New Creation United Methodist Church

Transcription

1 New Creation United Methodist Church VISION: Moving Forward Together: To Know Christ and to Make Christ Known January 2016 newsletter I am grateful to God for the New Creation UMC family. This has been a good year for our church family as we recall the many blessings God has shared with us. We have seen emotional and spiritual growth within the Body of Christ, through our relationships with each other as well as the number of small groups, Bible studies, and increase in worship participation. There is always room for improvement with our finances but it amazes me how generous you have been in your regular giving, missional needs, building program (which has been exceptional), paying our apportionment in full by November. God has blessed us with new and committed members who have gotten involved in the mission and ministry of our church-all I can say is Thanks Be To God for all you have done. My hope for the New Year is that we will continue what we have been doing last year and patiently discerning God s will for our church and community for the future. God is not through with us yet, New Creation. Our best days are still ahead of us. I trust God s blessings will be with each of you 8in the New Year. Grace and Peace, Pastor Al A big THANK YOU to members who participated in our Bless These Gifts fund-raiser. Almost $2,000 was raised thru this fund-raiser for the Building Fund. A big THANK YOU to Betty Gibbs and her committee for giving their time and talents to address the hundreds of cards!

2 Page holds new opportunities for New Creation UMC to serve God in our Durham community! To fulfill our mission and ministry, the Finance Team planned a budget of $277,250. This includes salaries for our pastor, our musicians, and our staff; utilities and upkeep of our church building and property; office and operating expenses; Sunday School, Bible study and small group expenses; local missions and outreach; and $29,375 in apportionments that will support the Methodist Conference as well as local, national and world missions. Pledges from our congregation give us confidence to fulfill our mission. We know that we can start new ministries, pay our staff and meet our obligations because we have the promised support of our community. To date, 43 people have pledged their commitment to cover New Creation s operating costs in 2016, for a total of $161,917 that s 58% of our budget. If you haven t already, please consider making a pledge to New Creation, too. Maybe you are uncomfortable promising a certain amount of financial support to the church. Just remember that God always meets us where we are. Any time we take a step closer to Him, God always provides. When we re ready to say yes to all that He asks of us, we can know for certain that He will richly reward us for it, and continue to draw us closer into relationship with Him. And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to him. Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done. Colossians 2:6 7 (NLT) Remember our study last fall: Earn. Save. Give.? We talked about giving our time, energy, and money. Thank you for investing these in our church. I believe this investment is one that lays up treasure in heaven! My hope is that you will be blessed and experience joy as you give, serve, and sacrifice during the coming year. Again, thank you for all you do to make possible the ministry of our church. I look forward to serving and giving with you! Donita Robinson, Finance Co-Chair ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Finance Team is pleased to report that New Creation UMC has fulfilled the requirements for designation as a Rainbow Covenant Church! We not only paid our 2015 apportionments in full, but we went the second mile and joining with Methodist churches world-wide to make a real difference for Christ. (report continued on page 3)

3 Rainbow Covenant & Advance Page 3 The first mile in becoming a Rainbow Covenant church is to fully participate in the mission and ministry of the North Carolina Conference through 100% apportionment giving. Once a church has fulfilled its basic, first-mile apportionment commitment, go the second-mile and become a Rainbow Covenant congregation. The second-mile giving channel is called the Advance. In North Carolina, a church must give in 5 different lanes. The five lanes are: Lane 1 Persons in Mission; Lane 2 NC Conference Advance Specials; Lane 3 National Missions; Lane 4 World Missions and Lane 5 UMCOR It s easy to automate your giving to New Creation! We have online giving at OnRealm. This site lets you contribute from your bank account or credit card (note that using direct transfer from your bank account saves the church on credit card fees). You can make a one-time donation or schedule recurring donations. You can make a pledge toward our operating expenses or our building fund. You can also track your donations and progress you make toward fulfilling your pledge. Contact Felicia Joyner at felicia5555@gmail.com to set up your account! Self Service Printing of Your Giving Statement OnRealm Log into the site. 2. Click your name in the upper right corner, and select My Profile. 3. Click the Giving tab. 4. If necessary, filter your list of contributions (see above). 5. Click. Add a comment to the giving statement if necessary. The output is downloaded as a PDF file that can be opened from your browser. If you need assistance, Contact Felicia Joyner at felicia5555@gmail.com

