Opportunities for Spiritual Growth

Lay Speaking/ Lay Servant Ministry

(At the 2012 General Conference, the name Lay Speaking Ministry was changed to Lay Servant since the responsibilities extend beyond speaking.)

How often and in how many ways are you called? We, as United Methodists, believe our faith must be lived out in our lives and in the life of the world if it is to have any validity. Consequently, our faith must be a living, vital, acting faith that seeks to transform the world or, to use a phrase of Wesley's, "to spread Scriptural holiness over the land." (Lay Speaking Ministries Basic Course)

Becoming a certified lay speaker in the United Methodist Church prepares a person for ministry in whatever area they choose. Lay Speaking Ministries involves Leading, Caring, and Communicating. A certified lay speaker may choose to lead a Bible study, start a prayer ministry, teach Sunday school, participate in a prison ministry or visit the elderly and shut-ins and the nursing home. The sky is the limit for ways and opportunities to minister.

Each district usually has two training events a year. They offer a Basic Course for those just beginning in the Lay Speaking Ministries. After the Basic Course, you must complete an Advanced Course to become a Certified Lay Speaker. Certified Lay Speakers must complete an Advanced Course every three years in order to remain certified

For more information about how to become a Lay Speaker/ Servant, click here.

The Walk to Emmaus

The Walk to Emmaus is a spiritual renewal program intended to strengthen the local church through the development of Christian disciples and leaders. The program's approach seriously considers the model of Christ's servanthood and encourages Christ's disciples to act in ways appropriate to being "a servant of all."

The Walk to Emmaus experience begins with a 72-hour short course in Christianity, comprised of fifteen talks by lay and clergy on the themes of God's grace, disciplines of Christian discipleship, and what it means to be the church. The course is wrapped in prayer and meditation, special times of worship and daily celebration of Holy Communion. The Emmaus Walk typically begins Thursday evening and concludes Sunday evening. Men and women attend separate weekends. Participation in the Emmaus program after the weekend continues through small accountability groups and attendance of Emmaus alumni gatherings. 

Members of Western Reserve Church who have attended the Walk to Emmaus weekend have found it to be a spiritually renewing and life-changing event.

For more information on how to attend an Emmaus weekend, click here.