THE VINE CONNECTION NEWSLETTER. December 2014 VOL.2 # ISSUE #11. Page 1 A YEAR IN REVIEW 2014

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1 THE VINE CONNECTION NEWSLETTER The Vine Connection is all about reaching out to each other and our community December 2014 VOL.2 # ISSUE #11 A YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 As The Vine Ministries unfolded this year, we picked highlights of them. The Vine Church 1 S. Main Street Page 1.

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4 The Vine Church Vision Statement is to connect people to Jesus Christ, who is The Vine, so that they may connect to each other and the community around them in order to have a growing relationship with The Vine. MINISTRY IN ACTION THE VINE ACTIVITIES The Pastor s Ponderments Pastor Mark Christmas time! What an amazing time of the year. A time to prepare to celebrate our Lord and Savior! A time to celebrate Advent and to reclaim Christmas from our culture! A time to think about others and a time to rejoice in the blessing we have received. It is also a time to ponder what has been happening over the past year, since 2015 is fast approaching. Thank you for all of your heartfelt efforts in serving the community and each other during the past year! We have an extravagant God Who is showering us with His unbelievable grace and mercy! Can you truly embrace those words? Can you truly say Amen? We had an incredible time preparing for the Steam and Craft parade and movie night. We relabeled 400 water bottles in 40 minutes and had many new faces helping out. Our God s Not Dead movie night was one of the best attended. Then the following week, we had a full weekend of camping, worshiping and praising Jesus at Roxbury. We had a wonderful group of folks serving children with disabilities on a mission trip at Oxygen 3. Are you seeing the extravagance? We are working to develop interest in the Young Adult Life group and have also started a new Home Bible Study. We had two families involved with the Convoy of Hope and our youth went on their first weekend retreat. We are so much more than simply Sunday church! It is amazing to think about how we are seeing God s movement in ministry. It is a blessing to witness people becoming a compelling missional community. We have provided for sound discipleship through our Sunday services, and our Life groups! The men, couples, young adults and students have been meeting and growing in relationship with each other and with Jesus. We have connected with and served our community through Tabitha s Table food bank and Trunk of Manna. Regardless of the situation or circumstances, I have witnessed love and compassion extended in meaningful ways. As we step outside of ourselves and embrace Jesus and His Word in a deeper manner lives will continue to transform! Hearts will reach out to Jesus! Only in Jesus will we have true Victory! Let s claim this Victory in the name of Jesus for 2015! Pastor Mark Page 4

5 COME & GET IT C.H.O.S.E.N. BACK TO SCHOOL! Yeah, we know those words are hard to say for most of us. We had an awesome summer full of fun stuff but that doesn't have to end! You may have seen some of us on the morning of September 24th standing around the flag pole holding hands. We were praying for our world and school that day. This prayer happens world-wide and is called See You at the Pole. It was early and hard to get up but we understand that prayer is important. The verse that we focused on was Ephesians 6:18, "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." That night at our rally we prayed in small groups with 3 other student life groups. Our prayers ranged from the needs of the world all the way down to our own needs. Keep an eye out for our next update because we are going to be away for an entire weekend at CRC!!! PRAYER FOCUS CORNER: LIFE GROUP NEWS TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS Prayer for True Meaning of Christmas Father God, we prepare to give thanksgiving and praise in a season of celebration for the birth of our Lord. We ask You to walk with us and guide us in all our actions and our thoughts regarding the true meaning of Christmas during these days of holiness. Help us to balance the rushing, the buying, the jingles, the santas, the reindeers, and those things which take away the true importance and meaning of our Savior s birth. Father, help us think of the eternal ramifications of our Savior s birth into this world. The highest and greatest blessing is that we will someday be in the presence of our Heavenly Father and His Glory will surround us and there will be no more sorrow as worldly things will have passed. We will be with our Christian brothers and sisters, including our family members, friends and those who were; those who presently are; and those who will be all who have accepted our Father s invitation of grace; because of our Savior s birth, death and resurrection. We will spend eternity with each of these cherished people of God. That is what Christmas means to me. Praise be to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, as we celebrate His birthday. In Jesus precious name we pray. Amen A few months back, Aron and I were discussing the different life groups The Vine Church had to offer. As we begin to talk, we saw a need in the church for young adults to get reconnected to Christ. Statistics show that most young adults walk away from church during the ages of Aron and I felt that young adults need to come together to lift each other up in these times of great confusion. When we asked Pastor Mark about creating a young adults life group he was very excited and encouraged us to do this. The book that we are studying is In Real Time by Mike Glenn. The book provides insight into many major question young adults face concerning such topics as worries about careers, relationships, anger, trust and many others. We meet every 2ⁿ and 4 Saturday of the month at 7:00 pm at the church. Tim Page 5