4 FOOD PANTRY UPDATE Many have asked what happens to the nonperishable food that is brought in and how the food is distributed. Thanks to LaNella the distribution is done through the church office. I fill bags on Sunday and Tuesday, which are brought up to the office. From there, she is in charge of who receives the bags noting only that one bag per family, per week is the policy. The bags are set up for a family of 2, 4, or 6 and are filled with the supplies that are available in the Pantry. We aren t providing food for the week, only enough to help them augment whatever supplies they already have. For a family of 2 the bag will contain a vegetable, a can of fruit, a can of meat (tuna, chicken or ham), a package of mac and cheese, a can of soup, rice and beans if we have them, and a package of cookies. The same is done for a family of 4 except that there are 2 cans of veggies, 2 cans of fruit, 2 packages of Top Ramen or other soup, still just one can of meat, but spaghetti sauce and pasta, beans of some kind and a sweet. For a family of 6 the veggies and fruit increase to 3 cans, 2 cans of meat, spaghetti and noodles, peanut butter, rice and beans or instant potatoes, and a sweet pudding, pop tarts, or Jell-O and fruit. We go through food very quickly. DON T purchase food that require additional food to complete Hamburger Helper is a great idea but not if the recipient doesn t have hamburger. Remember we are trying to provide healthy foods: maraschino cherries, marinated jalapeno peppers in fancy bottles, marinated artichoke hearts and boxes of tiramisu which require eggs and 2 cups of milk to make are not the best items to bring even though delicious. (yes, these items have been donated). Please be aware of the expiration date. Please, if you are cleaning out your pantry, check the expiration date. Anything over a year old, I may throw out. I recently received a jar of baby food dated We need a steady influx of canned meats, cereal, canned fruit and veggies. Whatever you bring in will be greatly appreciated. If you don t know what to bring but want to help, I will be glad to shop for you. We have had a couple of wonderful gift certificate and monetary donations which I enjoy spending. I am truly grateful for the faithful donors who I can count on to bring the same items every week. Thank you to all who continue to support the pantry and our mission to help our community. I ask that you please keep our neighbors in mind when you shop so we can all say we have heard the cry of the needy. In December we provided food for 90 of God s children and provided Christmas hams to 46 families. A special Thank You to Calla Sellner for the work that she does to promote and administer the Food Pantry. Page 4

5 New Creation UMC Moving Forward Together: To Know Christ and to Make Christ Known Page 5 New Creation Youth On November 13, 2015, the United Methodist Women of New Creation provided dinner for The United Methodist Youth and 5 Youth Leaders. The UMW prayed over the youth as we journeyed to the Fayetteville Coliseum for Pilgrimage Pilgrimage is a 3 day United Methodist Youth event with Christian rock music, motivational speakers, and testimonies organized and directed by Youth. The Speaker this year was Bob Goff. Bob told stories that encouraged Youth to draw closer to God. Sunday s closing preacher was Tiffany Knowlin. What our youth said about Pilgrimage: They have tried to be more inclusive this year. Last year s pilgrimage was a sea of white faces. Pilgrimage 2015 included minorities in the praise team, giving testimonies and displaying talents. Another youth said that the best part of the weekend was getting closer to other youth. A third youth said that she liked everything about pilgrimage and is looking forward to going again next year. Thanks to the United Methodist Men for providing funds for dinner, to Pastor Shuler for securing funding from the conference, to Edgar Vergara for accepting our application and providing the Hispanic/ Latino Youth Grant. And thanks to our youth leaders, Christine Delp, Luke de Leon, Hannah Faus, Ben Faus and Felicia Joyner.

6 New Creation United Methodist Church Summary Report of the New Creation United Methodist Church s Building Project It has been a joy to chair the New Creation United Methodist Church s Building Committee for Thanks to all for your contributions, pledges, and participation in our fund raising efforts and projects. We are delighted that we received almost twice as much in pledges to the Building Fund for 2016 than in This ensures us that the congregation is strongly supporting the Building Project. The Committee will need your continued support as we seek to identify large and small donors for our building project, and sell bricks for the special wall to be incorporated in the building with names of church members, family members, church supporters, and others. To get a person s name on a Brick, we are asking for a donation of $ to cover the cost of one brick and shipping and $100 to the Building Fund. The Committee consists of 29 members with four guests who attend regularly. The members of the Committee are: Sarah Baldwin, Phil Brown, Lubertha Buie, Selena English, David Eustice, Dee Gidney, Randy Griffin, Bernice D. Johnson, Lawrence E. Johnson, Alice Williamson Jones, Mary Jones, Lucy Lincoln, Barbara Logan, Patricia McGhee, Gloria McAuley, Tyrone McAuley, Judith Mitchell-Watson, Edward Moon, Patti Owen, Donita Robinson, James Sanders, Harvey Sellner, Albert Shuler, Arthur Shuler, Jimmie Shuler, LaNella Smith, Lynn Smith, Keya Strudwick, and Delores Vaughan. Regular Guests: Duke Interns, Patrick Hecker and Ben Faus, Hannah Faus, and Bernice Shuler. The Building Committee has five subcommittees chaired by members of the committee: Page 6 Planning and Design: Program: Fund Raising: Tours and Visits Accessibility Lucy Lincoln and Harvey Sellner Mary M. Jones Patti Owen Eugene Lofton Harvey Sellner Future Site: 518 Martin Luther King Pkway (continued on next page)

