YOUTH NEWS
Easter, a time of rebirth, renewal, second chances. The blooms on the trees and the bright daffodil flowers that pop in time for our Easter celebrations are a symbol of life that continues, that won't be kept down. What does this time mean for our youth? This year, it means we celebrate and acknowledge that a group of young people took the time to learn about the covenant Jesus made with us at the Last Supper. It means we continue to welcome new little ones into our Sunday School program and we look to extend our teachings through the summer with our Summer Sprouts program. It also means we look for a way to ignite the faith of our youth in the months ahead by looking for a person or persons that have a desire and passion to teach and lead our youth. Welcoming all and encouraging kids to be themselves, meet others where they are in their faith and learn and have fun as they grow together.
I am very excited to begin our search for new leaders for our Youth and Family and Education positions. It might be one person, it might be two. We will have to see what God moves our way. It may mean needing a little more volunteer help for a while as we concentrate on one area over another, but the goal is always to grow our community and help our youth continue to learn and grow in their faith journey. To know they are welcome here whoever they are and with whatever doubts, questions, fears and convictions they may have. We want to find someone who can bring the stories of the Bible to our youngest, teach them the lessons that Jesus tries to teach us from a young age to build a solid foundation that they can depend on as they enter their more uncertain young adult lives. I ask that you support and pray for our congregation as we begin this search. May we follow God's lead to bring on the person or people that will be the best fit for our youth and help to ignite a fire of faith in our kids.
WOMENS RETREAT
I want to thank all the women that took part in this year's women's retreat! We had 24 women join us this year and yes, you can actually get sick of Chocolate, believe it or not! These weekends are always so much fun as we come together and share different experiences but see how God works in all our lives. God's grace is for us all and he will never leave us, no matter what we are facing. A special thank you to all the women that donated food for the weekend, to Raechelle Huston for helping provide pieces for our craft, and a special thank you to the women that helped lead our retreat this year, Sheryl Alberta, Vicki Blubaugh, Deb Park, Laura Llewellyn, and Jane Ward! This is not an event that can be pulled off alone and your help and leadership is truly appreciated!! If you didn't get to join us this year, I truly hope to try to join us next time around. It is a wonderful time of meeting others and growing in faith together.
SUNDAY SCHOOL/SUMMER SPROUTS
We take the weeks of Palm Sunday and Easter off from Sunday School. But will return the week of April 16th and finish out the last three weeks of the month during the 11:00 service. Beginning May 7th we will move to a program called Summer Sprouts which will be also during the second service and will cater to kids ages 3-6. We ask your help in teaching these lessons. The lessons will be created for you and be easy to lead. But we cannot run this program without volunteers. A sign up will be in the Gathering Space with the name and date for each lesson. If you can sign up to teach it, we would love to have you! Never taught a Sunday School class before? You can join me on Sunday April 23rd between services for a little orientation to Sunday School. I will go through a typical lesson. Show you where supplies are at and answer any questions you may have. Your help is appreciated and needed to make this program work and I hope to see many of you there! If 19 different people volunteer, you would only need to teach once and we would be covered for the entire summer.
EASTER EGG HUNT!
Thank you to all who donated candy and time to fill eggs for our Easter Egg hunt!! We are looking forward to sharing this fun time, hopefully minus any snow, with kids from our church and the community! Any school aged child is welcome to join us Easter Sunday between services (we'll start around 10:15). Remember to bring a basket or bag to hold your loot!