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Beginning on August 8 at 9:00 AM, Saint Paul United Methodist Church in La Porte City will begin a new and very different additional worship gathering in the Faith Chapel room of the church. This new worship gathering will be especially attractive to people of all ages who have never been to church or if it has been a long time. And of course, children are welcome. This will be a very relaxed and small gathering and coffee will be served. Contemporary worship music will be played and instead of the traditional sermon, the pastor will dialogue with those gathered there over a certain topic and the related passage of scripture. Those who come to the gathering are free to interject their perspective or experience, ask questions, or just sit back and relax.

This new worship gathering will be offered in addition to the traditional worship service at 10:15 AM on Sunday mornings. Although we call this a new and different worship gathering, it is really a flashback to the early Christian church when people new little about Christ and gathered in homes, shared their experiences, read the scriptures, and learned from each other.

Pastor Mike Gudka commented, "We know that it can be a very scary thing for people to come into a church for the first time. This new worship gathering will be held in a smaller room, and it will be a relaxed and easy way for people to learn, ask questions, share their experiences, challenge ideas, and enjoy themselves without all of the traditional rituals that can be unfamiliar and confusing. This gathering will be relevant and exciting, regardless of one's past experience or understanding of the Christian faith."

For more information, please contact: St. Paul United Methodist Church, 501 Sycamore Street, La Porte City, Iowa, phone 319-342-2208 or visit the Web Site: www.lpcsaintpaulumc.org.