North Fayette United Methodist Church

I am the vine; you are the branches. John 15:5 making connections. North Fayette United Methodist Church The Cost of Hiding Our Light A Los Angeles restaurant owner recently discovered that a neon light had been covered without being disconnected first during a construction project 77 years prior. The calculated electricity cost to run the hidden light all that time was $17,000! People don t intentionally hide light; that would be counterproductive, not to mention wasteful. Yet when we shrink back from sharing Jesus good news, we do indeed hide the light of the world (Matthew 5:14) that is in us. When we re too modest to use God-given talents such as singing, playing piano or reading to bring others joy, we hide our light. When we put our own wants ahead of meeting someone else s needs through giving and serving, we hide the light of God s love. And at what cost? Let your light shine before others, Jesus says, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven (verse 16). Don t Forget!!! Valentine s Day Tuesday February 14th. Receive the latest NFUMC news via twitter using the hashtag #NFUMC or at www.nfumc.com Special Dates African-American History Month Boy Scout Sunday, February 5, 2017 Valentine s Day, February 14, 2017 Presidents Day, February 20, 2017 Transfiguration of Our Lord, February 26, 2017

The Pastor s Message This month I want to share with you an article by Vernon Foster about thinking of ways to do church that are "outside the box." I'm not necessarily suggesting we do it this way, but if the way we do church isn't reaching people, why do we keep doing it the same way? Expect to hear more about FreshExpressions of Church. We live in a day that holds deep assumptions about the way church is done. We assume exclusive religious spaces, teaching-centric gatherings, congregational liturgies, and musical worship experiences. The reformers gave us these ideas of church five hundred years ago, and we have become serious disciples of their ways. Interestingly, this approach is not found in the scriptures. Nor is it how church was done for the first three hundred years of Christianity. The apostolic era practiced church primarily around dinner tables. Whether it was the house churches introduced in the Book of Acts, or the Agapé churches introduced in the Epistles, church happened around tables of food at dinnertime. The dinner table setting of the first Christians is usually overlooked in today's theological discussions, but its implications are very deep and worthy of serious reflection. Jesus himself used the dinner table and dinnertime throughout his ministry. J. Crossen states that if one were to watch a day in the life of Jesus, he would mostly see him healing and eating. Jesus performed much of his salvific work from a dinner table. Many of the parables were told from a dinner table. Numerous kingdom metaphors assumed a dinner table. It is not a mystery then why the Acts house churches and the Gentile Agapé churches functioned around dinner tables; they were given that pattern by Jesus himself. During the Last Supper, Jesus took an annual dinner event and turned it into a vision for doing church by telling his disciples to begin doing what they were doing whenever they met, to continue to gather the poor and the stranger to their table, and to "remember" Christ instead of remembering the rescue event from Egypt. In so doing, Jesus embedded the gospel into the dinner table sociology, and his disciples obviously caught that vision. The gospel found a comfortable home at the dinner table and at dinnertimes. The familial setting of the dinnertime table made it easy to gather people to the family of God. During the three hundred years when Christian gatherings were Dinner Churches, the church grew from 20,000 to over 20 million. In other words, many sinners met their Savior over tables of food. There is something winsome about inviting people to dinner that cannot be paralleled by inviting them to a teaching event. In our day and age, still so influenced by the Reformation, we desperately need to meditate upon what we are actually asking the unchurched population to come to when we invite them to this thing we call church. We must follow up this meditation with another: would inviting our neighbors to dinner be more compelling? In fact, take a moment right now to think about one of your neighbors who isn't a part of a church. Imagine inviting that person to come with you to a worship gathering. Now, start over. Instead, imagine inviting that same neighbor to come over for dinner with your family. To which invite do you think you are more likely to hear yes? For people who have an understanding of church in their background or have a primed interest in Christianity, the proclamation event would be considered. But for people with no church sociology in their background or those having low interest in the Christian message, a proclamation event holds little appeal. With this in mind, I propose that the American church has a "sociological problem." There is nothing wrong with our gospel, but our way of doing church does not match the sociological realities of our non-church-going neighbors, who now dominate almost every zip code across our nation. And yet, the Church is called to lead all types of people to Jesus-not just those who would already fit in our gatherings. We cannot focus only on the those who already understand church sociology, we must do church for our secular neighbors, too. Jesus told an interesting parable about what to do with "new wine." He stated that new wine required "new wineskins," because to put new wine in old wineskins would burst the skins and spill the wine. I see this parable being lived out across the land. New outreach ideas are filled with an assumption that the new people will soon be brought to Sunday morning worship gatherings. And when they refuse to come, the church is disappointed and stops the outreach. In other words, the wineskin is broken and the new wine is spilled. Church after church is trying to create new wine, but are unquestionably trying to put it in the same bottle they are used to, rather than a new sociological construct (a new form of church) that better fits the sociology of the new people. Some churches have even gotten into an endless loop of looking for an effective outreach that will merge well with their Sunday proclamation event. They have never stopped to consider that their proclamation event is what needs to be changed rather than looking for a more effective outreach. The sociological construct that the Reformers gave us has been great for many of us, but it simply does not match the sociological realities of those we are called to reach. There is a very interesting verse for us to consider in Revelation 3:20 that reveals an ongoing desire of our Lord: "Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and DINE with him, and he with Me." If these poetic words mean anything, it suggests that Jesus still wants to have dinner with sinners. It is clear in the New Testament that Jesus loved having sinners, publicans, tax-collectors, and the like at his table. In fact, that habit brought more than a little controversy from the religious class. But he wasn't dissuaded; he continued to be "a friend of sinners" and welcome them at his table. And, interestingly, he still wants to have dinner with sinners. The only question remaining is, "Who is going to set his table?" Could it be that setting a table for sinners, seculars, and strangers to have dinner with Jesus might be one of the great callings of the church? What if when Jesus was telling Peter to "feed his sheep," he wasn't speaking metaphorically, but was actually directing him to a physical table?

