Starting April 27, 2025
You speak, we respond!
Your Staff-Parish Relations Committee recently conducted a poll to learn more about your experiences in worship. We wanted to understand what is important and meaningful to the people who attend worship services here at Community United Methodist Church of Huntington Beach. We had a good representation from each of the worship experiences, including the Saturday programs. You told us what works, and what you would like to see. The SPRC gathered and discussed that information, then made recommendations to the staff and the worship coordinators.
We have all agreed to follow your guidance, and move to two Sunday morning worship experiences.
The 8 AM service will move to 8:30 AM. This will continue to be a shorter (40-45 minute) service in a traditional style, which includes spoken prayer concerns and the sacrament of Holy Communion each week. This will be an intentionally simple and intimate service.
The 10 AM service will be our “and” service; a combination of the current 9 and 10:30 services. We will have the choir and the band, we will have traditional hymns and more contemporary songs. We will have the Children’s Discovery time, Church School, and the opportunity for children to remain with their parents and grandparents during the message (if that is their preference). We will have communion once each month.
We feel that by setting this schedule for Sunday morning, and through the alternative services on Saturdays, we can meet the needs of both those currently attending and those who are looking for a place to call home; both those who have long experience in a worshipping community and those for whom church is a new and imposing experience. This will also allow us to be more efficient and effective in our leadership and support of worship: the choir and Dr. James will have 45 minutes between the services, and the tech team will have one less service to manage. We will have time for classes between the service and those meetings which follow the service can get out in time for lunch.
We will implement this new schedule on Sunday, April 27, the Sunday after Easter. The Youth will lead us in worship on that day.
As we grow and new needs arise we will continue to change and add opportunities for worship, service, study, fellowship and witness. Please continue to let us know how to best equip and support you in your ministry through Christ our Lord.