I have kept my eye on the Church of the Resurrection since I began to feel called into planting churches later in my life. I’ve watched them because this is a church that is staunchly United Methodist and committed to the United Methodist connection and because they seem to have grown without relying strictly on church growth models.
Yesterday I was inspired by Rev. Hamilton’s thoughts on incorporating a conversation of calling into his confirmation classes, though I was curious about his use of a quantitative goal for how many ordained ministers would come out of CoR in the next 20 years. I was curious because I wondered if this was a way to fulfilling an empty statistic or if it was a way build a system based on the calling of God on that congregation.
A mother named Lisa from CoR, has assured me that CoR isn’t the kind of church that uses numbers to get a pat on the back. I am thankful for this and thankful for Lisa’s commitment to her local church. Lisa’s son Matthew was among those to stand when asked about feeling called to ordained ministry. She writes:
I too have always been concerned about placing numbers on things especially worship attendance and the like. Being at Resurrection though has changed my perspective a bit. We deal in large numbers but knowing the numbers helps us to decide where we need to focus ministry.
Knowing who these kids are will help us as a church to lift them up and help them to decide if God is truly calling them to ordained ministry. I do hope that Resurrection will build on this and offer something to help these kids discern their call.
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