'inclusive' Tagged Posts
Still Standing, Still Celebrating: 4 Years as a Reconciling Church
June 2, 2025A Note from Pastor Jon Dear Friends, Still Standing, Still Celebrating: 4 Years as a Reconciling Church In June of 2021, after a thoughtful and prayerful discernment process, the membership of Hilliard United Methodist Church overwhelmingly voted to become a Reconciling Congregation in the United Methodist Church. It was more than a statement. It was a commitment—to justice, to radical love, and to the full dignity and sacred worth of all persons in the life of the church.…
View for a Black Woman
May 21, 2025A Note from Nikki Buskirk Dear Friends, I often find myself asking, where did I turn left while others kept straight when it comes to individualism? I can’t remember a time when I didn’t think about others’ welfare, when I ever wanted to not include someone. When I was younger, I was the shy, nerdy, Black kid who was often left out. I always tried to make sure others weren’t excluded in anything I was in. Whether it…
Easter Offering Totals
The Easter offering grand total = $18,588.21 Apportionments: $3,746.07 Pastor’s Emergency Fund: $3,746.07 HVAC: $11,096.07 $5,333.44 of this came from outside partners who support our ministry and mission! Thank you for your generosity!
Help Greet Families for Preschool Graduations
45-minute Shifts AvailableMonday or TuesdayMay 19 or 20Sanctuary building Here’s a fun opportunity to serve our weekday preschool families as they come to celebrate their child’s graduation! You’ll welcome families to the event, hand out programs, and direct people to the sanctuary, restrooms, etc. We always want to be strengthening our good connection between the church and the weekday preschool, and this is one way to do that! Sign up for a shift on Monday or Tuesday, May 19 or…
The Lens of Progressivism
May 7, 2025A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, In last week’s Letter of Encouragement, Pastor Jon shared a bit about how the lens of fundamentalism shaped his story. Sunday, he shared more about this lens that has influenced so much of modern Christian practice. Fundamentalism arose largely as a push back to society’s shifting views toward science and evolution. Interestingly, progressive Christians also had concerns about the growing emphasis on reason and the ways some thinkers in the early…
The Lens of Fundamentalism
April 30, 2025A Note from Pastor Jon Dear Friends, When the Letter Becomes Stone:A Reflection on the Rise of Theological Fundamentalism Before I ever studied hermeneutics or learned to pronounce it, I had already been shaped by a singular lens of interpretation — one that read the Bible as both map and rulebook, absolute and unchanging. I grew up in Hopewell, Virginia, just down the road from prominent faith leaders and communities deeply connected to the rise of fundamentalist Christianity.…
Preschool Celebrations
April 24, 2025A Note from Katie Williams Dear HUMC Community, As we look forward to our Preschool Sunday celebrations this Sunday, we are filled with gratitude for the incredible growth and blessings that have unfolded this year within our preschool program. This year has been a season of great joy and exciting developments, and we want to share some of those milestones with you, our faithful congregation, who have supported this ministry so generously. Celebrating our wonderful teachers & staff…
Easter Letter to Congregation
April 9, 2025 Beloved Community, As we round the final corner of Lent, I am reflecting on this season of Lament and Theological Reflection. I’ve found it to be meaningful to read the words of our newly adopted United Methodist Social Principles alongside our heartfelt laments, both past and present. This is a complex and challenging season as humans, but we are not alone, and our laments are not falling on deaf ears. This is a huge part of what we celebrate on…
Held
April 16, 2025A Note from Beth Palmer Hello Friends, I walked my first prayer labyrinth probably 25 years ago, and it was a powerful God experience that has stayed with me. It was an outdoor labyrinth, surrounded by beautiful landscaping, sometime in the fall just as the weather was starting to cool. A lovely evening. I started with a couple of deeper, centering breaths (my friend Vicki had given me some guidance). Then I began walking slowly and mindfully along…
Campus Futures Focus Groups
Join us for conversation & discernment around our church buildings and campus for the future Location: Meet in the Warehouse 839 worship space for the in-person sessions The Hilliard Food Pantry Plus has made a formal request to stay on the campus of Hilliard UMC for the foreseeable future. As they discern what they will need in order to meet the growing needs of our community, we are entering into a time as a whole church of considering what it would…
Lent at Hilliard UMC
Holy Week, April 13-19 The Good Friday worship services (April 17 & 18) will include ASL interpretation for the deaf and hard of hearing. (This is a change – our interpreting service is unable to find someone for Maundy Thursday after all.) The Easter Vigil service at 7pm on Saturday, April 19, will be hosted in partnership with our friends at Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3500 Main Street, just down the street from HUMC. Most services will also livestream. Easter…
Art & Lament
April 2, 2025A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, As we continue through this season of Lent, I offer you today another lens by which we can engage this practice of lament: art. Artists have an incredible ability, whether through visual, audio, or tactile media, to express and evoke the emotions central to lament, to draw us into experiences of suffering, and invite us to engage it with our whole selves. Last week, it was my privilege to attend a…