Parish Messenger Christ Community United Methodist Parish
Including Allerton, Corydon, Lineville, Millerton, & New Zion
Ponderings of a Wayward Follower of Jesus
Blessing my Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
This past week I spent time in class talking about the Book of Psalms. A
beautiful collection of prayers and songs. Prayers of lament and prayers of praise
and adoration. Part of our discussion of the Psalms centered around imagery or
what pictures come to mind that express the Psalmist’s words and thoughts. Dur-
ing a break, I was talking to a colleague I attended School of Lay Ministry with. We
started talking about our call into ministry and what that looked like. This image emerged; a mother
bird perched over a nest full of baby birds, all with their mouths wide open waiting to be fed. As the
feeder, one must determine what to feed, how much to feed, and how often to feed. And that must be
determined for each chick. There is a parallel here, the mother bird must provide food to the chicks for
them to live until they can survive on their own. As a Pastor, I must provide spiritual food for whatever
length of time is needed to help a person grow spiritually. Unlike the mother bird, I have help in the
feeding process. First, I do not supply the spiritual food, God does. Second, following Jesus’ lead, it is
not I who delivers the food. Many times, Jesus remarked that what he did was not His own work; John
7:16, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.”
One would think having God supply the food and direct the work that life would be easy. But as
my colleague and I discussed, it is not. We get impatient, and we question if we are truly following
God’s direction. Are we adding things to the food that do not belong? When we think, we are doing
everything right, someone does not thrive or does not grow. We ask why? What did we/I do wrong?
On the flip side, we both agreed that we do not take the credit when things go right. We humbly thank
God for being able to participate in His plans.
I have missed talking about one crucial factor, we do not do this alone. Our imagery above was
a mother bird perched over hungry chicks. But, while she is on the nest, her mate is off gathering
more food or on patrol protecting the nest against predators. I do not do ministry alone. I have or had
others to help. They include, Pastor Diane, Rev. Larry Prosser, Rev. Ellie Foster, our Certified Lay
Speakers, clergy peers, and all of you, the flock God has asked me to shepherd. Thank you.
Over the past month or so, I have felt like the baby bird in the nest with my month wide open,
and you came and fed me and Laurie. And all God’s people said, Amen!
Pastor Buck
Next Parish Event on June 4
The next parish event will be hosted by Lineville UMC. It will be held on June 4 from 2:00-4:00
at Moore-Gosch Park just north of Lineville. Come for snacks, fun and games. Bring your lawn chair.
Cookies at Corydon UMC The United Methodist Women are re-
sponsible for cookies in May. This includes
drinks and clean-up after.
Men’s Breakfast
Men’s Breakfast Group will
meet at Corydon UMC on the 2nd and
4th Wednesdays at 7:00 for breakfast and Christian fel-
lowship. Breakfast continue through the summer.
April Attendance
Church attendance figures are listed in alpha-
betical order: Allerton, Corydon, Lineville, Millerton
and New Zion.
April 2—21, 47, 21, 18, 32 = 139
9—24, 50, 17, 29, 53 = 173
16—25, 59, 30, 27, 27 = 165
23—18, 34, 16, 19, 25 = 112
Average parish attendance for April was 147.
May Birthdays
3—Pastor Buck
4—Jack Pershy, Phyllis Wolfe
7—David Ewing
8—Harold Hysell, Mike Mattly
10—Ann Shelton
13—Doris Moore, Mark Moorman, Gwen
Neely
15—Neal McCart
18—Chester Judd
20—Dawn Boggs, Barb Danielsen
23—Janice Duerksen
24—Charlie Hickie
25—Amanda Wood
26—Marilee Johnston, Harrison Roe
27—Jeanette Kelly
28—Gloria August
30—Heidi Jones
May Anniversaries 5—Steve & Karen Yakovich
14—Garrett & Heidi Jones
16—Gary & Rita Muilenburg
21—Bob & Virginia Fuller
22—Larry & Joyce Jennings
25—Gary & Susan Henderson, Charlie &
Eileen Hickie,
26—Al & Susan Pyner
2nd Sunday at Corydon UMC There will be no 2nd Sunday lunch at Cory-
don UMC on May 14 due to Mother’s Day.
