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Office Hours
Monday, Tuesday, & Thursday: 8:00am – 4:00 pm Wednesday 8:00am – 12:00pm Lunch: 12:00-1:00pm Friday Office Closed Mailing address: P.O. Box 400, Hope AR, 71802 Physical address: 2300 S. Main St. Hope, AR 71801 870-777-8816 fumchope@yahoo.com 
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Worship - July 18, 2021
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Last month, I wrote that I would be sharing insights and ideas from a discussion with those in the Arkansas Conference on the book “The Post-Quarantine Church.” The first chapter focuses on the people of the church regathering to fulfill the mission of making disciples of
Jesus Christ. This includes making new disciples of persons who are not following Jesus. The author asks, “What if we viewed our church facilities as a tool to reach our community?” How can our church be more intentional about connecting our ministries with people in the community? For example, we are doing this in our Preschool and when we invite non-members to our Bible/book studies. Other churches in Hope are doing ministries on addiction recovery and grieving losses. One church elsewhere transformed a Sunday School room into “a birthday room” so kids in the neighborhood could have their parties for free. Members assisted with the parties and invited the neighbors to worship and children’s ministries. Another church did tutoring after school, allowing the students to use the church’s Wi-Fi. Some offer M.O.P.S., support groups for mothers of preschoolers. The book also asks, “What if we asked the community how our church facilities could best serve them?” What needs do people have that we could meet? I do know that one issue with which almost all persons struggle is money management, especially in our materialistic culture. Thus, our church will be offering a six session study on financial well-being in the Fall for anyone in our church and community. The Leader Guide states, “The goal of this study is for members to become grounded in a biblical understanding of a proper relationship to money and for each of them to commit to and develop a biblically based Spending Plan for their households.” Make plans to attend and to invite friends and neighbors. -Pastor Steve |