The Messenger. First United Methodist Church. Wellsville, NY. April 2018 WELLSVILLE FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Transcription

1 The Messenger April 2018 First United Methodist Church Wellsville, NY God s love grows here... Through Worship, Bible Study, and Service WELLSVILLE FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH God s Love Grows Here... Through Worship, Bible Study and Service FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 79 MADISON STREET WELLSVILLE, NY (585) LOVEGROWS@WELLSVILLEUMC.ORG CHANGED SERVICE REQUESTED

2 First United Methodist Church of Wellsville Combined Contemporary/Traditional Worship Service Sunday Mornings 9:45 am Hymn Sing 6:30 pm Designated Sundays Phone (585) Fax (585) Web Page: Serving Christ and Community Since 1852 UPCOMING EVENTS Sunday, April 1 Easter Sunrise Service, 6:30 AM; Sunrise Breakfast, 7 AM; Worship, 9:45 AM Wednesday, April 4 Book Study, 3:30 PM Monday, April 9 Team Meetings, 6:15 PM; Admin. Council Meeting, 7:30 PM Friday, April 13 Allegany County Prayer Force Prayer Meeting, 7 PM Sunday, April 15 Men s Breakfast, 8 AM Monday, April 16 May Messenger Articles Due Wednesday, April 18 Naomi Circle, 2-3:30 PM Thursday, April 19 Triple L Potluck at Noon Sunday, April 22 Hymn Sing, 6:30 PM Saturday, April 28 Memorial Service for Erland Kailbourne, 10:30 AM Monday, April 30 Drop off your Rummage Sale items at the Church. Our Staff: Pastor Rev. Gregory DeSalvatore Office Manager Mrs. Kim Smith Traditional Music Dir. & Organist.... Ms. Joy Caldwell Church Custodian Mrs. Mary Brown Women s Bible Study Our Tuesday morning study group meets at 9:15 AM in the Welcome Room and is led by Joy Caldwell. We are currently studying Attributes of God. All women are invited! Men s Bible Study Our Friday morning study group meets at 9 AM and is currently studying 1 Timothy. Come and share in our fellowship. All men are invited! Wednesday Book Study We are currently reading The Root of the Righteous by A. W. Tozer. Next chat is on Wed., April 4 at 3:30 PM in the Welcome Room to discuss chapters

3 OUTREACH/MISSION UPDATE There is only one thing worth being concerned about. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:20 John Chrysostom was a preacher in the early church. Because of his witness for Christ, he was taken before the emperor, who informed him that he would be put in prison for his faith. Chrysostom answered that the Lord would go with him to prison. (Isaiah 41:10) Then the emperor threatened to take away all his possessions. Chrysostom was not bothered by this; he simply answered, There is no way for you to take away all that I possess. My treasures are in heaven, and you cannot reach that far. (Matt. 6:19-20) Finally, the emperor said in consternation, Well I will banish you to the remotest corner of the kingdom. Calmly Chrysostom informed the emperor that the remotest spot in the world was part of his Savior s kingdom and that his Lord would be there too. (Psalm 24:1) God wants us to be people who are free from the necessity of certain places, people, and things so we may be unencumbered. Then he can trust us with more significant assignments. When we do not need anything but him, we truly become available for service. The gifts of God are merely blessings to be enjoyed; we must have only one necessary attachment...and that is to our Lord Jesus. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised ). (Heb. 10: 23) May we each hold fast throughout the season before us. In Christ alone, Pastor Greg As I reflect of the importance of this Easter season in our Christian walk, I think about the importance of sharing this season with those of our church family who are unable to join us on a regular basis for worship and fellowship. I am thinking of those who are homebound or in nursing or rehabilitation facilities. I intend to visit some of those individuals during this season and hope you had an opportunity to do the same. Of course, such visits are just as important during every season of the year. Let us all be more intentional in sharing the love of Jesus with those who can t join us for church. As I mentioned in my most recent article, on April 29 we will be hosting a Compassion Sunday event. This will be an opportunity for you to reach out to a child in need from an underprivileged part of the world. For just $38.00 per month, you can provide essential support to that child and his/her family to improve the child s educational, spiritual, physical and emotional well-being. Between now and the end of April, please talk to someone in the congregation who is sponsoring a compassion child. I am confident that you will learn that the sponsorship experience provides as much joy to the sponsor as to the child. Recently, we celebrated a special Sunday which provided an opportunity to make a special monetary donation to the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). Another way in which you might choose to reach out to those in need through UMCOR is to assemble a Health Kit which will be made available to persons who have been forced to leave their homes due to human conflict of natural disaster. Detailed directions regarding how to assemble and ship such a health kit can be found on line at If you don t have access to the internet, please let me know, and I will download the instructions and provide a copy to you. Bryan Caldwell

