Beyond the Pulpit 6.15.25

Crozetumc - June 15, 2025

Hello Crozet UMC!

I hope you’re able to join us today as we kick off a new study and worship series entitled “What do we say about…?” This series focuses on where the UMC stands on everything from addiction to marriage to suicide and beyond. I get a lot of questions from folks that begin with “What does the UMC say about…?” Well, this series will help to answer many of those questions!

Last year at General Conference a newly revised version of the United Methodist Social Principles was approved. This is an excellent document that answers many of the questions we often have about where our denomination stands on certain topics. The Social Principles are broken down into 4 sections. We’ll be taking a week to study each section.

Sunday, June 15 – COMMUNITY OF ALL CREATION

Sunday, June 22 – THE ECONOMIC COMMUNITY

Sunday, June 29 – THE SOCIAL COMMUNITY

Sunday, July 6 – THE POLITICAL COMMUNITY

This packet has the newly revised Social Principles along with everything you’ll need for the next 4 weeks to join us on this journey. There is a summary page before each section, so be sure to start with that each week.

Unfortunately, this document is so new that it has not been officially published yet (coming late June / early July). So I’ve pieced together this packet for our use. Feel free to share the packet with anyone who would like it! There will be a few printed hardcopies available at church, but the digital packet contains more helpful resources.

Please feel free to invite friends, family, and neighbors to join us for this study in worship and in Grow Group. It’s a great way to learn more about how we incorporate our faith as we face the social issues of our day.

In other news, I’ve been with Paul Dowell in Roanoke for Annual Conference this week. We’ve experienced excellent worship, study, fellowship, and business. Here we are at opening worship where Paul served as an Usher!