Welcome to the
Kent United Methodist
Church Website!
We're glad you found us, and we hope you find
everything here that you're looking for.
If you have any
questions feel free to call or email us.
Hope to see you Sunday at one of
our two services!!
I feel humbled and honored to announce to you that the Bishop has
re-appointed me to pastor our Kent United Methodist Church for another year. The
prerogative for all appointments in the United Methodist system lies with the
Bishop and his/her Cabinet, in consultation with the local church and the
pastor-in-charge.
Our Book of Discipline states that a United Methodist pastor is appointed to
his/her charge on an annual basis. Thus, there may be times when, for the good
of the congregation and/or the pastor, a pastor is moved after only one year at
a particular church, while in other cases pastors may be appointed to the same
church for more than twenty years. There are several pastors in our Pacific
Northwest Annual Conference who are in their twenty third year of appointment to
the same church. I trust that you will continue to support me, and be patient
with me, in my seventh year of ministry with you.
I do appreciate our United Methodist system of deploying pastors. It has
improved with time. It hasn’t been too long ago when Methodist pastors were
informed of their impending move only at Annual Conference time in June; and
July 1 has always been the date when a new appointment is effective. Can you
imagine how stressful it was for the pastoral family at the time? Nowadays, we
sometimes know of a pastoral change as early as February.
In the last issue of our newsletter I stated that
“we are moving forward in the direction which God wants us to be . . . We
are drawing strength from one another . . . We are learning to love and forgive
the way Christ would want us to . .
.”
This is my way of saying that great things can happen to any gathering of
church people when they are willing to work together for the sake of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. This is one assurance of God’s presence in a church. And with
God, we can do wonders – both for ourselves and for our community.
Mission Statement
"The United Methodist Church of Kent is a community of Christians who acknowledge God as Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer and who share the United Methodist Discipline and connection. The purpose of the United Methodist Church of Kent is to be a community that seeks to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ effectively, and to reach out to our neighbors through our attitudes, words and actions in loving service. As followers of Christ we seek to learn, teach and grow in faith; and to express our faith practically in the ministry of our church, our daily life and our work. We seek to be supportive of one another, in the spirit of Christ, in joy and sorrow and in crisis and in common life. We seek to cherish our diversity of gifts and backgrounds as individuals and unite in Christ Jesus through our worship, study, and fellowship and service. We intend to be an inclusive fellowship, without regard to race, class, gender, status or condition."