All are welcome to join the discussion to apply their United Methodist beliefs to current faith issues and world events. A host of facilitators welcome and encourage healthy and open discussions facilitated by a team of individuals from Central family.

Please contact Staton Lorenz  at ntpockets51@gmail.com for more details.

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Sunday Morning Pilgrimage: 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM 

Join Kathy Mead for genuine connection with others. Their desire is to be an encouragement to you and present a path to grow closer to God and to our community.

Fall 2024 Discussion: 

Mystical Hope: Trusting in the Mercy of God by Cynthia Bourgeault

Kathy Mead has attended Central for 12 years and has been leading the Sunday Morning Pilgrimage group since its inception.  She’s a retired educator and taught history at Traverse City West High School. For more information contact Kathy Mead at: meadka09@gmail.com. This class will be offered in a hybrid format to include both in-person and Zoom participants.

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Are you concerned about the polarization and negativity of election politics? Want an alternative? This is for you. Central Church is partnering with our interfaith coalition, SALT, and the non-partisan group Undivided to offer a training Sunday October 13 in the fellowship hall from 3-6 PM.

Learn how to have healthy, non-partisan and non-persuasion conversations. We know it’s tempting to just keep quiet — but that can leave our friends and neighbors feeling powerless from the constant negative, and oftentimes toxic messages we hear every day. Let’s be part of something new for 2025!

RSVP and learn more. 

Please review Undivided’s 2024 Michigan Civic Engagement Plan here

A memorial service for Esther Harmon is being held at Central Church

Exploring the Chapter Behind the Verse.

Context looks at verses we know by heart but may not know the people, places, and times that give them meaning. Josh Scott delves into these well-known Scripture verses, exploring their true meanings by examining them in their original biblical context. Through this process, he unveils fresh and enlightening interpretations that are often missed when these Scriptures are taken out of context.

Leaders: Pastor Joan VanDessel and Darcy Dewling

Book available in the Church Office – Context by Josh Scott  – $15.00

Click here to register for this class

Join us in the Fellowship Hall on Wednesday, October 16th at 5:00 pm for a delicious whitefish dinner in support of Our Neighbor’s Garden.

Curbside pickup is available for pre-order for pick-up beginning at 5:00pm.

Order curbside pick up here: https://www.shelbygiving.com/App/Form/b0630ed1-0d31-4fba-9caf-4a237e6cceef

Ordering will be shut off at 12pm on Tuesday, October 15th.

For those joining us in house, dinner will be a free will offering and no registration required.

Following dinner — a special opportunity to learn about whitefish, Great Lakes fishing, and the bitter fight for American Indian sovereignty in our region in the late 20th Century. Our special guests will be Cindi John, a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and co-owner of Ed & Cindi John Treaty Fish Co, as well as Interlochen Public Radio’s Peter Payette.

If you love, you will grieve–and nothing is more mysteriously central to becoming fully human.

When a loved one dies, the pain of loss can feel unbearable. The process of grieving can feel wild and nonlinear–and often lasts for much longer than other people, the nonbereaved, tell us it should.

Bearing the Unbearable is a companion for life’s most difficult times, revealing how grief can open our hearts to connection, compassion, and the very essence of our shared humanity. Dr. Joanne Cacciatore–bereavement educator, researcher, Zen priest, and leading counselor in the field–accompanies us along the heartbreaking path of love, loss, and grief. Through moving stories of her encounters with grief over decades of supporting individuals, families, and communities–as well as her own experience with loss–Cacciatore opens a space to process, integrate, and deeply honor our grief.

Leaders: Arlene Morton and Carol Winegar

Click here to register for this group

Following Our Neighbors Garden annual White Fish Dinner – a special opportunity to learn about whitefish, Great Lakes fishing, and the bitter fight for American Indian sovereignty in our region in the late 20th Century. Our special guests will be Cindi John, a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and co-owner of Ed & Cindi John Treaty Fish Co, as well as Interlochen Public Radio’s Peter Payette. Join us for an informative evening and a chance to learn the history of the region’s most popular seafood and the key role fishing rights played in restoring tribes in Michigan. Enjoy a whitefish dinner and understand the cultural significance it holds for the first peoples of our region.

We are trying something new this year with Disciple 1.  Alline Beutler and Darcy Dewling will be leading the 12 -week Fast Track Old Testament study in 2 6-week segments. If all goes to plan, we will then offer the New Testament Class in the Fall of 2025.

Chapters 1-6: Thursdays, October 10 – November 14, 2024 at 6pm

Chapters 7-13: Thursdays, April 10 – May 15, 2025 at 6pm

Disciple Fast Track, an adaptation of the original, bestselling Disciple Bible Study, provides a viable option for busy people seeking comprehensive engagement over time with the entire biblical text. Fast Track groups meet for a total of 24 weeks, devoting 12 weeks each to the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Participants read a manageable 3-5 chapters of the Bible daily in preparation for the weekly meetings, which last approximately 75-90 minutes.

Click here to register for this class 

Focusing on intentional listening, this small group uses reflective quiet time to find greater awareness of God’s presence in our lives. We do not try to “fix” as we support each other.

Contact Kathy Mead: meadka09@gmail.com.

To register for this group