Plan a Visit
Checking out a new church can be confusing and intimidating, but we want you to feel welcome and confident when you join us.
Frequently Asked Questions
We are a large, friendly congregation that will greet you when you walk in our front doors. You’ll first see our Welcome Center with a volunteer to answer any questions you might have. Be sure to stop by if you are here for your first time – we’ve got a small gift for you! You’ll be handed a bulletin as you walk in to the sanctuary, which is made up of long pews in the back and padded chairs towards the front. Sit anywhere you feel comfortable. Don’t be surprised if someone greets you and introduces themselves.
We play music and sing to worship God during our services. We often use videos, visual art, dance, or acting to express the message. Worship length averages one hour. We hear sermons based on teachings in the Bible that are translated for our lives. We are an active, growing church! This means that we do have children in our worship services, and we thank God for that!
Communion: We take communion on the first Sunday of every month to remember that Jesus gave his life for us. We have an open table, meaning that you do not need to be a member of our congregation or of any congregation to receive communion if you choose to. Usually rows are dismissed by ushers to go to the front and take a small piece of bread and a small cup of juice and consume them before returning to the seats. If you choose not to participate, we ask that you remain seated in an attitude of prayer.
Financial Giving: We take a financial offering during worship because we are called to give our best portion to God. The gifts then go on to sustain Sun Prairie UMC, local charities, and programs around the world through United Methodist Apportionments.
Prayer: Prayer requests can be made by going to the worship page of our church website and clicking the ‘prayer request’ button. Or you may contact the church office to make your prayer request. Prayer requests will be lifted in worship during our time for prayer and will be sent to our prayer chain, so that we can support those in need of prayer and celebrate the joys of others.
Children are an important part of our worship! There’s a special time in the service when we invite the children present to come and sit up front for a children’s sermon. If your child feels comfortable doing this, they are more than welcome to join in! Nursery care is offered during all of our worship services for children birth through age two. We also have busy bags available for children and their families during all of our worship services.
Fellowship Time is when we enjoy a cup of coffee or tea and build community. We have servers ready to greet you and offer you a donut and welcome you to our church family. This is an unstructured free time to visit with others between worship services on Sunday mornings.
When you arrive for worship, you will be given a card where we ask for your name, address, phone number and email address. We ask for your information because we’d like to be able to greet you by name and because we like to follow up with guests to see if they have any questions about our church or our mission. We want to get to know you and connect you to others. And if this is your first time visiting us, we’d like to send you a little gift!
In 2013, our church voted to become a Reconciling congregation. In that declaration, we have said that, “Our welcome knows not boundaries.”
We believe there are no limits to God’s love and we seek to model that love in the way we welcome people … all people. Part of being a Reconciling congregation means we welcome all people, regardless of their personal characteristics of age, race, gender, ability, gender identity or sexual orientation.
SPUMC is a member of the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN). The mission of the Reconciling Ministries Network is to mobilize United Methodists of all sexual orientations and gender identities to transform our church and world into the full expression of Christ’s inclusive love. You can read more about RMN at their website: https://rmnetwork.org.
Watch the event section of our website for more information about newcomer classes and how to register.
Welcome from Pastor Jenny
Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.Hebrews 13:1-2
Welcome to the Sun Prairie United Methodist Church. We hope you will take a few moments to explore the ministries and opportunities we offer at SPUMC. Our deepest desire is to make God’s love real for all people and some of the ways we do that is through the ways we worship together, grow in our faith, care for others and serve God in our communities.
Whether you are new to the journey of church visiting or have made many church visits, we know that visiting a new church for the first time can feel awkward. Finding a faith community that ‘fits’ is a process and a journey. We would be honored to journey with you in that process at SPUMC.
Currently, we are embracing our 2024 ministry plan called Beyond Our Doors. This year, we are focusing on ministries and missions that take us Beyond Our Doors and into our communities to be in relationship with others.
Our life together at SPUMC is also guided by:
Our Vision to be a welcoming home where we share God’s love.
Our Mission to invite and welcome people to be committed and compassionate followers of Jesus Christ, through worship, spiritual growth, fellowship, and service to others.
Our Reconciling statement that says, our welcome knows no boundaries. We believe there are no limits to God’s love and we seek to model that love in the ways we welcome people…all people.
We have many ministries for all ages at SPUMC that you will find information about throughout our website and Facebook page. We hope you find worship and our other ministries to be encouraging and life-giving on your journey of life and faith.
Blessings,
Pastor Jenny Arneson