Free sample of LIFT

Catharine Morris, Pastor
Hillsdale United Methodist Church
San Mateo, CA

Background

Hillsdale United Methodist Church in San Mateo, California is a bi-cultural congregation with English and Tongan speaking members. The ministry with Tongans began back in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s as Tongans were starting to immigrate to the United States. The Free Wesleyan Methodist Church of Tonga is one of the primary churches in Tonga, and so the United Methodist Church became the church home for many Tongans as they began to settle in America.

Hillsdale has two Sunday worship services in English at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. and one in Tongan at 2:00 p.m. On the first Sunday of the month, the 10:30 and 2:00 congregations worship together for the Sacrament of Holy Communion, with scripture readings in both languages.

Choosing LIFT

Our ministry with children, youth and young adults was in a time of transition. We have a large number of youth and young adults, many who attend weekly. We have a smaller number of children, some live locally and attend weekly, others live a distance away and come less frequently. Some of the families relate to the 10:30 English service, others relate to the 2:00 Tongan service. It was difficult to get all of the children together for a Sunday school lesson at the same time. We also wanted to offer a faith formation experience for children and families from the community.

We decided to try an experiment with LIFT (Living in Faith Together) on the first Sunday in March of 2025. The first Sunday is a time when the 10:30 and 2:00 services come together for worship, and there is always food that follows. Food shared in community and feasting is a core cultural and spiritual practice for our Tongan members. We decided to add a faith formation experience to the community meal.

There were several elements of LIFT that made it a good fit for our congregation. Yes, there was the meal, but there was more. The intergenerational context for faith formation resonates deeply with Tongan culture in which all of life is lived in intergenerational community. The richness and blessing of intergenerational community is appreciated by the non-Tongan members of the congregation as well, most of whom are older adults.

The LIFT lessons focus one Bible story with opportunities to present the story in fun and creative ways, a practice that is frequently used in Tongan faith formation. The questions that are posed in the lesson plans were easy for people to connect with and share in meaningful discussion.

Trying LIFT

For our experiment, we had four tables: one for children and their parents, one for youth and young adults, one for Tongan speakers and one for English speakers. Singing is another important spiritual practice we wanted to include, as well as an introduction for the memory verse for the month, which all age groups learn, not just the young people. The Bible story was acted out, with volunteers coming forward from the whole group. There was a mixture of ages and Tongan and English speakers.

The experience with the discussion of the Bible story was dynamic. All the table groups had lively conversations. We had to allow more time for the adults, youth, and young adults for their conversation. One of the unexpected blessings of LIFT was that it gave our Tongan and English members a chance to share in faith formation and spiritual discussion. It was wonderful to watch people who had known each other for many years sharing in a faith conversation. It helped to connect people at a deeper level. The focus is on spiritual development and becoming a better disciple of Jesus Christ. There are some who have chosen to step outside their comfort zone to join in conversation with people from the other language group.

The experiment went well, so we decided to continue First Sunday LIFT through June. From the experiment, we learned that we need to translate the discussion questions into Tongan. We now produce a handout with instructions, the Bible story and discussion questions in Tongan. We plan to resume First Sunday LIFT in the fall.

Some things we have noted from our experience with LIFT:

• It is highly participatory, lots of ways of getting people actively involved in the session.
• It creates a sense of a shared experience that we are creating together in the moment.
• It employs a variety of approaches that appeal to different types of people and the different age levels.
• There is energy in the room and people enjoy the fellowship.

 Responses from congregation members:

• One congregation member shared with another member, “I always get something new out of it.”
• There is always some take home application.
• Some members who are not able to be a part of one of the small groups and ongoing Bible studies really appreciate that First Sunday LIFT gives them a chance to have a time for holy conferencing, which is one of the means of grace in the Wesleyan tradition.

Free sample of LIFT