A PLACE YOU CAN CALL HOME
If you’re looking for a church home in the Raleigh and Triangle area, you’ll love Fairmont UMC. Find out why and plan your visit here.
WE LOVE OUR KIDS
Children are very important to us. We strive to create a place where the entire family can belong and love following Jesus.
COMMUNITY FOR YOU
There is a place for you at Fairmont UMC. You’ll find Groups are an easy place to belong and meet lifelong friends!
Everything Happens for a Reason
Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved by Kate Bowler
Via Zoom (Noon time) study – Monday, Starting June 12th– July 10th.
All are welcome to join in on our weekly group discussion.
Click here to join zoom meeting
Meeting ID: 817 2513 7097
Passcode: 549771
Facilitated by Michelle Riley (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Michelle with any questions)
Kate Bowler is a professor at Duke Divinity School with a modest Christian upbringing, but she specializes in the study of the prosperity gospel, a creed that sees fortune as a blessing from God and misfortune as a mark of God’s disapproval. At thirty-five, everything in her life seems to point toward “blessing.” She is thriving in her job, married to her high school sweetheart, and loves life with her newborn son. Then she is diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer.
The prospect of her own mortality forces Kate to realize that she has been tacitly subscribing to the prosperity gospel, living with the conviction that she can control the shape of her life with “a surge of determination.” Even as this type of Christianity celebrates the American can-do spirit, it implies that if you “can’t do” and succumb to illness or misfortune, you are a failure. Kate is very sick, and no amount of positive thinking will shrink her tumors. What does it mean to die, she wonders, in a society that insists everything happens for a reason? Kate is stripped of this certainty only to discover that without it, life is hard but beautiful in a way it never has been before.
Frank and funny, dark and wise, Kate Bowler pulls the reader deeply into her life in an account she populates affectionately with a colorful, often hilarious retinue of friends, mega-church preachers, relatives, and doctors. Everything Happens for a Reason tells her story, offering up her irreverent, hard-won observations on dying and the ways it has taught her to live.
June 12
- Chapter 1 (Diagnosis)
- Chapter 2 (Object Lesson)
- Chapter 3 (Magic Tricks)
June 26
- Chapter 4 (Seasons)
- Chapter 5 (Surrender)
- Chapter 6 (Christmas Cheer)
July 10
- Chapter 7 (Certainty)
- Chapter 8 (Restoration)
- Chapter 9 (Ordinary Time)
FAQ
Have questions? We have the answers!
Where are you located?
Our address is 2501 Clark Avenue in Raleigh. We are 2 blocks north of Hillsborough Street and NC State, and 3 blocks west of the Village District in Raleigh.
What time is worship?
Sundays at 11:00 AM & 7:00 PM
Where do I park?
Fairmont UMC has two parking lots. One is across the street from the church’s main entrance on Clark Avenue and Horne Street (its entrance is at 300 Horne Street). The second lot is accessible off Clark Avenue on the same side as the church building next to our Hut (2503 Clark Avenue). You can also park by the curb on Clark Avenue and Horne Street.
What does worship typically look like?
How do I join a ministry?
Talk to our pastor, choir director, or children’s coordinator before or after worship, and they can help you find a ministry that gets you excited at Fairmont.
You can also contact any one of our staff members:
How do I join a small group?
You can talk to our pastor, or someone in the pews next to you, and they will be able to point you in the right direction. Our small groups are open and a great place to learn, form friendships, and find belonging at Fairmont.
How can I get involved in serving?
When you see a community or church event that interests you, put your name down on our Sign-Up Board or talk to our pastor. There are many ways to serve our neighbors in the church and wider community at Fairmont.