4 UNITED METHODIST MEN Greetings from UMM! Once again we want to send a special thank you to the Naomi Circle for the honor bestowed on the Men of our Church. Your thoughtfulness was very much appreciated. The men will be preparing a light breakfast for those attending the Easter Sunrise service. Breakfast time will be 7 am sharp.. Our next breakfast will be held April 15th at 8am. Remember the letter from Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, to the Saints in Ephesus. Bryan Caldwell will have more interesting things to share about the book of Ephesians after the breakfast. Plan now to attend. The Men are planning to do the Mother's Day Brunch which will be held Sunday May 13th and the time will be announced. UMM and the Men's Friday morning Bible study where all Men are welcome. Blessings, Alan and Bryan NAOMI CIRCLE Naomi Circle met on March 21st for a very brief business meeting in the Welcome Room. New items (coffee pot, griddle, dish drainer sets, and drain mats for the wet dishwasher racks) have been purchased for the church kitchen from the Naomi Circle funeral fund. The committees for the upcoming May 2-4th rummage sale was the main topic of this meeting. This brief meeting ended and we moved down to the Wesley Room for Naomi sponsored program. Four couples from FUMC presented a slide review of their trip to the Holy Lands. The filled room enjoyed the pictures, displays and commentary to help us feel we too were visiting the Holy Lands. Thank you to the Caldwell s, Cornell s, Forsberg s, and Leonard s for this great afternoon. Also, thanks to Bonnie for the many authentic Holy Land snacks she provided. The next Naomi Circle gathering will be Wednesday, April 18th at 2:00 in the Welcome Room. Eila Shea will be sharing her experiences as a missionary in Africa for our program. We look forward to many women joining us to hear about her joys and challenges in Africa. Pam Rohrabacher will provide snacks and Joy Caldwell will be doing devotions for this April meeting. Remember to be collecting your donations for the annual Rummage Sale. Bring them to the church on Monday, April 30th. Diane Forsberg and Linda Austin, Co-chairpersons LIBRARY UPDATE The daily planner shows spring is starting but the snow is still everywhere in banks along where the plows have left it. But the days are not as cold as they have been, so spring is around the corner. Everyone is talking about warmer weather and things like taxes and stuff. If you look closely, one can see the snow is melting away slowly, and lets hope no more nor easters are in the future. The Lenten soup and sandwich lunches have been great with a 30 minute study via DVD followed by discussion and questions. There is still more to come to finish off March and April starts off with Easter. There were 26 books donated to the Library this March by Betty Stoll. There were 16 non-fiction books, 10 fiction and 3 study books for Acts included. There were books by some well known authors. Authors like Joyce Meyer, Max Lucado, Charles Swindoll, Robert Schuller, Ruth Bell Graham and many others. These authors are non-fiction but the titles are interesting and deserve a peek. Sue Browning We would like to invite all people to the Welcome Room. It is there for everyone to stop in before or after the Service for a cup of coffee, tea or juice, or there might be a snack or two and chat with other members or make a new friend. If anyone would like a prayer bear for a friend, family member or for anyone who is sick, going through a difficult situation or medical problems, please feel free to contact Kim in the church office, any member of the Tuesday morning bible class or myself. MEN S PIE EVENT The recent (March 18th) men s pie event was well attended and appreciated by all who came. This was sponsored by the Naomi Circle after several women discussed all the men do for our church, including the Mother s Day breakfast that has taken place for several years. To show our appreciation to the men we combined the two main ideas presented of pie and a lapel pin gift. We, the Naomi Circle, Thank You men for all the positive responses, but we will NOT be doing this on a weekly basis as you requested!! Perhaps you will read of another appreciation event being scheduled in the future???

5 APRIL PRAYER LIST 1 Easter Sunday Services He Is Risen! 2 Those who need Healing 3 Women s Bible Study 4 Jail Ministry 5 Choir & Praise Team 6 Men s Bible Study 7 Pastor Greg 8 Pastor s Family (Bonnie, Anthony & Family, Michael & Emily) 9 Church Teams & Admin. Council Meetings 10 Those who meet for AA & NA 11 Jail Ministry 12 Traditional Music Director & Organist (Joy) 13 Church Volunteers 14 Pastor Greg 15 Pastor s Family 16 Custodian (Mary) 17 Gil s Hills & Youth for Christ 18 Jail Ministry 19 Church Families & Community 20 Office Manager (Kim) 21 Pastor Greg 22 Pastor s Family 23 Financial Stability for the Church 24 Those Experiencing Loss 25 Jail Ministry 26 Committed Prayer Warriors 27 Worship Service 28 Pastor Greg 29 Pastor s Family 30 Church Rummage Sale Preparations & Outreach FEB 18 YTD 18 Operating Budget Income $ 12,063 $ 27,116 Expenses: Pastor s Package $ 6,382 $ 12,764 Other Staff 3,827 7,654 Maintenance & Supplies 2,413 5,229 Teams Ministry Shares 2,652 9,866* All Other Expenses 250 7,346 Total Expenses: $ 15,838 $ 43,568 Income less Expenses $ (3,775) (16,452) *Includes $6,214 paid towards 2017 Ministry Shares Our monthly gathering will be on April 22nd at 6:30 PM Come and bring a friend. We sing our favorite hymns, new and old, AND enjoy refreshments afterwards. Please Join Us!