May Mission News Change a Child’s Story is launching
one last campaign to collect new books for
children before the initiative makes a for-
mal closure in June.
It’s easy:
• Bring new books to Annual Conference
• Get credit for your church for bringing
books
• Books will be distributed to United
Methodist centers in Iowa that work with
youth in poverty
If you want to help with this, bring
your books to your local church by June 4.
Then they can be taken to Annual Confer-
ence when our Parish Lay Members go in
June.
Wayne Comm. School Graduation Activities
Senior Awards Night - May 16
Graduation - May 21 at 3pm
Baccalaureate - May 21 1:30pm
Senior Recognition Day at Corydon UMC
High School Senior Recognition Day at Cory-
don United Methodist Church will be Sunday, May 7
during regular worship service. A reception celebra-
tion will follow.
Christ Community Parish UMW
We ended March with a District Spiritual Retreat – “Gutsy Gals of the Bible”. It was a wonder-
ful day of learning, fun, and fellowship. We were please to share the day with former parish
Christ Community UM Parish pastor Rev. John and Brenda Boatman. Brenda was a part of
the group doing the music for that day. It was enjoyed by all who attended. See pictures be-
low.
May Circle meetings will be:
Joanna Circle – May 1 @ 7:00 a.m. with Doris Pollock as hostess & Martha Hoch giving the program.
Martha Circle – May 5 @ 9:30 a.m. with Eula Henderson as hostess & Sally Donald giving the pro-
gram.
Our next meeting will be May 23 @ 9:15 a.m. at the Corydon Church. Joanna Circle will be host-
ess. The program will be “Mother’s in Action” with Geri Gardner presenting the program.
All women of the parish are welcome to join us – we’d love to see you at a meeting!
Geri Gardner, UM President
Gutsy Girls
At
UMW District
Meeting
Top Left: Corydon UMC
children at Sunrise Service
Top Right: New Zion UMC egg
and pretzel making
Middle left: John Poston and
crew serving Wayne Academic
Breakfast
Middle right: Men’s group serv-
ing sunrise breakfast at Cory-
don UMC.
Bottom left: Sunrise breakfast
at Corydon UMC
Revitalizing Rural Churches:
How Can Congregations Keep the Faith in an Era of Consolidation?
(I received permission from the author Lisa Foust Prater to reprint her article in part. It
was originally published in November 2016 Successful Farming.) According to a statistical review
from the UM Church, the second-largest Protestant denomination, membership in the U.S.
dropped by nearly a half million people between 2009 and 2015. In that time, 1,798 UM church-
es closed their doors.
One facility that closed last year was Green Plain UMC in rural Warren County. The Rever-
end Amy Johnson was pastor for [that church] and 3 others in the Southeast Warren Parish. She
says the congregation made the painful decision to close because declining attendance made it
difficult to pay the bills and still do mission work. In July, 2 more churches were added to the 3,
forming a new parish.
Johnson says, to succeed, parishes like hers need to reimagine the meaning of church and
embrace change. “Unfortunately for so many in rural settings, change and death are synony-
mous. The truth is, though, they do not have to be,” She says. “The world will always need farm-
ers… and rural life…and Jesus.”
Once a merger happens, she says the congregations need not only to accept the situation
but also to accept their new connectedness. For rural communities, it doesn’t necessarily mean
being in frequent contact; it means sharing a culture. In a world growing smaller, she says, “…no
one is better equipped to understand our new smallness like rural America. No one does small
better than we do.”
