A Message From The Pastors - Clover...
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A Message From The Pastors
What is your favorite part of the Christmas story? Is it the young girl who was
chosen to mother the Messiah? Is it Joseph and his choice to stay with Mary even
though she has inexplicably become pregnant? Is it the humble circumstance of his
birth or the common shepherds who receive the good news while tending their
flocks? For most of us the thing that we value most in the Christmas story can be
described with adjectives such as simple, humble, ordinary, and common. A simple
girl, a man humble enough to accept the angel’s story, an ordinary stable for shelter,
common shepherds to offer praise. The incarnation is not grandiose. The majesty of
the story is contained within its simplicity.
As we consider what all this might mean for us, we encourage you to be humble, to
seek God in the simplest of places, and in the humblest of people. Seek to be like
Mary and serve how God chooses to use you. Be like Joseph and humble yourself by
letting go of your grudges and righteous indignation. Be like the shepherds who
stand in awe of what they see and hear. Be like the innkeeper and find room to care
even when you feel like you have nothing left to give. In so far as you can, leave the
doors of your heart wide open to those who seem like outsiders. Openness is what
we should expect from a religion that was born in a barn, or at least born in a stable.
Our Bishop is asking churches to decide if we are willing to sponsor a Syrian family.
At this point it is unclear how, or even if, this sponsorship will happen. The outreach
committee is contemplating this question and they hope to bring a recommendation
to our charge conference on December 15th. There is always a risk involved in
questions such as these’ but the greatest risk may come in the form of over
analyzation and inaction. Will we, like the innkeeper, find a way to make room for
others.
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave
you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a
stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw
you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just
as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
Matthew 25:37-40
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Church Life
The Nativity: Characters From The
Crèche; Sermon Series
December 6 – Second Sunday of
Advent & Communion: “Mary”
December 13 – Third Sunday of
Advent: Church Christmas Pageant
December 20 – