Oh the glorious glow and glimpse of heaven we experience during our Walk!!  Wherefore art thou? We know the power of our Reunion Groups to keep us centered, accountable and involved-keeping that fire ablaze! We also know the realities that drag us back to the world, back to our old priorities, and routines.
 
At FUMC Heath, we stepped up to the challenge of pulling together our 50+ Emmaus members together as the body of Christ. Almost half our members are in reunion groups and many attend Candlelight, write letters, work the Walks, sponsor pilgrims, and support the Kairos ministry. We have even hosted gatherings at our church inviting other Emmaus groups from churches in our area. All these attempts are good, but it hasn't stirred the embers to sustain our cohesiveness.
 
A spark has taken hold since we designated an Emmaus member to represent the community on our church administrative council, which meets four times a year to discuss all church business. Not only did this give us visibility and a voice in church matters, it led to the formation of an Emmaus committee to determine these goals:

To accomplish our first goal we have done the following:

1. Invite/encourage Emmaus brothers and sisters to join reunion groups.
2. Establish quarterly Emmaus-sponsored potlucks after church, as acts of agape, inviting all members of the Emmaus community as well as visitors and church members.
3. Organize group agape making immediately following the quarterly potlucks.
4. Monthly, we share local Emmaus news from our groups as well as that from the Dallas Emmaus Community.
5. Communicate dates and organize carpools for Candlelights.
6. Invite/encouragednew members to participate in Fourth Day activities.
7. Conduct an Emmaus led church service.
8. Send the prayer vigil via email so that everyone can easily commit to praying for the Pilgrims.
9. Plan a gospel sing gathering for Emmaus members from area churches as well as for non-Emmaus members from our Heath community.
10. Sponsor a summer picnic/potluck for the Heath Emmaus Community.

To address our second goal we have implemented these activities:

1. Created a booth and PowerPoint of Emmaus information for our Mission Possible Sunday.
2. Invited representatives from the Dallas Chrysalis Community to address our youth and parents.
3. Communicated our Emmaus Community Information at our church in a variety of ways: Welcome Center, using an Emmaus bulletin board, our newsletter, the church website, and we display news on the church digital monitor.