“Spiritual disciplines” are things we do to stay in love with God and grow in faith. They can be things we do alone or together; they can be ways to spend time with God or to serve others. As the people of Sylva First UMC share one of their spiritual disciplines with you each week, we hope it will inspire you to new ways of loving God and growing in faith.
We’re Keith and Cathy Booth, we came to Sylva FUMC about 14 years ago from Florida. We had been attending Harvest UMC in Florida, really enjoyed the contemporary services the most. After a year of searching, we found Sylva FUMC in its infancy of a contemporary service, but what we really found was a family.
As any family, it requires discipline. For us spiritual discipline is praying together, missions and giving. Early on we decided that writing a check every week was not for us. Just like our family and business needed a budget, our church family did as well. Keith and I made the decision to set Sylva FUMC as any reoccurring financial obligation and our tithes through banking, would go out every week, it’s a discipline that works for us. After we both served on committees within the church, it brought to our attention, how very much our church depends on knowing they’re going to be able to pay for our beautiful 100 plus year old church facility and meet salaries. There’s great need of Children’s programs, important for growth and missions to show our love of neighbor. We’ve seen first hand the smiles and love we can bring to others while painting a home, building a ramp or cleaning a yard, but it takes people and giving. We still pray for all this and more, but knowing we are contributing gives us peace and more blessings than we can count.
This month, we’re reflecting on our spiritual discipline of giving. You’re invited to use this Coveanant Card and return it to the church office at finance@sylvafumc.org when you’re ready.