Sunday February 5th Greeters Gina Alford, Bill Cain Richard & Patsy Coleman, Rudy Herren, Ken Holewinski Teller Lin Johns Liturgists Barbara & Steve Justice Children's Church Ardy Warr Nursery Pam Davis, Julie Ulmer 02 Daryl Mackey Phillip McKibbin 03 Bob Carroll 04 Jim Marks 06 Rudy Herren 07 Mike Langston 09 Revella Adams Alice Whitmire 11 George McKelvy 16 Sandra Herren 17 Travis Green Dale R. Huber 20 Yul Fogler 21 Susanne Carlson 22 Cathy Hewes 23 Alexandria Alvarez 25 Susan Read 28 Margaret Hall Sunday February 12th Greeters Judy Andrews, Julie Ulmer Sammy Andrews, Lewis Gregg, John Sugg, Serenah Tyson Tellers Aramis Alvarez, Sally Rice Liturgists Pam Ashman, Patsy Coleman Children's Church Alicia Alvarez Nursery Susan Read Sunday February 19th Greeters Bobby Watson Gina Alford, Debbi Carroll, Maurice Robinson, Rick Warr Teller Richard Coleman Liturgists Bill Cain Children's Church Susan Read Nursery Linda Longino, Debbi Carrol Sunday February 26th Greeters Debbie Carroll, Carol McGahee Larry Boak, Annette & Eddie Poindexter Teller Jim Schultz Liturgists Ardy & Kasidy Warr Children's Church Lynne Keiser Nursery Connie Schultz Every Little Bit Helps Our Church Family As part of NFUMC s ongoing fundraising, please continue to bring in gold of any kind, stray earrings, necklaces, etc; used ink cartridges; IHOP - Fayetteville receipts; Aluminum cans. And... Leaves are still available 01 George & LuAnn Latzanich 19 J.B. & Elizabeth Chandler 20 Glenn & Shirley Blackston 26 Richard & Patsy Coleman Electronic Giving QR Code Submit your articles, pictures, and information for the next newsletter by the 20th of each month to Steve Justice at stevejustice@bellsouth.net.

NFUMC Monthly Calendar Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4 9:00 am Girl Scouts 5 Morning Worship 6 6:00 pm Gilr Scouts UMM Mtg 7 8 9 10 Faith, Hope, Charity Circle Mtg 11 12 10:30a Veterans' Celebration Worship Christmas Luncheon 13 6:00 pm Trustees 14 Joy Circle 15 16 17 18 19 20 Morning Worship 2:00 pm Bridal Shower 4:00 pm Grace Circle 6:00 pm Gilr Scouts Finance Mtg 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Morning Worship 11:45am 3:00 pm Girl Scouts Church Council 28 11:30 am Book Club

