LIFE LINE New Life Lutheran Church Newsletter April 2018

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Teachers and parents of kids on the autism spectrum from our congregation will present information regarding awareness of the spectrum, behaviors and stigmas, and how to have relationships and

1 LIFE LINE New Life Lutheran Church Newsletter April 2018 Autism Presentation April 15 Everyone is invited to join us for this educational event on autism awareness. Lunch will be provided at 11:30 with speakers to follow. Teachers and parents of kids on the autism spectrum from our congregation will present information regarding awareness of the spectrum, behaviors and stigmas, and how to have relationships and interact with people on the spectrum. We want to give people eyes into the world of autism and help teach acceptance and understanding. Please feel free to invite friends and neighbors to come early for worship and join you for this presentation. No sign up needed. Finding God in Our Life LOMC Retreat May 11th to May 12th Many, including Christians, live with a feeling of separation between themselves and God. But we wake every day into a world of grace, a world where God s Spirit labors in every moment to draw us and all things into the life, love and mystery of the Holy Trinity. This retreat will help you see your experience as the place Christ reveals his great love for you and invites you into companionship with him, carrying out God s dream for you and all things. We will discuss ways to see how God works in you, using a form of prayer deeply rooted in Christian tradition called the examen of consciousness. Our leader will be Dr. David L. Miller, pastor, spiritual director, retreat leader, editor and author of hundreds of articles about Christian spirituality and reports from his travels to some of the world s most troubled places. He served as editor of The Lutheran magazine and as the Director of Spiritual Formation and Dean of the Chapel at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He currently serves as Senior Pastor of St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Naperville. Dr Miller is also a former member of New Life. Cost of the event is $100, which includes meals and housing. Please see Ken McConnaughay or contact the church office if you'd like to reserve your spot or ask any questions. In This Issue Intern Youth Project Recycling for Earth Month Spring Youth Offering Vacation Bible School Spotlight on Outreach Committee Worship Leaders

2 Youth Assume Nothing. Celebrate Everything. Youth ministry has been an ongoing conversation since I arrived here at New Life Lutheran Church. This topic of youth is very important to New Life and myself included. I think there is such value in recognizing our youth s passions and what they feel they are called to do as young Christians. I haven t had experience with youth ministry, but my Internship Committee and Pastor Rakel felt this was a great area for me to work on for my internship project. Everyone here at New Life cares very deeply for our youth and I hope that by the end of my project the youth and congregation members will build wonderful, exciting and long-lasting relationships with one another. A part of my project, on March 11th, was getting the High School youth together (SUPPLY) and talking about their specific passions in the church and what keeps them coming to New Life Lutheran Church every Sunday. We did 2 exercises, one where youth arranged a list of church activities, events, worship styles and traditions, and they arranged them in order in which they are most passionate and interested in. The second part of my project event was open ended discussion about New Life Community Life. Things they love to be apart of, things they want more involvement in and things they may want to see change. It was an exciting, positive and uplifting conversation about their love for our New Life family. It s a wonderful thing to see that our SUP- PLY group is interested in the needs and wants of our church and the surrounding community. The outcome of this project is to learn and understand more than we did before about our High School Youth. This is a chance to celebrate our young New Lifers and to Assume Nothing. I hope that from this project we will all have an opportunity to look more constructively into Youth Ministry. After gaining this new information, I hope that we can use this new wisdom to implement it for our future youth. Youth Ministry can be a challenge and my greatest hope is that we are able to rise to the task of Youth Ministry in our current context. Vicar Chelsey Olson Spring Youth Offering All ages of youth are an important part of the New Life family. As a church, we want to encourage parents and give them meaningful tools to support the faith develoent of their children. One of the basic practices of faith is saying thank you to God for his many blessings. One tool to develop this faith trait is through weekly offerings where we acknowledge all the gifts we receive from God. So, we are updating the youth offering envelopes ministry. In the past, youth received a box of 52 envelopes for the whole year. This year, we are introducing quarterly youth offering envelopes. Most families have received their green Spring Youth Offering envelopes. All youth offerings collected between March 11 and May 20 will go towards a specific ministry or charity that will be decided on by the youth on April 8. We want them to have a say on where their offerings go and cheerlead their giving to help others and say thanks to God. Youth will receive new colored envelopes for the summer, fall and winter seasons. Youth will select a new ministry or charity for each of those seasonal offerings. Youth envelopes will also be available in the back of the sanctuary at the Welcome Kids spot if someone forgets their envelope on Sunday. Also, any offerings made in labeled youth envelopes will be recorded on your family s giving statement. If you have any questions about this updated ministry, please contact Pastor Rakel or Susan Brown. S.U.P.P.L.Y. Plant Sale The orders have been placed! Thank you for everyone s support. Plants are scheduled to arrive Saturday, May 12. More information available as date gets closer. If you didn t place an order, there are typically some extra plants available for purchase that weekend. Type and quantity is limited but good options exist. This fundraiser supports our high school youth group, specifically the individuals attending the ELCA National Youth Gathering in Texas this summer.

