Your First Visits to Salem UMC

Relax!! We believe this information will help you to quickly feel at home, even on your first few visits to Salem United Methodist Church.

Welcome to Salem!
An overview of the activities, beliefs, and calling of Salem UMC

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The Sunday Worship Services

Finding Salem & Parking

Salem offers four (4) worship times on Sunday morning. As you turn south off of US 92, it might feel like you are driving up to a building hidden by a lot of trees. However, as you enter the lot you will see the Main South Entrance that is on the site ribbon at the top of the page. The parking sometimes looks full, but you can almost always find space in the East lot or around the North and West side of the building. So come on in and find a place. You are free to enter almost any door, but the main three are the Main South Entry, the Main North Entry by the Chapel Garden, and the Education Door facing the East Parking Lot on the Lower Level.

Greeting & Facilities

As you enter you will most likely be greeted by a member who is ready to help you find your way to the name tags, the coffee, and the sanctuary (Not nessesarly in that order.) The handicap accesable restrooms are in the main entrance hallway and two more sets or restrooms are avaliable just off the fellowship across from the kitchen, and also in the lower level education hallway. There is also a childrens bathroom with a changing table in the nursery, which is located just down the East hallway from the kitchen. Check in with the nursery attendant if you would like to have your children under 4 yrs attend the nursery during the service.

8:00 AM Service

This traditional worship service has hymns and liturgy but carries along the informal Salem style of worship. We offer Holy Communion every week as a part of this service. Attendance at this service runs between 40 to 60 persons. Many families enjoy this service as it offers a style and level of comfort that connects them with the recient history of the church. And many of our newer members have found the 8:00 service to be a comfortable place to re-enter the church and quickly feel connected. Others just like to get the day moving and the early service does just that!

9:30 AM and 11:00 AM Services

These services similar in preaching but different in music presentation. They are both driven by the music of our times. The 9:30 is led by our Praise Worship Teams and the 11:00 is led by our Choir & Orchestra. Both services can be loud at times and even somewhat crowded (kind of a nice feeling.) We usually open with a set of music with songs you likely could hear on the Christian music radio stations. Attendance runs from 120 to over 200 at each of these services depending upon the day and schedule. We regularly have additional special music or activities.

JAM Children's Worship @ 9:31

JAM is our Children's Worship designed for Kids through 5th grade. It is a fun high energy 90 minutes and kids just love it. (Parents do too!)

Preaching

Pastor Dave usually preaches the same message at all three adult servics and you can get a preview of his preaching by clicking on the link below. The sermons are personal and passionate. They allow us to focus and relate the Biblical message into our lives today.

SUMC Worship Page

Scroll down the page to "Listen to a Sermon," then click on one of the sermons listed.

Welcome Cards & Prayer Slips & Offerings

You will find a welcome card in your bulletin packet to fill out and place in the offering plate. This slip is our attendance and address tracker. We offer a time for your personal prayers in all three services through our prayer slips also found in your buletin. We will gather all the prayer slips during the opening music. If you choose to give during the offering time, know that your gifts will be used to directly pay for the ministry you experience during the worship as well as help to fund many wonderful ministries in and beyond the Council Bluffs area community. Through a theologically diverse and informal style, our goal is to actually "worship God," not just talk "about God." In the midst of the journey, we also intend to have some fun already!

Fellowship Time

Coffee and Fellowship are important here at Salem UMC. The building flow works well for this and one of our goals is to continue to feel like a family even though we are growing. There will usually be some folks at tables highlighting a particular ministry or event in the fellowship hall. It is one of our ways of sharing how we can be involved in other ways of gathering in celebration, growing in discipleship, and going in service.

What You Can Expect in a Baptism

We believe Baptism signifies entrance into the household of faith, and is a symbol of repentance and inner cleansing from sin, a representation of the new birth in Christ Jesus and a mark of Christian discipleship.

We believe Children are under the atonement of Christ and as heirs of the Kingdom of God are acceptable subjects for Christian Baptism. Children of believing parents through Baptism become the special responsibility of the Church. They should be nurtured and led to personal acceptance of Christ, and by profession of faith confirm their Baptism

Simply put, Baptism is one of two Sacraments we celebrate here at Salem UMC. Baptism is offered for Infants, Children or Adults. All Baptisms take place in the context of our regular worship services, except for emergency situations. As a church we offer and use all three traditional forms of Baptism: Sprinkling, Pouring, and Emersion. Many Baptisms use music, candles, and the laying on of hands to further signify the love of God offered on this occasion. We encourage the use of Sponsors or God Parents for the Baptism of infants.

In keeping with our thological understanding, here at Salem we do not re-baptize persons or dedicate infants. Baptism always preceeds and many time is joined with membership vows. When coming to membership at Salem UMC as a transfer from another church, we accept as valid your Baptism in that other community of faith.

As you consider Baptism for your child or yourself, please contact the pastor and plan a time to visit about Baptism and set up an appropriate date and time.

Answers About Baptism

Here are some frequently asked quesitons and thier answers.

Information About Baptism in the UMC

As you would like to know more, click here for wonderful discussions and informaiton about the history and our current practice of Baptism

What You Can Expect in Holy Communion

Holy Communion also known as The Lord's Supper is one of the two sacraments celebrated here at Salem UMC. We believe the Lord's Supper is a representation of our redemption, a memorial of the sufferings and death of Christ, and a token of love and union which Christians have with Christ and with one another. Those who rightly, worthly and in faith eat the broken bread and drink the blessed cup partake of the body and blood of Christ in a spiritual manner until he comes.

Salem UMC offers Holy Communion every week at the 8:15 service and on the first Sunday of the month at all Services. All who feel encouraged by the Holy Spirit to particiapte are welcome without reguard to age or membership. The only requriements are a willing Spirit and a humble heart inclined toward God.

Answers About Holy Communion

Here are some frequently asked questions and thier answers

As You Would Like to Know More About Holy Communion

Here is an excellent site to explore and learn.

But What Does Salem UMC Believe?

Sometimes we just need a little more information before we are comfortable with a church. Or we may need to find an answer to a quesiton with which we are wrestling. In either case, as United Methodists we continue in a stong history of conferencing around issues of concern and the right practice of our faith in response. This is a dynamic congregation from a diverse cross section of society. Here at Salem UMC we care and maintian and offer our energy to those traditions which unite us, not divide us, as disciples of Jesus Christ.

We hear the coffee shop answers about what Salem UMC believes. Use the Link Below to get the up to date and accurate information you deserve about what this church really believes. If you can think of a topic, it is probably covered. Check it out!

Answers About What We Believe

Here is the place to find the Official United Methodist Beliefs.



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