Prayer for Presidents' Day Welcome to the world Charles Bennett Davis born on January 27, 2017. Charles is the son of JR and Melanie Davis and grandson of John and Pam Davis. Sympathy to Julie Ulmer on the passing of her mother at 92 years of age in Pennsylvania. Sympathy to Dwight Ulmer on the passing of his niece at 44 years of age in Florida. Lord of heaven and earth, we offer you our deepest appreciation for this blessed land. Stir up a sense of stewardship in every citizen so we all may care for our nation and each inhabitant of it. Coming in March - Relay for Life Pasta Luncheon The women of Faith, Grace and Joy are once again sponsoring a team for Relay for Life to be held on May 5, 2017 ay McCurry Park. They are walking to raise $3,000 in honor of all our members who have battled cancer. The annual fund raising pasta luncheon will be on Sunday March 12th at 11:45 pm. The lunch will include pasta, salad, bread, dessert, and drink. The cost is $7.00 for adults and $4.00 for children 6 to 12 years old. Children under 5 eat free. Reservations are due by March 5th; forms are available in the Sanctuary. We pray especially for our leaders. Prompt everyone in a position of authority, from local to national leaders, to strive for righteousness, justice and the welfare of all citizens. Finally, we pray that we may be ever mindful of the psalmist s teaching that Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord (Psalm 33:12, NRSV). May that promise become real from sea to shining sea. Amen. Be a Love Bird Many stories about the origin of Valentine s Day have come down through the centuries. There s no definitive story, but most revolve around the imprisonment of Valentinus (St. Valentine) for his disregard of Roman laws. Many legends are also associated with Valentine s Day. For example, because birds seemed to arrive and mate in some countries in mid-february, human couples came to be called love birds. In 1667, the first recorded Valentine card was printed. Today, people will give their sweethearts countless millions of cards and acres of heart-shaped boxes filled with candy. But why wait for Valentine s Day to share love with others? Remember Jesus words in John 13:34 (NRSV): I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.

2017 Church Council and Administrative Committees CHURCH COUNCIL TBD* Lay Member Annual Conference Lay Leader Finance Richard Coleman Staff Parish Relations Bill Cain Trustees John Davis Advocacy Kim Bryan Children's Ministry Susan Read Student Ministry Rick Warr Spiritual Formation Mary Marks Visitation Ministry Carol McGahee Hospitality Patsy Coleman Missions Co-chairperson Rick Rice Aramis Alvarez Fayette Samaritans Liaison Karen Smith Faye Harrington Evangelism TBD* Worship Women of Joy, Faith, and Grace representative Susan Read Julie Ulmer UMM President Walt Keiser At Large Members: Debbi Carroll Lewis Gregg Marie Cain Gloria (Dodie) Dickerson Carol Galimore George Latzanich Staff: Senior Pastor Joe Harrington Pastor Emeritus Bill Koetje Director of Music and Worship Mike Daniell Treasurer Lynn Keiser FINANCE COMMITTEE Richard Coleman Church Council Chair TBD* Lay Member Annual Conference/Lay Leader Staff Parish Relations Chair Bill Cain Evangelism Chair TBD Trustee Representative John Davis Missions Co-chair Aramis Alvarez Pastor Joe Harrington Treasurer Lynn Keiser At-Large class of 2017 Connie Schultz At-Large class of 2018 Lin Johns At-Large class of 2019 Anne Wittkop COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Joe Harrington (Pastor) Lay Leader Sarah Stone Ken Holewinski Patsy Coleman John Sugg Lois Howell Sandra Herren STAFF PARISH RELATIONS COMMITTEE Lay Delegate to Annual Conference/Lay Leader Alicia Alvarez Sally Rice Jim Schultz Pat Grunden Carol Gregg Peter Wittkop Linda Longino Bill Cain Elaine Sugg * Nominated, but have not yet confirmed acceptance Bold type indicates change TRUSTEES Randy Longino Tom Read Maurice Robinson Ken Holewinski Debbi Carroll John Davis Sr Karen Smith Rudy Herren Elizabeth Grindrod

North Fayette United Methodist Church 847 New Hope Road Fayetteville GA 30214 770.461-2409 www.nfumc.com North Fayette United Methodist Church A Welcoming Community of Faith where People Connect with God and Each Other Contact Information Email: info@nfumc.com Phone: 770 461-2409 Address: 847 New Hope Road, Fayetteville, GA 30214 Web Site: www.nfumc.com Please inform us if your address changes. If you are receiving this publication in error or do not want to receive the Grapevine, please contact us and we will remove you from our distribution list. Our Church Staff Joe Harrington Pastor Bill Koetje Assistant Pastor Emeritus Mike Daniell Music Director Lay Leader Lynne Keiser Treasurer LuAnn Latzanich Organist Melanie Putnam Nursery Anthony Blood Building Manager