3 Recycling at New Life for Earth Month Earth month - April and Earth Day - April 22 is just around the corner so wanted everyone to be aware of what items New Life will be recycling to decrease our trash and footprint on the Earth. Collection boxes for the items listed are in the Fellowship Hall. Here is the list and where items will be recycled or used again (definition of recycling!): 1. worn out American flags to be disposed of properly 2. old, worn out tennis shoes to be recycled into playground surfaces 3. eyeglasses or hearing aids for Lions Club to be reused 4. ink cartridges taken to Best Buy to recycle 5. round small batteries ONLY - recycled at Batteries + in Bolingbrook 6. cell phones with all data deleted to be recycled at Best Buy 7. Video DVD games for Feed My Starving Children to be reused 8. new or gently used jeans any size infant to adult for male or female - to be reused at Daybreak Center in Joliet - NO OTHER CLOTHING PLEASE 9. empty medicine vials to be reused at Christian Bolingbrook Clinic 10. wash cloths, hand towels or bath towels - no holes and no threads (strings) for geriatric patients with memory loss to fold and stack Any questions contact Nancy Leiting - this is being sponsored by New Life Care Team Electronics Recycling One Day! April 29 Landfills and garbage haulers no longer take electronics. Naperville has an electronics recycling facility and New Life would like to help our environment with a ONE DAY electronics collections in conjunction with our April recycling month. This will be Sunday, April 29 until after the 10:15AM service. Nikki Eken has volunteered to transport items collected. However, there are some restrictions on what we will collect. NO TV's of any kind and no computer monitors as there is a charge to recycle them. Here is the comprehensive list of what you can bring (so start clearing out all those items that don t work that are taking up space): computer main frames, modems, printers, terminals, tape drivers, CD-ROM drivers, floppy disc drivers, plotters, mouse, keyboard, scanners and cables (NO CD's, NO floppy disc NO DVD NOR VHS tapes allowed) telephones, phone systems, answering machines, fax machines, copy machines, cell phones, pagers, postage machines, Small home appliances - microwave ovens, hair dryers, circuit breaker boxes, rechargeable batteries, power tools, electronic motors, wire, toasters, coffee makers (no glass), blenders and mixers (no glass). Home entertainment - VCR's, DVD players (again, no VHS nor CD nor DVD's themselves just the machines!) Stereo equient, joy sticks, cameras, camcorders and video game players Again No TV's, monitors, or large appliances. This is a great opportunity to do spring cleaning and help the environment, too. Remember this is a ONE DAY EVENT - Don't miss out!! Any questions please contact Nikki Eken. Blood Drive April 15 You are invited to be a part of our second blood drive at New Life this year on Sunday, April 15 from 8:00 am- Noon. This is a great gift to share as every donor will save up to 3 lives. It is also a great opportunity to invite someone to come donate and then stay for worship. To schedule an appointment: sign up in the narthex or online at Appointments are appreciated but walk-ins are always welcome. Your support also earns New Life points that can be redeemed for gift cards. Those gifts are used to support the Good Samaritan fund to help people in immediate need. Last year, your support earned $75 gift cards. Thank you!

