{"id":8904,"date":"2025-08-12T15:21:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T19:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/?p=8904"},"modified":"2025-08-12T15:21:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T19:21:15","slug":"this-year-at-wellsprings-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/this-year-at-wellsprings-4\/","title":{"rendered":"This Year, At WellSprings…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As always this Summer, we\u2019re busy planning for the year ahead at WellSprings! Our Fall message series begins on September 7th \u2013 but you can scroll down to get a taste of the conversations we\u2019ll be having (on Sunday mornings, in YouthSpirit, in our small groups, etc.) all throughout the year\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Known By Name\u00a0<\/strong>our Fall Message Series<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there a story behind your name? Does it hold a grand tale of family migration \u2013 or a tribute to an ancestor long gone? Maybe your name reflects the lifelong journey of your relationships. Maybe you chose your name, all by yourself. When we are known by all these treasured stories behind our names, we are seen for who we are.<\/strong> Yet so often we lose ourselves in boxes and categories that fall short of capturing it all. This Fall, join us as we learn what it would it be like \u2013 and how might it change our world \u2013 if we truly had enough time and space for each other, to be known and loved by name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Love The Zone\u00a0<\/strong>our Holiday Message Series<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s an idea you might be familiar with \u2013 or feeling the effects of \u2013 these days. It\u2019s called \u201cflooding the zone,\u201d and it happens when the headlines are loud, and terrible, and everywhere. In a flood, landmarks and signposts go underwater. Sometimes, so do we. But nobody makes it through a flood by taking water in. <\/strong>We make bucket brigades, and we pour out \u2013 love, quiet, time, peace, balance, and joy \u2013 into the world around us. This holiday season let\u2019s rejoice and bolster each other\u2019s spirits, to hold back the rising tides together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How To Have An Enemy\u00a0<\/strong>our Winter Message Series<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s against our religion to give up on each other \u2013 yet these days, it\u2019s tempting. We nod along when the pastor says \u201call are beloved\u201d but\u2026 what do we do with the neighbor who hates us? How do we respond to the powerful voices that tear us apart? When we name our enemies, we tell the truth about ourselves: what we value most, and who we are at our core.<\/strong> Confronting an enemy helps us practice our ethics and become more of who we are. With practice, when it\u2019s finally time to square up and fight, we won\u2019t lose sight of our enemy\u2019s humanity \u2013 or, of our own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Our Fruits\u00a0<\/strong>our Spring Message Series<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No matter what you believe, the metaphor from Christian scripture rings true: that \u201cyou shall know them by their fruits.\u201d The consequences of our beliefs \u2013 the impact we have on the people around us \u2013 matters more than what we put on paper. <\/strong>Seeking the \u201cfruit of the spirit\u201d is like testing for the presence of the sacred. (Plus, it helps us gauge whether folks who say they\u2019re \u201creligious\u201d are acting in good faith.) This Spring we\u2019ll go searching for traditional spiritual sustenance \u2013 like love, peace, kindness, and gentleness \u2013 and maybe sow some new, wholesome seeds of our own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Not All Heroes\u00a0<\/strong>our May Message Series<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They say that \u201cnot all heroes wear capes.\u201d What other surprising things are true, about the heroes in our lives?<\/strong> Are they always tall and strong? Rich, powerful, all grown up? Is the hero of the story always the best at everything \u2013 the team captain, or the star of the show? Do heroes even\u2026 always win? In our all-ages series this May, we\u2019ll share true stories of bravery and courage with each other \u2013 and take inspiration from the real-life heroes who surround us, right here and right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As always this Summer, we\u2019re busy planning for the year ahead at WellSprings! Our Fall message series begins on September 7th \u2013 but you can scroll down to get a taste of the conversations we\u2019ll be having (on Sunday mornings, in YouthSpirit, in our small groups, etc.) all throughout the year\u2026 Known By Name\u00a0our Fall Message Series Is there a story behind your name? Does it hold a grand tale of family migration \u2013 or a tribute to an ancestor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8905,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,115],"tags":[93,90,100,133],"class_list":["post-8904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ministriesandteams","category-wellsprings-news","tag-smallgroups","tag-sd","tag-wl","tag-youthspirit","ctfw-has-image"],"featured_image_urls":{"medium":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MessageThemes-2025-26-cover-300x300.png","large":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MessageThemes-2025-26-cover-1024x1024.png","thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MessageThemes-2025-26-cover-150x150.png","medium_large":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MessageThemes-2025-26-cover-768x768.png","post-thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MessageThemes-2025-26-cover-720x480.png","saved-section":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MessageThemes-2025-26-cover-1200x1050.png","saved-banner":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MessageThemes-2025-26-cover-1200x400.png","saved-square":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MessageThemes-2025-26-cover-720x720.png","saved-square-large":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MessageThemes-2025-26-cover-1024x1024.png","saved-square-small":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MessageThemes-2025-26-cover-160x160.png","saved-rect-medium":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MessageThemes-2025-26-cover-480x320.png","saved-rect-small":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MessageThemes-2025-26-cover-200x133.png"},"appp_media":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8904"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8907,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8904\/revisions\/8907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}