6 AROUND THE BIC Tracing Our Theological History. A unique aspect of the Brethren in Christ Church is the rich blend of theological traditions that make us who we are today. Specifically, preaching and teaching in our churches is shaped by three emphases within the wider Christian community: Anabaptism, Pietism, and Wesleyanism. Anabaptism. The theological roots of the Brethren in Christ Church reach back to the Protestant Reformation. At that time, reformers called Anabaptists stressed the importance of a personal responsibility toward one's baptism (believer's baptism), as well as the importance of discipleship, and obedience, the separation of church and state, the practice of non-resistance, and the necessity of community. This Anabaptist heritage is reflected in our emphases on the community of faith, to serving compassionately, to living simply, and to pursuing peace. WORD OF THE MONTH Immanuel (im-maw-noo-ale') God with us. Isa 7: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. NIV BIBLE WORDS Women s Life Group -BIBLE STUDY - meets first Monday of the month at church from 6:30-8:00 / contact Karen Shade facilitator (717) or Lori Sewell (717) for more information. Men s Life Group - meets every other Wednesday at the church from 7:00-8:30 / contact Pastor Mark (717) for more information. Prayer HOUR OF POWER - meets the other Wednesday at church 7:00-8:30 / contact Morris Fraley (301) for more information. Student Life Group CHOSEN - meets at the church every Thursday night from 6:30-8:00 / contact Esther Fairall (443) or Debbie Kelly (717) for more information. Couple s Life Group - meets every first Tuesday of the month at the leaders home from 6:30-8:00 / contact Morris & Sheri Fraley (301) for more information. Young Adult s Life group - meets every other Saturday each 7:00 at the Church - Contact Tim Barger for more info: orioles.8@hotmail.com MORE PLACES TO US CHECK OUT FOLLOW US: Check out the Website: 1 South Main St. Smithsburg, MD (301) Join us on Sundays at 10:00am Comments - Suggestions - Feedback thevineconnection_newsletter@yahoo.com Page 6

7 December 2014 Luke 2: An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. NIV Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 Couple s Life Group 7:00 pm 3 Men s Life Michael Shrewsberry 4 PM Worship 10:00 am 8 9 Aria Brooks 10 HOUR of POWER 7:00 PM 11 PM Shelly Eden Worship 10:00 am Family Christmas Party 1:00 pm 21 Worship 10:00 am Men s Life 22 Esther Fairall 18 PM Christmas Day Mo n Tu e W ed Th u Fri Sa t Jessica Wilson 1 Angel 2 DeVore 3 4 Harold Leer Worship 10:00 am Tyler Eden Columbus Day Page 7 Halloween

8 January 2015 Luke 2: An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. NIV Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 New Year's Day Worship 10:00 am Christian Snively 5 6 Couples Life 7 Hour of Power 7:00 pm Young Adult Life 11 Worship 10:00 am 12 Mike Wingert Men s Life Debbie Kelly Worship 10:00 am 19 Martin Luther King Day 20 Mike Fairall Daniel Snively 21 Hour of Power 7:00 pm Glenna Eden Young Adult Life 25 Worship 10:00 am Men s Life Group 7:00 pm Cassidy Quinn Dawshawn Shrewsberry Page 8