7 Page 7 The Committee s work in 2015 includes the following: 1. Reviewed the Development Plan with City and County Planners and Staff 2. Met and received approval of the building project from the Corridor District Committee on Church Location and Building 3. Conducted several meetings with the architect and site planner. 4. Wrote a successful proposal and received a $120,000 loan from the North Carolina Conference Board of Missions. 5. Worked closely with Architect Che` Clark of Native American Design Services to get the desired design of the church building. 6. Paid all fees needed to get the Site and Construction plans approved. 7. Worked with Site Engineer, Timothy Sivers, of Horvath Associates to get site surveys done and site and Construction Plans approved. 8. Received approval of the Site Plans in July Received approval of the Construction Plan in October This means we can now begin construction after the payment of $35,000 in fees and an approved construction loan. 10. Worked with the congregation to pay for all 2015 survey fees and others related to the building project. 11. Received refunds for fees paid because of our church status and work of Timothy Sivers. 12. Put on a spectacular Gala in May of 2015, honoring LaNella Smith, and raised in excess of $10, Raised $160,000 in income in 2015 which includes pledges, interest, fund raisers, and loans from individual members of the congregation. 14. Paid all outstanding expenses and have funds for the remaining expenses expected in Sent requests to four construction firms for proposals to construct our church building. 16. Received three proposals. 17. Heard a presentation from one construction firm. 18. Started conversations with the MLK Property neighbors at the Campus Crossing Housing Complex. Future Plans are to: A. Apply for and get approval for a construction loan in January or February from the United Methodist Development Fund. B. Finalize Decision Regarding a Construction Firm. C. Receive $10,000 from the sale of 100 Bricks. D. Receive large and small donations to enable the beginning of construction. E. Begin construction Spring or Summer of Bernice Duffy Johnson, Chairperson Building Committee

8 Page 8 Each church leader was asked to share their hope for New Creation UMC in Below are two responses; one from Gloria McAuley our Administrative Council Chair and one from Pat McGhee, our outgoing president of United Methodist Women. My Hope for Gloria McAuley I pray that in 2016 we will find ourselves more committed than ever to be followers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus is our hope and as we live out that hope we will more fully walk in the light of Christ. My hope for this year is that we live more fully into our vision to Know Christ and Make Christ Known. A favorite hymn of mine is And They ll Know We are Christians by our Love. I pray in 2016 that love will continue to transform us and change us and that New Creation members will be known as disciples of Jesus Christ by our love. The United Methodist Women s HOPE in 2016 is for New Creation to grow spiritually, more deeply rooted in Christ and to put faith into action. God is calling us to provide the knowledge of His glory by making disciples and work on behalf of women, children and youth through missions. This HOPE coincides with the UMW 2016 program study theme of Growing in Blessedness. As referenced in Hebrews 7:19, HOPE is an anchor of the soul. The green tree color symbolizes nature, HOPE, bountifulness and eternal life...and my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

