Families are invited to enjoy a movie night at church! On Saturday, January 25, 5:30–7:30pm in Creekside, bring a sleeping bag or blanket to lay in while watching a classic children’s movie. There will also be pizza and popcorn!
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How can you create a sense of home that honors the best of where you come from and embraces the emerging challenges and opportunities of life in the 21st century? It’s tempting to mirror the default values of safety, security, self-focus, and material success that have characterized our culture. It’s easy to get stuck reacting to unhelpful patterns. But families at LAUMC want more than that—you want a life that flourishes. A one-size-fits-all approach won’t work. Now more than ever, families need a vision that is creative, intentional, soulful, and globally aware in order to thrive.
Mark and Lisa Scandrette, authors of Belonging and Becoming: Creating a Thriving Family Culture, will be at LAUMC on August 25. They will give the message at the morning services then lead an afternoon workshop on family thriving and purpose, held in the Creekside Center. Lunch will be served at 11:15am, at a cost of $10/adult, $5/child, or $25/family. The workshop will start at noon and end at 3:00pm. Much of the workshop will be kid-friendly, and childcare will also be available. Please register so that a spot at lunch and/or the workshop is saved for you!
Families come in all shapes and sizes. Whether you have children, hope to have children, parent solo or with a partner, are an empty nester, or love being a grandparent, your household can be a place of belonging and becoming, where each person feels safe, cared for, loved, and supported to develop who they are for the good of the world. This is open to anyone who desires to live a life that flourishes. Invite your friends and family, regardless of their history with family and faith.
“Whatever your family experience has been, it’s not the end of the story. Families can grow and change, and we have a lifetime to seek healing and embrace wholeness in our family relationships” (Belonging and Becoming, p. 14).
How can we help the young people we care about find their power? Their hope? Their possibility? The Changemaker Initiative invites you to a special evening workshop with our Ashoka partners on Friday, August 24, at 6:00pm in Creekside to explore this question. Let’s create a culture at LAUMC and beyond that enables young people to develop the skills of empathy, leadership, teamwork, and creative problem-solving. Parents, grandparents, community leaders, teachers, school staff, and youth organization leaders are all key players in this endeavor. Come and discover how changemaking is relevant to your work and your family.
Childcare will be provided. Check-in and appetizers will be available at 6:00pm, and the program will start at 6:30pm. Please register so that the organizers can provide adequate childcare and food. For more information, contact Kim Jones.
What is changemaking? Can we really change the world? As followers of Jesus, our mission assumes that personal transformation will lead to social transformation. But we are not always clear about how to do that with the kind of impact that we (and God) hope for. Ashoka is a social entrepreneurship organization that is in the business of identifying people who have the inspiration, character traits, and skills to change the world for good—and then helping them do it. In partnership with Ashoka, LAUMC’s Changemaker Initiative will help translate our heartfelt compassion into practical changemaking—in our families, our schools, our church, our businesses, and our organizations. As we start this initiative, please take a short survey that will tell Ashoka (and us!) some ways in which we are already changemakers.
You are invited on Saturday, April 14, to learn more about the Changemaker Initiative and how you might be part of it. Bring your energy for impact and join us for a day of learning and exploration. All ages are welcome! About 30–35 “Fellows” will be chosen from our congregation to embark on a 10-month process of changemaking in any and all sectors, with our faith as the core. Fellows will assemble teams of collaborators and be mentored by Ashoka experts to pilot and carry out innovative change. During this time we will establish an entire ecosystem and mindset of changemaking at our church—and there is a role for everyone.
Morning Session: 9:30–11:30am (childcare provided)
Why is changemaking essential for both young people and adults to thrive in a rapidly changing world? Learn more about the Changemaker Initiative and engage interactively to create ideas for shaping our homes, schools, workplaces, and other institutions to support people to be powerful changemakers. Lunch (11:30am – 1:00pm) will be offered to all participants.
Afternoon Session (optional): 1:00–3:30pm
In what areas are we drawn to explore changemaking? If your interest is sparked by what you experience in the morning, you are invited to stay for the afternoon session—especially if you think you might want to apply to be a LAUMC Changemaker Fellow or wish to support one of the selected Fellows as part of a team. Help shape the topics that LAUMC’s Changemaker Fellows will address. Explore your passions and choose from any of the four main themes to work on: Changemaker Families, Changemaker Workspaces, Changemaker Churches, and Changemaking in the Community.
Please register by April 9 so that sufficient food and childcare may be provided. Space is limited. If you have questions, especially if you are interested but unable to attend, please contact Kim Jones, lay director of LAUMC’s Changemaker Initiative.