Grow, Belong, and Serve

God was definitely with us this morning. Pastor Nathan simply asked the group when and how we might continue to meet on a regular basis now that the 9:30 service is starting. The discussion quickly shifted from how we might find a time for the CORE group to meet, toward how we could connect new people. We want our guests to feel like they belong from their first visit. We brainstormed ways to entice our new worship attendees to stick around for fellowship after the service so we might begin building relationships with them. It soon became clear that a service project could be the means to do that. God put the right people in the room this morning and provided the ideas. We left with a clear vision of what we were being called to do.

So, starting this Sunday, following the 9:30 service, worshipers will be invited to Fellowship Hall for coffee, conversation, and a short service project. Our vision is that this will be an opportunity for us to meet our guests in a more informal setting, and to provide our guest with a way to be connected and serving from their first visit. We plan to meet for a mission project like this every Sunday.

And beginning in January, we will form small groups for intentional faith development which might meet on a weeknight. We might start as one group or find that growth requires that we form several groups by that point to meet the needs of our 9:30 community.

I do hope you'll join us for worship at 9:30 and stick around for a service project. This week we'll be signing Thank You cards for the teachers at our neighborhood schools. There will be childcare for infant-PreK, and school-aged children will be invited to help us with a special project for the schools as well.

CORE group work opportunity

You are invited to come to the church this Wednesday, Nov 24, at 2PM in Fellowship Hall to set up for the service project on Sunday morning. (If you think you can make it, please leave a comment below so we'll look for you.)

Sunday morning, after the 9:30 worship, we will invite our guests to join us in Fellowship Hall for a quick service project, coffee, and conversation. We will be signing thank you cards for the teachers at our neighborhood schools.

Because there will be elementary age children joining us, we will be setting up a mural or poster for them to help decorate for the school. If you have a fabulous idea on the specifics of what that might be, please leave a comment below.

Celebration of Mission and Service Work @ PVUMC

You all are out of control...in a GREAT way! News came out this week inside our church about the Extravagant Generosity of this congregation. Because of this congregation's extravagant generosity, you are making a difference in this community and the greater world. Here are a couple of comments from Pastor Nathan Stanton's email to the congregation this week as well as some of my own thoughts and additions.

• We have finished payment on our Mission and Ministry apportionment (our church's share of support for global initiatives) for the 2010 year.

• As of this week we also have paid down debt we owe on the building to $309,000! Just two and a half years ago we had just under 1.2 million dollars still to pay off from building in 1998. By eliminating the current debt on the building, we will have more resources to continue to meet the needs of our community through new outreach programs.

Presentation of the Crop Walk Quilt, November 7, 2010

• The Crop Walk quilt was awarded to Pleasant Valley UMC for the third year in a row for raising the highest amount of donations among all participating churches. Pleasant Valley members and friends were responsible for almost $5,000 in donations to help with ministries that assist others living in poverty and hunger locally and around the world.

• This week, we finished the Operation Christmas Child with Cathleen Simeo making the delivery of 115 boxes on behalf of PVUMC!

• We had volunteers helping GraceMed with their dental checks on elementary students from Cloud Elementary. We had volunteers working with and walking the children between the school and clinic all day Wednesday and Thursday.

• Visit our Mission and Service page to see our current opportunities to get involved, including the Youthville Giving Tree initiative, now through November 30th.

We're out of control allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us where God is calling us to go. What are we learning? We are learning that when we let go and let the Spirit lead, miracles happen, people's lives are touched and changed and our lives are filled and changed as well!