel with those I encounter. But the real blessing is that for an hour and a half last night Erica and I worshiped with other brothers and sisters in Christ.

Sure the music was different from our Sunday morning traditional service. Sure order of worship and liturgy was a little different. But you know what, God was there!

Pastor Mark and I talked quite a bit both before and after the service. I am amazed at what God is doing through their ministry. At the end of the evening several of us took with us ideas about how to continue to share ministry together in the future. I am looking forward to what these new relationships have in store for each of us!

Ecumenical endeavors are not a foreign thing to me or those out here in our community. Each year a local Baptist church, Assembly of God church, and our United Methodist church get together to join in community worship. We gather for a community Thanksgiving service and a community Easter Sunrise service hosted by our churches on a rotation basis. We won't be hosting again until 2009, when Edom UMC (our church) will be hosting the Easter service. These are spectacular times of worship. The pastors share in the preaching and leading of worship. We experience different styles of worship music. We stand together with our neighbors under one roof and one God. Never do I think we see more diversity or unity than at these times of the year. For me, they are reminders that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.

Pastor Mark put it quite succinctly when he stated that he didn't believe that when we get to heaven there was going to be a "Full Gospel" line, a "Methodist" line, a "Baptist" line, etc. I couldn't agree more! I think that we will all be worshiping together then, so why not have a little heaven on earth right now!?!

I actually think that when we get to heaven we are going to say to someone, "Hey, what are you doing here!?!" Followed immediately by, "where is so and so?"

So here is what I wonder: Are you participating in ecumenical worship, missions, or ministry? If so, I would love to hear about your experience (what works, what doesn't, how have you been blessed by it, etc). If not, I would love to know why not.

Peace,

Russell