Sound Footings – Winter 2022

In 1874 in Swan Quarter, NC, congregants affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church built a modest white clapboard structure. Two years later a great hurricane approached, and as the storm surge rose th church lifted from its foundation and floated down the street, bumped into a general store, turned right and drifted about two blocks, then turned left and adjusted itself to face the new street, settling on a corner on high ground. Miraculously, it was the site the church members had originally attempted to buy, whose owner would not sell. He later deeded the land to them, figuring it was where God meant the church to be.

I was a Methodist before I realized it. Let me explain. When my parents were married, they attended a Methodist Church in Charlotte, NC. Both of my older sisters were baptized in the Methodist Church (this was before the UMC was organized). My parents built a new house the year before I was born and found a church they liked nearby that was not Methodist. I was baptized there, and as my family moved we remained in that denomination.

Fast forward to the 1990s. After relocating to a new town, I searched for a church that felt closer to what I was looking for. The one I chose was a United Methodist Church. Soon after, my parents returned to the town I grew up in and rejoined the United Methodist Church. I have moved a few times since then and remained a member. On my father’s side, I can trace my Methodist roots several generations to a small church in whose churchyard is buried an ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War.

Reflecting on my family’s church membership reminds me that the Church is never stagnant. To us it may feel at times like a storm is raging, but we should take comfort that God has invited us all to be members of His Church. Maybe like you, when I look backward it is easy to see that my footsteps led me to exactly where I am. Sometimes when we recall the difficult steps in the journey, it didn’t always seem certain. But when we are at peace, we realize we are where we were meant to be.

At the Foundation, our mission is to help your church or ministry fulfill its mission. In the United Methodist Church, we have an overarching mission of making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World. Each day your church enacts this Great Commission in the community it serves – in you it becomes active!

As we give thanks for the Christmas season and approach the New Year, may we pray that God’s hand guides us, and that we always seek to fulfill His will in making disciples.

God’s hand is always moving, meaning He is always at work in our lives because God is sovereign over all life. “In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)

Sincerely,

Bo Bowden, President