Ever Wonder... Everyone has a gift/talent to share. If yours is being helpful and serving on Sunday morning during worship, please consider being an usher.

The general duties are to be a friendly face as people enter, hand out bulletins, help people with seating as needed, collect offering, and facilitate the flow for communion.

4 Ever Wonder... Everyone has a gift/talent to share. If yours is being helpful and serving on Sunday morning during worship, please consider being an usher. This is an essential part of our worship together. Four ushers are needed for each service. The general duties are to be a friendly face as people enter, hand out bulletins, help people with seating as needed, collect offering, and facilitate the flow for communion. If this important ministry is of interest to you, please contact Sue McConnaughay or feel free to sign up in the narthex. No experience is needed! Training is available. You can select which service and what month you can volunteer. This is a great way to meet people and/or say hi to everyone you know. Spotlight on Committees: Outreach This is a new feature for our newsletter that we are hoping to have monthly that focuses on the important work that various groups of volunteers provide our church. It will help you to know who these groups are, what their focus is, who is currently volunteering and how you can use your time and talents to get involved. The Outreach Committee is responsible for keeping in front of the congregation the "Great Commission" of our Lord as we as Christians are called to "go and make disciples." The committee is to organize outreach into the community as well as in the midst of this congregation. The Outreach Committee is a fun way to be involved in several different types of activities. They have both an inward focus of enriching the current members of New Life as well as an outward focus to reach out into the community to promote New Life and God s work that we do here. Here are just some of the activities that this committee organizes. Nametags and publicity for Christmas and Easter New Life apparel sales New Member classes and Shepherding program Bolingbrook picnic Oktoberfest Adult retreats Greeters and Usher Ministry Los Posadas, event partnering with Southwest Suburban Immigration Project Upcoming opportunities to be involved as a volunteer is greeter or usher or organize New Life booth for Bolingbrook picnic. Or attend an event such as the Adult Retreat May at LOMC or upcoming Neighborhood Picnic in July. If you are creative, like to plan events or just have an interest in strengthening the New Life family and extending New Life into the community; this is a great place for your time and talents. If you are interested in this type of ministry or specific event, please contact Chair Sue Ellwing-Ridley at sellwingri@att.net or call the church office. Members of this committee are Amy Beaugard, Dorothy Dominiak, Sue and Ken McConnaughay.

Vacation Bible School It s coming! Save the date for this summer s VBS on June 18-22. Venture onto an uncharted island where kids are rescued by Jesus!

VBS is about helping kids realize Jesus is their friend and wants a close relationship with them.

5 Vacation Bible School It s coming! Save the date for this summer s VBS on June Venture onto an uncharted island where kids are rescued by Jesus! Anchor kids in the truth that Jesus carries them through every storm in life. They'll learn to hold onto God's promises when they are lonely, they worry, they struggle, do wrong, or feel powerless. VBS is about helping kids realize Jesus is their friend and wants a close relationship with them. Every experience at VBS is designed to create the best possible environment for God to connect with the hearts of your kids! April Anniversaries Bob & Susette Blumenstein 4/11 Chris & Jennifer Peterson 4/13 David & Annette Anderson 4/16 Rich & Sandie Zihala 4/17 Nikki & Jim Eken 4/22 Don & Cris Berlin 4/29 Michael & Noel Ferrara 4/30 Have you moved or changed your phone number recently? If so, it is important that the church office is contacted so we can update our records. Thank you. Transforming Experiences: Kids discover that Jesus rescues them. Today s generation is like no other in history! They ve been linked in since day one with instant access to a sea of information. A constant media feed and increasing push toward excellence has led to waves of worries and struggles that kids have never faced before. Kids leave Shipwrecked VBS knowing that there is Someone bigger than their struggles, Someone stronger than their weakness, Someone who loves them unconditionally... Jesus. Easy-to-Learn Bible Truths: Kids discover important truths in fresh new ways and dive right into the Bible. At Shipwrecked VBS, kids learn one important Bible Point each day, and it s reinforced often through Bible adventures, key Bible verses, songs, snacks, and hands -on explorations that help children know that Jesus is with them through all of life s storms! Interconnected Experiences: Small multi age crews bring kids together to help them discover God anew. Kids develop a deeper connection to Jesus in a more personal way. Kids don t just memorize a Bible verse: they personalize it. They don t just learn a Bible story every day; they experience it. And these eternal truths are reinforced in every activity they do. So, plan on joining us for bible stories, science, song, games, crafts and of course food for our hungry bunch of adventurers. All youth age 3 (must be potty-trained) - 5th grade are invited to join us for this week of adventure! This is a great opportunity to invite friends to join you here at New Life. Cost is FREE! Registration will be coming soon to the website. Save the Date First Communion will be on June 3 at the 10:15 service. We will welcome our fourth graders to the Lord s table as they learn about this Holy Meal of God s grace.

There are many ways to volunteer at New Life!

10:15 Sue & Mark Karas, Suzette & Bob Blumenstein, Tina & Jim Blumenstein, Don Costello & Ruth Blumenstein-Costello You can help support New Life by simply shopping on Amazon!

com, search for New Life Lutheran Church, Bolingbrook, IL and shop while Amazon gives! Volunteers are always needed to help with worship. Interested?

It s time to celebrate what we were able to accomplish together and thank everyone for their participation in so many ways.

This represents young and not so young members; new and long-time members; and even nonmembers who are connected to New Life in various ways and respect the ministry we do and want to see it thrive.

6 There are many ways to volunteer at New Life! April Worship Leaders Worship Assistant: 8:15 Sandy Niemiera 10:15 Josh Schmidt Greeters: 8:15 Jerry Schmidt 10:15 High School Youth Ushers: 8:15 John & Jackie Schmidt, Kathy Aspeitia, Fred Mills 10:15 Sue & Mark Karas, Suzette & Bob Blumenstein, Tina & Jim Blumenstein, Don Costello & Ruth Blumenstein-Costello You can help support New Life by simply shopping on Amazon! Every time you make a purchase AmazonSmiles donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to New Life. Just visit smile.amazon.com, search for New Life Lutheran Church, Bolingbrook, IL and shop while Amazon gives! Volunteers are always needed to help with worship. Interested? Contact the church office at or officemgr@newlifebolingbrook.org March was a big month for our Imagine our Jubilee Campaign. It s time to celebrate what we were able to accomplish together and thank everyone for their participation in so many ways. In the midst of our busy lives, the God of abundance has been with us every step of the way. We celebrate that through the commitments of many; $524, was pledged for this campaign. This represents young and not so young members; new and long-time members; and even nonmembers who are connected to New Life in various ways and respect the ministry we do and want to see it thrive. We can remove some of those distractions now (mortgage and interest payments) so we can clearly discern what God would have us do in this place for the love of our neighbor and for the sake of Jesus Christ. Let s continue to boldly pray and discern what challenges and goals God would have us pursue. Things that would nudge us into ministry for the sake of the world. Things that would speak to the many and varied gifts of the people who gather here. Let s keep imagining our jubilee and not just how fantastic it will be to be debt-free or have facilities updated by our 50 th year, but what jubilee we will know as we continue to do God s work with our hands and strive to be Jesus disciples at this time, in this place. Thank you to the many people who served as a volunteer in some capacity for this campaign. Their names are displayed on the Volunteer banner as you enter the church. Their time and talents helped to make this campaign a success and many hands made for lighter work. While the active part of the campaign is concluding, there will still be follow thru on all our parts. Campaign pledge envelopes are now included in your monthly giving envelopes that you regularly receive. Or if you prefer, you can use our online giving option to make your pledge payments or set up automatic withdrawals. If you were not able to make a pledge in the past, but would like to participate in the future, please contact the church office for more information. Everyone has different gifts and every gift continues to make a difference as we approach our 50 th jubilee. Recycle Year-Round! A monthly recycling focus for April: empty clean plastic bags recycle them at Jewel, Meijer, and Target Shopping Cart Ministry-April Focus Dried raisins, cranberries & prunes; Cleaning supplies & feminine products.

7 APRIL 2018 Sun NA at 7 Mon AA 7:00 Tue Al Anon 7 Wed NA 10 am AA 7 Thu Ladies AA 7 Fri PANN 7 Sat Al Anon Study 8:45am Al Anon 10 am Easter Sunrise 6:30 am Mariachi 4-6 Mariachi 4-6:30 Mariachi 4-6 Worship Commi 6:30 p Oasis Choir Practice 8 Celebration Band Easter Worship 8:15 Oasis 7 Tutoring 6:30 Executive Comm 7:15 p Rehearsal 10 am & 10:15 am Tutoring 7 Mariachi 6:30-9 Oasis Prayer Service Christ Center of Hope 7p 10 Mutual Ministry 8 Mexican Consulate Fellowship Hall Worship 8:15 & Mariachi 4-6 Mariachi 4-6:30 Bible Study 10 am Mariachi 6:30-9 Oasis Choir Practice 8 Celebration Band 10:15 am Oasis 7 Mariachi 4-6 Christ Center of Hope - 7p Rehearsal 10 am Church Council Worship 8:15 & Mariachi 4-6 Mariachi 4-6:30 Bible Study 10 am Mariachi 6:30-9 Oasis Choir Practice 8 Celebration Band 10:15 am Oasis 7 Mariachi 4-6 Christ Center of Hope - 7 p Rehearsal 10 am Blood Drive 8 am 12 Tutoring 7 Tutoring 6:30 Care Team 7 Kiwanis Pancake Din- Outreach 7 ner 4:30-7:30 Autism Lunch 11:30 am Worship 8:15 & Mariachi 4-6 Mariachi 4-6:30 Bible Study 10 am Mariachi 6:30-9 Oasis Choir Practice 8 Celebration Band 10:15 am Oasis 7 Mariachi 4-6 Christ Center of Hope - 7 p Rehearsal 10 am Tutoring 7 Tutoring 6:30 Property Worship 8:15 & Mariachi :15 am

8 Manage Your Giving Online! New Life is excited to announce that you can now manage your giving online! Giving online is easy and allows you to set up automatic recurring contributions and view your complete online giving history from anywhere you have access to the Internet. Simply follow these easy steps: 1. Visit 2. Click on Giving on the top right side of the page. 3. Click on Donate/Pay Online to schedule your recurring or onetime contributions. You many also scan this QR code to immediately access the online giving page. If you already give via Simply Giving, your profile will link automatically when entering your address, and you can manage your contributions online at your convenience. Sunday Worship 8:15 & 10:15 AM New Life Lutheran Church 249 N. Bolingbrook Drive Bolingbrook, IL (630) Visit us on the web at Where everybody is somebody, and Jesus Christ is Lord! New Life Lutheran Church 249 N. Bolingbrook Drive Bolingbrook, IL PLACE STAMP HERE

LIFE LINE New Life Lutheran Church Newsletter January 2018

LIFE LINE New Life Lutheran Church Newsletter January 2018 Kick off the New Year with a healthy habit be a blood donor! Our first blood drive of 2018 is January 14 from 8:00 am 12:00. We encourage you