9 TOGETHER, WE EXTEND A HELPING HAND TO THOSE IN CRISIS SO THEY CAN OVERCOME FORMIDABLE OBSTACLES. Human Relations Day is January 17, A United Methodist Special Offering Sunday Turn on the news or drive around the outskirts of your town and you will find what Jesus called the least of these. Those living in the margins of society, struggling to survive. People like: An immigrant teenager in Texas poorest county, being recruited by a local gang A father struggling for sobriety in Little Rock, Arkansas An Oklahoma woman recently released from incarceration looking for work Page 9 Over and over Jesus served people like this, embracing them. And that s what we want to model as the people of The United Methodist Church. To continue the ministry of Jesus we established Human Relations Day as a Special Sunday that calls all of our churches to participate in helping all God s children to realize their potential. Equipping The United Methodist Church to Be the Church As a member of The United Methodist Church, your gift, on this day, allows the work of folks like Bruce and Becky Ballou to build relationships with those teens in Texas. Your gift allows Montey Payne to lead recovering addicts towards healing. And your gift helps Rev. Steve Burr find work for exoffenders. This work, and hundreds of other ministries, are possible because you give. Special offering envelopes will available on Sunday, January 17th. Will You Support the Ministry of Christ Among Those on the Margins? Will you continue to support Human Relations Day? Will you continue nurturing at-risk youth, strengthening communities self-improvement efforts and advocating for the oppressed? Rev. I Maliik Safir, whose church works with those gripped by addiction in Little Rock, sums up the work of Human Relations Day by recalling Jesus story of the Good Samaritan: to meet the poor, the disadvantaged and the underserved at the places where others have robbed them and help them to recover from the wounds of social inequality Martin Luther King Jr. Observance You are invited to attend the annual City-County Government Martin Luther King Jr. Observance Program. This year's speaker is Dr. Reginald Van Stephens, pastor of White Rock Baptist Church, Durham, N.C. When: Wednesday, January 13, 2016 Time: Noon to 1:30 p.m. Place: First Presbyterian Church, 305 E. Main Street Music will be provided by the Joint City-County Employee MLK Choir under the direction of Mrs. Evelyn Edwards. Interested singers are invited to attend the first practice Dec. 30 at 11:30 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church, or contact Mrs. Edwards at

10 NEWS FROM THE CORRIDOR DISTRICT Page 10 Corridor Pastor and Laity January 2016 Gathering Pastors and Laity, Join us on Thursday, January 7 from 10-3 p.m. at Union Grove UMC in Hillsborough. In our January Gathering, we will be blessed with a learning experience offered by Steve Taylor, our Director of Connectional Ministries, as we engage in a poverty simulation. We will worship together. We will eat together with a special locally grown and prepared meal shared with us by the folks of Life Around the Table. Call the church office to register. Headcount is needed for lunch preparation. Corridor Training Workshops January 30 and February 7, 2016 January 30, 2016 ~ 9:00 a.m.. 1:00 p.m. at Orange UMC Effective Meetings - led by Rev. Dr. Tom Greener (Especially for Church Council chair and members, any Committee Leaders) Faith-Sharing - led by Rev. Kathy Kirkpatrick and Rev. Kong Namkung (Especially for Committees on Evangelism, Discipleship, and Outreach) Healthy Pastor-Parish Relations - led by Rev. Jessie Larkins and Rev. Jesse Brunson (Especially for Clergy, Committee chair and members) February 7, 2016 ~ 2:00 p.m.. 6:00 p.m. at Mt. Sylvan UMC Aligning and Streamlining Leadership Structure For Effective and Fruitful Ministry - led by Dr. Christine Harman (Especially for Lay Leadership Team, Church Council, Pastors) Communications: External and Internal - led by Maggie Ivancic and Jacob Blount (Especially for Communications staff, volunteers, and Pastors) Rethinking Sunday School - led by Mitzi Johnson and TBA (Especially for Nurture Committees, Age-level Coordinators and Small Group Leaders) Sustainable Financial Management and Planning - led by Rev. Reggie Ponder (Especially for Finance Committees, Trustees, and Pastors) Call the church office to register. Headcount is needed for class preparation.

11 BAPTISM OF JULIEN JOSEPH MCGILL- December 27, 2015 Page 11 Did you receive a gift card or two this holiday season? Making online purchases with those gift cards through UMCmarket will also benefit our ministry since we will receive a percentage of the overall purchase, and at no additional cost to you! UMCmarket also has hundreds of great post-holiday deals for you to maximize the value of your gift card purchases (as well as any type of online purchases)! So please remember to support the ministry of New Creation by making your online purchases through UMCmarket, and thank you for your continued participation! Do you have any news, announcements or photos to share with the New Creation community? If so, please contact our administrative assistant, LaNella Smith, at secretary@newcreationumcdurham.org Please remember to submit all entries for the newsletter by the 26th of the month to avoid publishing delays. Reverend Albert Shuler, Pastor New Creation United Methodist Church 201 South Alston Avenue, Durham, NC secretary@newcreationumcdurham.org