Making BMPC Feel Like Home

On Sunday, September 13, BMPC felt a little like the first day of school.

There were familiar faces greeting one another after the summer, children who seemed to have grown overnight, young people catching up with friends, ministry tables filled with possibilities, and plenty of food and conversation. Rally Day brought the congregation together to celebrate the start of a new program year—and to remind us that there is much more to church life than what happens during worship.

Behind the scenes of Rally Day and many of the gatherings throughout the year is the Congregational Life Council, a group dedicated to helping people connect with one another and find their place in the life of BMPC.

“I just love building community and making this great big church feel a little bit smaller,” says Angie Baturka, who serves on the council with Dottie Bowen and Sarah Gunther. “I so look forward to Rally Day each year to see everybody who comes back after a summer, and the kids have grown, and they catch up with everybody.”

That feeling of connection is at the heart of Congregational Life. The council includes five teams—Congregational Events, Member Engagement, Wednesday Night Dinner, Connection Groups, and Hospitality—that together create opportunities for people to gather, serve, have fun, and build relationships.

And those opportunities aren’t necessarily complicated. Sometimes they look like Bingo or Quizzo. Sometimes it’s line dancing and a potluck that brings several generations together. Sometimes it’s Wednesday Night Dinner or the cookies that mysteriously—and deliciously—appear on Sundays.

For Sarah, these gatherings offer something that can be difficult to find in a large congregation.

“I really enjoy the opportunity to get different generations together in one room, having a good time and connecting together,” she says.

She points out that many people naturally develop relationships within particular parts of the church—a family with young children may spend much of its time in Children & Family Ministry, for example. Church-wide gatherings create opportunities to cross those boundaries.

“These events allow you to get to know people across the church and feel like the church is a smaller, more tight-knit community,” Sarah says.

Angie agrees. “We have a pretty sophisticated congregation—adults and children alike—and these events make the church feel more like family.”

For Dottie, that is an important part of what it means to be a congregation.

“We talk so much about God’s love and sharing God’s love and grace,” she says. “If people were having fun together, like being in a line dancing or being at BINGO, it can lead to some other conversations, or people may, just because they love God and they love each other, share something inadvertently that becomes inspiring to someone.”

 

The Ministry Behind the Ministry

The work of Congregational Life often happens quietly. A Sunday gathering looks effortless because someone has thought through the details long before anyone arrives.

The Hospitality team, for instance, has turned cookie baking into its own little ministry. Angie coordinates groups of volunteers who gather for large baking days, bringing in people who may not want to serve on a council but are happy to share a particular gift.

“It’s a good way to pull other people in, who don’t really want to commit to being on a council, but have gifts to share,” Angie says. “Our baking sessions are great fun, and spending time with friends while serving the church by baking can feel like a good therapy session.” 

The same spirit extends to new-member gatherings and other events. Members pitch in to pick up quiche, make fruit salad, prepare bagels, or take care of whatever needs to be done.

“I think it’s nice for new members to see that members of the congregation are there in that form of service as well,” Sarah says. “It’s a special extra touch. I think it shows that we care enough that you are here and we want to be here.”

Those shared tasks can become relationships in themselves. Dottie describes her Connection Group, which began during the pandemic with people who did not necessarily know one another before they joined. Over time, they became people who share their joys and sorrows, pray for one another, and remain connected beyond their weekly gatherings.

“That’s really a part of it,” Dottie says. “I mean, crying together and laughing together. That’s really a part of it.”

 

A New Chapter of Engagement

This year, the Congregational Life Council has a new staff partner in Jennifer McArthur, BMPC’s Director of Engagement. Jennifer is helping the council think beyond the logistics of individual events and focus more intentionally on the larger picture: How do we help people feel known, connected, and at home?

“Setting goals is a very important part that will allow us to focus less on the small details in each meeting and handle those within our teams,” Jennifer says, “so that we can focus more on engagement and the bigger picture of congregational life instead of event planning.”

The events still matter. In fact, they are often the doorway to something deeper.

“For both visitors and existing members, we want to make sure that they feel welcome, they feel loved, and they find their place within this large congregation,” Jennifer says.

One of the council’s long-term goals is to introduce permanent name tags for members. Jennifer hopes this will make it easier for people to remember names, approach someone they may have met before, and identify visitors who may need a friendly introduction.

The council is also looking at ways to strengthen the experience of newcomers—from their first visit to becoming a member and, just as importantly, finding meaningful connections afterward. Another goal is to make greater use of Realm so that members can more easily connect with groups, access information, and eventually find church events and activities.

For Jennifer, Rally Day offered a glimpse of what this intentional approach to engagement can look like.

“I thought it had great energy,” she says. “There were people everywhere, both in the ministry fair and eating food, and a lot of laughing.”

She also met several people who were visiting BMPC for the first time. They told her they had met welcoming people and gained a better sense of what happens at BMPC throughout the year.

Rally Day doesn’t simply happen. As Jennifer points out, the Congregational Life Council spends months planning, revisiting what worked in previous years and thinking about how to make the experience flow—from food and fellowship in Congregational Hall to the ministry fair and everything in between.

“An event like Rally Day doesn’t just come together in a few days,” she says. “It’s months and months of planning.”

And that’s exactly the point. The work may be behind the scenes, but its purpose is very much in front of us: creating the spaces where people meet, laugh, serve, learn one another’s names, discover shared interests, and begin to feel that they belong.

 

There's a Place for You

One of the things the Congregational Life Council hopes to make clear is that participation doesn’t have to mean joining a committee or taking on a major leadership role. There are many ways to contribute, and many require only a little time.

“If you just have sporadic availability, we have plenty of one-off events that we can always use hands for,” Jennifer says. “If you just have morning availability, we can always use bakers.”

Whether it’s helping at a single event, baking cookies, volunteering at Wednesday Night Dinner, or lending a hand at Rally Day, there is a place for people with different gifts, schedules, and interests.

Dottie puts it this way: “People are busy, but if hospitality is their spiritual gift, then they’re fed by that themselves.”

That may be the heart of Congregational Life at BMPC. The goal isn’t simply to organize good events. It’s to create the conditions for something more meaningful to happen—to make a large congregation feel smaller, to help newcomers find their way in, and to give longtime members new opportunities to know one another.

Rally Day gives us one joyful glimpse of that work each September. But the invitation continues all year long.