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Rev. Missy Turbeville *From the August 2026 FUMC of Bartow Newsletter
'You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ -Acts 1:8
So... it’s been a little while since we’ve really talked about who we are as a Church Family and what our mission is as a people who witness to the good news of Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit in Bartow and beyond. Of course, that isn’t actually accurate because in different ways, we talk about how we share the love of Christ all the time. In fact, it’s all over this (and every!) newsletter.
You see bits and pieces of this mission statement across the top of the pages of the newsletter when we talk about worship, nurture, and discipleship in Jerusalem (our church.) and Judea (our community). You see it when we talk about sharing Jesus with our children and youth and how they share Jesus with us and in the community. You see it when we talk about Mission, Outreach, and Evangelism. (also known as MOE) and how we love and care for people here in Bartow through donations and volunteering with the Bartow Community Service Center; donating blood; bringing in school supplies and socks; and much more. We are also living out our mission statement when we gather thumb drives, pencil top erasers, beads, used laptops, and more to visit our friends in Argentina so that we can all practice ministry together. Everything we do from worship on Sunday to gathering medical supplies for Cuba, everything from singing songs with children at Vacation Bible School, to gathering on a Wednesday night, to having a meeting to discuss the finances of the Church is meant to further our sharing of the good news of Christ.
We are entering a time when we are discussing and putting into motion how we are going to be the body of Christ together moving forward. We are the church… not a place, but a people on the move to share the love of Jesus, and it is important that we remember why we are here. We are here to witness, to share the good news about how amazing God‘s love in Jesus is.
The good news about this good news that we share is that we don’t do it alone. In fact, we were never meant to do it alone. When we are baptized, we are baptized into a family, into a group, into a body- the body of Christ. Also, when we are baptized, we are gifted by the Holy Spirit in extraordinary ways that help us work together to share in both word and deed about how much God loves us. Because of course, that is Jesus’ good news: God loves us.
In fact, God loves us so much that God came to be with us– to live with us, teach us, heal us, eat with us, minister to and with us, die and rise for us. In Jesus, we understand that God is with us always so that we can be with God now... and into eternity. God wants this eternal relationship with absolutely all of us. We are gifted to work together to help this experience of God’s love to happen not just for ourselves, but for all the world. We are gifted in different ways that celebrate our own uniqueness as well as the needs of those around us who need to know about God’s love. Part of beginning eternal life with God now is becoming the love of Christ in the world so that others can experience it also.
That amazing feeling of being loved, comforted, forgiven, and healed is just the beginning. We are given the miraculous opportunity to share with others that this is possible for them. That’s what it means to witness to the fantastic, loving, good news of Christ together with others. We are gifted by the Holy Spirit to do that not only in our families, Church, work, and school, but also in our community, and with people that we don’t know well or even understand; and also to the very ends of the Earth. What an adventure we are on!
With love in Christ,
Pastor Missy
'You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ -Acts 1:8
So... it’s been a little while since we’ve really talked about who we are as a Church Family and what our mission is as a people who witness to the good news of Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit in Bartow and beyond. Of course, that isn’t actually accurate because in different ways, we talk about how we share the love of Christ all the time. In fact, it’s all over this (and every!) newsletter.
You see bits and pieces of this mission statement across the top of the pages of the newsletter when we talk about worship, nurture, and discipleship in Jerusalem (our church.) and Judea (our community). You see it when we talk about sharing Jesus with our children and youth and how they share Jesus with us and in the community. You see it when we talk about Mission, Outreach, and Evangelism. (also known as MOE) and how we love and care for people here in Bartow through donations and volunteering with the Bartow Community Service Center; donating blood; bringing in school supplies and socks; and much more. We are also living out our mission statement when we gather thumb drives, pencil top erasers, beads, used laptops, and more to visit our friends in Argentina so that we can all practice ministry together. Everything we do from worship on Sunday to gathering medical supplies for Cuba, everything from singing songs with children at Vacation Bible School, to gathering on a Wednesday night, to having a meeting to discuss the finances of the Church is meant to further our sharing of the good news of Christ.
We are entering a time when we are discussing and putting into motion how we are going to be the body of Christ together moving forward. We are the church… not a place, but a people on the move to share the love of Jesus, and it is important that we remember why we are here. We are here to witness, to share the good news about how amazing God‘s love in Jesus is.
The good news about this good news that we share is that we don’t do it alone. In fact, we were never meant to do it alone. When we are baptized, we are baptized into a family, into a group, into a body- the body of Christ. Also, when we are baptized, we are gifted by the Holy Spirit in extraordinary ways that help us work together to share in both word and deed about how much God loves us. Because of course, that is Jesus’ good news: God loves us.
In fact, God loves us so much that God came to be with us– to live with us, teach us, heal us, eat with us, minister to and with us, die and rise for us. In Jesus, we understand that God is with us always so that we can be with God now... and into eternity. God wants this eternal relationship with absolutely all of us. We are gifted to work together to help this experience of God’s love to happen not just for ourselves, but for all the world. We are gifted in different ways that celebrate our own uniqueness as well as the needs of those around us who need to know about God’s love. Part of beginning eternal life with God now is becoming the love of Christ in the world so that others can experience it also.
That amazing feeling of being loved, comforted, forgiven, and healed is just the beginning. We are given the miraculous opportunity to share with others that this is possible for them. That’s what it means to witness to the fantastic, loving, good news of Christ together with others. We are gifted by the Holy Spirit to do that not only in our families, Church, work, and school, but also in our community, and with people that we don’t know well or even understand; and also to the very ends of the Earth. What an adventure we are on!
With love in Christ,
Pastor Missy
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Worship on Sundays at 10:30AM both at the sanctuary and streamed online on our Facebook page.
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