The Rev. Dr. Jaye Johnson helps small rural churches deal with declining membership and
potential mergers or pastor-sharing agreements. He is married to Rev. Amy Johnson. Jaye says
vital congregations have 3 things in common: 1) they embrace the reality we’re all connected to
God and each other; 2) they encourage people to embrace one another and others more fully;
and 3) they evoke action by making the most of people’s gifts and building a network of relation-
ships.
Jaye says while communities were once connected through schools, churches, business,
and local government, the connection has been damaged over time so each entity must compete
for resources rather than work together. “The church needs to go out and provide the connec-
tions and resources and give the people a sense of purpose. That’s revitalization,” he says. Also
the notion of one pastor per church is outdated, and congregations need to think about what
church is. “In post-Jesus Biblical times, there was no physical place for a church. The building is
not as important as relationships.”
As nice as it is for a church to feel like a family, he warns that families are closed units—
you’re either born into them or marry into them. “The question is, how do we intentionally adopt
people in?” One way: challenge the norms and expectations. “What do you want people to say 50
years from how about how we made faith possible in 2016?” He says when congregations make
that shift in mindset, “The sky’s the limit.” He suggests that, when struggling to accept consolida-
tion or closure, to open the hymnal to #558, “I Am the Church,” which goes “The church is not a
building. The church is not a steeple. The church is not a resting place. The church is a peo-
ple.’ (What do you think? Relevant food-for-thought for small churches?)
Pastor Diane
S u n d a y M o n d a y T u es d a y W e d n e s d a y T hur s d a y F r id a y S a t ur d a y
1
Joanna Circle
7:00 am
Allerton Board
7:00 pm
2
Bell Practice
5:15 pm
3 4 Mobile Food
Pantry
9:00-11:00 at
Corydon UMC
A, L, & NZ to
Women at the
Well
5
Martha Circle 9:30 am
6
St. Francis Mass 6:30 pm
7 Communion &
Aid & Assistance
Honor Seniors at
Corydon UMC
Buck—C & M
Diane—A, L & N
8
Blood Drive at
Corydon UMC
1:00-6:00 pm
9
10
Men’s Breakfast 7:00 am
Bible Study at Karen Quick’s
10:00 am
11
12
13
St. Francis Mass 6:30 pm
14
Buck—C & M
Diane—A, L & N
15
16
17
Corydon Ad Council at 5:30
18
19
20
St. Francis Mass
6:30 pm
21
Wayne Graduation & Baccalaureate
Buck—C & M
?—A, L & N
22
HCI and Parish
Council 6:00 pm
at Corydon UMC
23
UMW 9:15 am at Corydon UMC
24
Men’s Breakfast 7:00 am
Bible Study at Karen Quick’s
10:00 am
25
Pastor Diane
chapel at CSC at
11:00 am
26
22
St. Francis Mass
6:30 pm
28
Food Pantry
Buck—A, L, & N
Diane—C & M
29
30 WIC at Corydon
UMC
31
Pastor Diane vacation May 15-21
Parish Office
Hours: 8-2 Tuesday—Thursday Telephone: 641-872-1569
Web: www.christcommumparish.com Facebook: Christ Community United
Methodist Parish Corydon, Iowa
Senior Pastor
Pastor Buck—James Buckhahn [email protected]
Home: 641-523-1027 Cell: 712-303-8812
Associate Pastor
Diane Olson Schroeder [email protected]
Home: 641-877-8851 Cell: 641-203-6060
Parish Secretary Becky Fetters
Worship Times Allerton
Worship 8:30 ~ Sunday School 10:00 Corydon
Sunday School 9:30 ~ Worship 10:45 Lineville
Adult Sunday School 9:00 ~ Worship 9:45 Millerton
Worship 9:00 New Zion
Sunday School 9:45 ~ Worship 11:00
Non-Profit Organization
U.S. Postage Pd. Permit # 19
Corydon, Iowa
United Methodist Church
213 W. Jackson Street
Corydon, Iowa 50060
ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED