NEWSLETTER. St. Andrew s United Methodist Church. Advent Services

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1 St. Andrew s United Methodist Church NEWSLETTER 1004 Rock Road, De Soto, MO Phone: (636) secretary@standrewsumcdesoto.org David Duncan, Pastor Website: Morning Worship, Sunday: 10:30 AM Children s Church, Sunday 10:30 AM Adult Bible Study, Tuesday 1:30 Melissa McAlpine, Ministry Assistant Vol. 31, No. 12 December 2018 Advent Services As a church, this time of year is always busy. Here are some items to note: Decorating the church for Advent will commence at 5:30 on Monday, November 26th. Come prepared to sort ornaments, hang wreaths, and enjoy some fellowship. It is just the thing to put you in the holiday spirit. The candlelight service at Flucom United Methodist will be held on Sunday, December 2nd at 6. The children s program (Look Up!) and the Chancel Choir will present their Christmas programs on Sunday, December 16th at 6. Come early for a good seat and stay for the cookies and special visitor afterwards. The much anticipated Christmas Eve service will be at 7 on you guessed it, Christmas Eve. When was the last time you witnessed welkin ringing? (Don t Google this before you answer the question!) Perhaps the question might be more easily answered if one other question was answered what is a welkin? Among the thousands of hymns written by Charles Wesley, it is probably a good thing Wesley s reference to the welkin ringing didn t make it far without some serious editing. Sometimes, even our most well-intended words get lost in translation. (Of course, I m not certain but John may have said to brother Charles, Lighten up, Chuck, nobody says welkin anymore. ) By the way, welkin is a very old English reference to the firmament of the heavens. Now you are asking, What s a firmament? My point exactly. I think we could all agree that Hark! the herald angels sing does roll off the tongue more easily than Hark how all the welkin rings! This Christmas, may our purpose be to speak clearly about the celebration of God s Promised One. Let our words be plain and simple. We celebrate God coming among us in the person of Jesus Christ. And when other well-meaning individuals seek to enlighten us on the various festivals occurring during Winter Solstice, simply say, Is that when the (Continued on page 2)

2 (Continued from page 1) welkin ring? It may make for some good conversation plain and simple. Glory to the newborn King. Let Your Light Shine! -Pastor David It s that time of year. Bell ringing for the DeSoto Food Pantry and CONTACT is an annual event which runs throughout the Advent season. Our date to supply bell ringers is Saturday, December 22 nd from 10 AM until 6 at Walmart. We need four ringers for each two hour shift, and the sign-up sheet is outside the church office. Your diligence to this outreach effort is greatly appreciated. If you are unable to ring on December 22 nd but still want to participate, you can contact the Let Your Light Shine coordinator, Kathy Gray, to set up a separate time to ring. Kathy can be reached at Mission Minute Thank you to everyone who helped with the Ladies Day Out for A Safe Place. The ladies enjoyed a day of leisure and the kids got to make crafts, play, and be silly. Your support was tremendous and the families were very appreciative. A special shout out to Barbara Duncan, who did a great job of organizing crafts for the horde of children at church. Open for Discussion Several people have expressed interest in a learning time for all ages before worship. This is something like traditional Sunday School, but with nontraditional learning. It would have elements of Biblical learning, fellowship, accountability, and empathy. If this is something you ve also considered, now is the time to discuss it. Please bring your thoughts and ideas to Merlin Weber, Pastor David, or Jackie Brown. Through this dialogue, we are hoping to develop a powerful ministry. Night to Shine We are in the thick of planning for the 2019 Night to Shine. As soon as the Tim Tebow Foundation releases the Prayer Guide, we ll share that with you weekly. For now, we ve begun sharing the date: February 8, 2019 from 6-9. We will begin registering guests very soon, and we ll also be looking for volunteers and other items. If you have ideas, special skills, or items to donate, please let Frances Deaton or Pastor David know. Talk to Frances Deaton if you are able to provide homemade cookies, candy, or fruit for the goodie bags that we ll send to A Safe Place at the end of December. The items for these bags needs to be at the church by December 20 th. Very soon we ll begin collecting mittens, hats, socks, and scarves for local school children. Be on the lookout for the collection point you won t want to miss it. 2

3 (Part 1 of 3) Vision: The Missouri Conference will relentlessly lead our churches to become outwardly focused and spiritually centered Christ followers. To see this vision come to fruition, the Missouri Conference has developed an action plan with three priorities. Over the next several months, we will be focusing on these three area. This month, we ll focus on Missional Leaders. A Missional Leader does these four things: Missouri Annual Conference Priorities Moves from meeting God to an active, growing and authentic faith in Jesus Christ; and Is identified as a leader and is mentored by another leader; and Provides leadership in their local church and/or beyond, and Identifies and has begun mentoring a new leader. There are different ways to grow Missional Leaders, and none of them involve dousing friends with water, throwing dirt at them, or telling them to get more sun! We re talking about organic growth (again, do not bury your Missional Leader friends in dirt) from within our church; nurturing individuals and giving them tools to become leaders. The goal is to increase new missional leaders from 0 to 400 by June 30, 2019, and this effort is being led by the Center for Leadership Excellence. The conference website provides more information about the process and resources that are available. You can go to the website to learn more. 3 College Ministry Please remember our college students during the month of December. Both those studying in parts unknown and those right here will need prayers during their final exams. The completion of a semester will also mean many of them will be traveling home and others will begin intersession courses. Remember them in your prayers. Poinsettia Orders To celebrate or commemorate loved ones and decorate the Sanctuary, we are again selling poinsettias. These lovely plants will be delivered in time for the Christmas programs on December 16 th, so order forms and money are due to the church office by December 3 rd. You can get a form in your bulletin or at the back of the Sanctuary. Remember, forms are due on Monday, December 3 rd! December Movie Night December s movie night will feature It s a Wonderful Life, starring Donna Reed and James Stewart. Most are familiar with this family favorite, but for those that aren t, the film is about an angel being sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed. The movie takes place in the small town of Bedford Falls, and includes corny bits, slap-stick comedy, and surprisingly serious scenes as well. We hope you will join us, bring a friend, and bring snacks to share. When: Sunday, December 9 th at 5 Where: Fellowship Hall

