A Letter from the Pastor

I asked you a year ago as a friend of Hartford First United Methodist Church to be in prayer.  I know pastors always want us to pray about something, but let me remind you of the topic.  I asked you specifically to be in prayer for me to be led by the Holy Spirit as I engaged in the leadership of this church.  I also asked you to be in prayer about God's vision for our church and for my courage to lead us in implementing His vision.

I want to thank those of you who have fervently prayed for these things, and I still solicit your prayers in these matters.  I would like to highlight some things that have arisen as a result of those prayers.  Your prayers have drawn together a group on Wednesday evenings to pray for our church's ministries and needs.  This group continues to meet and they pray for some specific things that I request.

As a result of all of this prayer a vision is forming, and it begins with the question I asked at the last Church Council meeting, "How is Harford FUMC going to invest in the future?"  More specifically, how are we going to invest in the children of Hartford?  The full scope of God's vision is not yet known; however, I believe He is clearly calling us to rethink and retool our children's ministries.  They are in fact the future of the church.  How we do ministry now is going to shape the way the next generation gets involved in the life of the church and more importantly how they come to know Jesus Christ.

Sincerely,

Rev. Jimmy Cook