6 The Focus on Prayer The Relationship between Prayer and Faith For this reason I am telling you, whatever things you ask for in prayer in accordance with God s will, believe with confident trust that you have received them, and they will be given to you.. Mark 11:24 Throughout the New Testament we find that Jesus makes a connection between faith and prayer. Consider these scriptures: Matthew 21:21-22; Mark 11:20-25; John 14:12-13; John 15:16; John 15:5-8; and Matthew 7:7-11. One of the important ideas that comes from these Scriptures is that faith, in relation to prayer, is inseparably linked to understanding and trusting in Jesus and our Heavenly Father to the extent that we willingly cooperate with their purposes. What this implies is that faith is not a tool but a mindset. Faith, as it is related to prayer, is not a tool to obtain what we want but a mindset enabling us to pray as we ought. In its pure form, a mindset is a fixed or settled attitude that determines our approach to, our dealings with, and our interpretation or understanding of something. Faith, then, becomes the mindset with which we approach God in prayer and understand God s dealings with us in relation to prayer. Faith is not a tool to be wielded in prayer as if it gives us some sort of power to control the outcome of our prayers. Faith is a mindset. And as a mindset, faith is the state of mind with which we come to God in prayer. Such a mindset creates a state of mind whereby our prayers most often, or more nearly line up with God s character, His goals, and His methods of achieving His goals. When we are acting as God s workers doing God s work, or when we are praying for others, we are to ask in faith for what is needed, believing we have what we ask for, and it will be done according to our prayer. This is the context Jesus presents when he teaches about faith and prayer. Joy Caldwell A Stewardship Moment We all have some talent to give. Our own growth and the growth of the church depend on the willingness of us all to invest that talent for others. And the financial needs of our church continue along throughout the calendar year. Please remember your regular gifts are vital to our ministries. A Christian steward works as an instrument of God. In all aspects of daily life, he or she performs the work God has planned for His people. Being a Christian is accepting the role of steward. There is no need to dwell on our responsibility for it is clearly presented to us in Scripture the command to take care of creation and the command to love one another. It is time to start living as a Christian steward, giving our time and our talents for God s work on earth. How might God be calling you forward to live and serve in faith? United Methodist Church Handbooks Available There is an excellent resource for all our fellowship, that briefly explains much of what it means to be a United Methodist today. Pastor will show portions of this booklet on a few Sundays but you can also pick up your own copy from the church office. Entitled Therefore, go.. it will be a great read for each of us; teaching and reminding of all that we share in this Christ-centered connection called The United Methodist Church.

7 Altar Flowers To order altar flowers, sign up on the flower chart on the bulletin board. Sign up early to be sure you get the Sunday you would like as they fill up fast. Cost is $15. Payment of cash or check made payable to FUMC prior to your scheduled Sunday. Drop it in the offering plate (please specify that it is for altar flowers) or you may bring it to the church office. Please notify the church office one week before your scheduled Sunday if there are specific colors or flowers you would like. You may take your flowers anytime after the 9:45 am service. Thank you for your help to provide beautiful flowers on the altar for our Sunday service. 5 Brent Rohrabacher 8 Pastor Greg 11 Sandy Kasprowicz 12 Anne Barnes 27 Mary Rogers 29 Theresa Brown April Altar Flowers April 1 He Is Risen! Given by Elva & Darrin Cornell April 8 In Celebration of Pastor Greg s Birthday, Given by Bonnie DeSalvatore April 15, 22 & 29 Still Available April Greeters Roy & Polly Lucas April Counters Max/Gloria Shay & Bill Hamlin 3 Darrin & Elva Cornell 18 Roger & Joanne Horton 21 Chris & Jamie Forness 28 Guy & Brenda Milligan The Church Rummage Sale Starts May 2! As you reorganize or downsize the things in your closets, cabinets and work areas, please put aside items for our sale. We will accept items beginning Monday, April 30th. Giant Register Tapes & Food Pantry Donations Please bring in your nonperishable grocery and sundry donations for the Salvation Army food pantry on the first Sunday of each month (or any Sunday is fine); the collection box is located in the church entryway. Giant register tape collection bin is located in the Library.