4 Music Notes Bell Choir will begin rehearsals on Wednesday, November 28 th at 5:30 in the music room. If you are interested in playing but have never played before, you are welcome to join us. If you can count, you can play a bell! The Chancel Choir will be caroling on Main Street on November 30 th at 6:45 in front of FoJo s Studio. Please come listen as you stroll the Nativity Walk after you ve enjoyed your bowl of chili at the St. Andrew s Day Festivities. The annual candlelight service at Flucom United Methodist Church will be December 2 nd at 6. This is a lovely service and good way to get into the Advent season. Norma Bell s piano students will be hosting a recital at 2 on Sunday, December 9 th in the Sanctuary. All are welcome to attend. The children and choir Christmas program will be held on Sunday, December 16 th at 6. There will be moving theatrical and musical performances, with refreshments afterwards. Please bring your friends and family for this special production. Sugar Moon Dates Fountain City Grille-Saturday, December 1 from 5-8 Coyol-Thursday, December 6 from 5:30-8:30 LaPachanga, Herculaneum-Friday, December 14th from 5-8:30 La Chance Winery-Saturday, December 22 from 1-4 Recent Training Update The attendance at the recent Simplified Board Model training was well attended. Eight from St. Andrew s attended the meeting, which we hosted here. The training was led by David Israel, the lead pastor at Living Word United Methodist Church in Wildwood, and the group learned about an alternative structure for church governance. On the same day, eight from St. Andrew s also took part in fire safety training. You might notice the new evacuation routes posted in each classroom, Fellowship Hall, office, and kitchen. These are all an effort to improve the safety and security of people at church. Of particular note: the newly installed fire extinguisher at the front of the Sanctuary where children (acolytes) play with fire (light and extinguish liquid fuel). It is in an inconspicuous location but is there in the unlikely event it is needed. Blood Drive There are three main reasons to give: 1. The need is great. Start the new year off right! The 2019 Blood Drive will be held on Thursday, January 3 rd from 3-7. You can register for this blood drive by contacting the church office. 2. You probably can. The minimum age is 17, but there is no maximum age. As long as you are healthy, you can donate well into your 80s. 3. It s an act of kindness and compassion. 4

5 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Holy Communion Pony Bird Open House Yoga 10 AM Rotary 12 Bible Study 1:30 Bell Choir 5:45 Chancel Choir 6:30 Hardees Bible Study 7:30 AM S.O.S. 6:30 Christmas Choir 7:15 Gabby Beckley Norma Bell s student recital 2 Movie Night 5 Yoga 10 AM Grant Fauth Rotary 12 Bible Study 1:30 Bell Choir 5:45 Chancel Choir 6:30 Christmas Choir 7:15 Mike Neckermann Kit Doyle Terry Neckermann Christmas Programs 6 Wayne Propst Jack & Anita Robinson (a) Yoga 10 AM Rotary 12 Bible Study 1:30 Clark & Sara Robinson (a) Choir 7 Hardees Bible Study 7:30 AM Lonnie Keys Josie Guertzgen Let Your Light Shine Marshall Bedell 24 Christmas Eve Service 7 25 Bob & Wanda Dillingham (a) 26 Kelsey Kingsland Paul & Becky Bradford (a) 27 Burt McAlpine 28 Dennis & Judy Doyle (a) 29 Krista Richardson 30 Dawna Watkins Rachel Payne We do not plan on doing a new pictorial directory for the church right now, but we would like to be able to offer new contact directories. This directory would include addresses and contact numbers. Due to privacy concerns, your information will only be printed if you agree to include it in the directory. You have some options for what to include and not include as well. We re working on setting up a way to make it easy for you to identify which information you want to share and which information you do not. For now, you can let the church office know about your privacy preferences by calling the office. 5

6 Pony Bird Open House December 2, 2018 Be part of the joy of Christmas at the Pony Bird homes. Enjoy refreshments and take a tour while getting to know everyone a little better. Mapaville Party: 1-2:30 DeSoto Party: 2:30-4 DeSoto Farmer s Market News Save the Date: Can you come out to play...the farmers' market Trivia Night will be Saturday, February 23 rd! If you'd like to test your knowledge and have a lot of fun, this is the place to be. Who knows...maybe St. Andrew's will be home to the winners again! Food Pantry Needs For the month of December, our food pantry item is canned fruit! Bring as many cans of fruit as you are able during the month of December; pears, peaches, pineapple, fruit cocktail, etc. 6