Disciple Study

Jesus in the Gospels:
Another in the line of great Disciple Bible Studies. We are now into lesson 10 with our cluster group - Del Rosa UMC, Highland UMC, Emmanuel UMC, St. Paul's UMC, Fontanta UMC, Muscoy UMC, Rialto UMC, Colton UMC/Tongan & Legacy Congregations, Redlands UMC, Redlands University UMC. While not all the churches participate in the study, it does make for an interesting group and lots of great ministry opportunities.
We have a lenten lunch series through the Lent season, with a lunch hosted by each church. We have some oncoming cluster youth opportunities. We also have some cool things that happen to tie the churches together like a pulpit exchange in the Fall.
Highland UMC has a got a new ministry of Prayers and Squares that Rev. Cindy Huskey is trying to put together. You might want to check it out here. Pretty cool stuff.
The diversity of views int eh studies and across the clergy themselves make it all very interesting. The more intriguing part to me is the way that UMC clusters were designed to help alleviate some of the pressures of cost associated with being small rural or even urban churches. The design was to help churches hire a secretary to share (or other such employee) and buy in bulk so that the cost comes down on supplies. Some churches with shared pulpits and part time pastors in multiple charges might already do some of this. Good stuff in my book.
Peace,