This year deepen your Advent experience with a book from our church library/resource room. Book topics include the true meaning of Christmas, family Christmas celebrations, and daily Advent devotions. The collection also includes children’s picture books and inspirational stories by authors such as Jan Karon, Max Lucado, Richard Paul Evans and John Grisham. Look for our collection of Advent and Christmas books on the display rack in the library as well as on the library cart next to the elevator in the Matthias Family Life Center. Whatever book you choose to read will certainly bless your life this Advent season.
Month: November 2016
Your Advent Experience
Your Faith in Action
Last week marked the end of our Summer Mission Trip season with the return of the final group from the UMCOR Sager Brown trip to Baldwin, Louisiana. This summer, you supported 8 trips to places all over the US and around the world. More than 70 missioners served hundreds of people, and found that they received so much more than they gave. We built wells, put on Vacation Bible School, graduated 160 youth in Kenya, packed disaster relief kits, built ramps, installed plumbing fixtures, and so much more!
To bring us in to fall, we held our first ever Panua 5K and raised over $25,000 to launch the third, 3-year class cycle this coming January. Last Sunday, thanks to the donated time and talents of the Colin Murphy family and their business Bungalow Scenic Studios, our gym was transformed into Naivasha, Kenya, and you responded to the call from our Kenyan guests to commit to the ministry of helping another 200 youth in Naivasha, Kenya find the hope of Christ. There are still youth, business and program partnerships available, so if you missed out on Panua Sunday, contact Jensie Gobel. You have truly made a difference in 2016 in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ!
Women’s Book Club is Wednesday
The next meeting of the Women’s Book Club is Wednesday, November 9th.
We will be discussing the book “Lila” by Marilynne Robinson. “Lila” is a beautifully written novel with religious themes such as forgiveness, redemption and unconditional love. All are invited whether you have read the book or not.
We meet in the church library/resource room at 10AM on the second Wednesday of the month. This will be our last meeting of 2016.
We will take a break during December and then will meet again on January 11th to discuss the charming book “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” by Helen Simonson. Please plan to join us!
Discern
“Several years ago our Church embarked on a strategic planning process called Discern. The Discern process helped clarify our core values as a Church and identified three strategic priorities for the Church to focus on: Meaningful Worship, Next Generations, and South Street. Each priority had a series of actions and goals associated with it, and lay + staff teams were charged with implementing each priority’s identified actions. The Next Generations and South Street teams completed their work last year, while the Meaningful Worship team is wrapping up their work now.
As we phase out the implementation teams from Discern, we want to recognize the work and accomplishments of these team members and thank them for their contributions to enhancing the vibrancy of our Church. While the work of the teams is ending, the strategic priorities we identified through Discern remain important priorities for our Church and will continue to be part of our community’s focus in the future.” ~ Jeff Hanniford
Discern Facilitation Team:
Jeff Hanniford
Julie Cave
Bill Legg
Charles Costar
Erin O’Donnell
Meaningful Worship:
Stacey Cox
Peter Leerdam
Mary Ann Andrus
Natalie Rosander
South Street:
Barbie Boyd (chair)
Jim Berlau
Julie Cave
Joan Coye
Chris Hagy
John Hazelroth
Catherine Matthias
Carol Smith
Next Generations:
Jennifer Clayton
Ally Stricker
Garland Gould
Jon Tschanz
Merrill Frailey