The Flame
Starting this week, I will be doing something a bit differently than I have since I began pastoring here at Lakewood UMC.
Instead of a weekly pastor’s reflection that tries to focus on the scripture passagr we will be hearing from on the upcoming Sunday or on something significant happening in the world at a given moment, I will be instead sharing a reflection on a new monthly newsletter called The Flame!
Yes, it’s coming back. Those of you who have been around the church a while will know that “The Flame” actually isn’t very new, and that this is the resurrection of a periodic update on the church that Lakewood UMC used to publish monthly. It had remarks from the pastor, details about upcomings events, recaps of exciting things that have happened from other members of the church or staff, as well as birthdays and funeral announcements.
Starting this Sunday, Kickoff Sunday, September 13, 2026, we will be resurrecting The Flame as our church’s monthly newsletter!
I want to invite you to consider what kinds of things we need to be sharing out to our community each month and to let me know if anything comes to mind. We have old editions of the Flame we have looked over here in the office, but we aren’t trying to recreate something from the past.
We want to know what information about our church would be most helpful and interesting to you!
For instance, do you want to learn more about things happening in the broader United Methodist denomination or news from our Mountain Sky Annual Conference?
Do you want to get updates and greetings from other community partners in the building?
Do you want us to share local news that might be relevant to the four areas of ministry we have coalesced around in our missional reflection from last year (homelessness, the arts, poverty and food assistance, children and youth)?
Do you want to encounter spiritual reflections or thoughts about things happening in the world from other members of the congregation and/or staff?
Do you want to know what is going on at our Preschool and Parent’s Day Out program?
There are all kinds of things we can consider putting into The Flame so that it is an inspiring and informative resource for you to refer back to at various times of the month. Our hope is that it can have a place on your fridge with information that helps keep you connected to your church.
If you have any feedback or ideas you would like to share, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at ben@lumc.net—we are excited to release Volume 1 of The Flame this Sunday!
And as far as this space on our website is concerned, I am going to step back from this for a while and ponder different ways it can be a part of how we share who we are to the world seeking us out on the internet.
Stay tuned!
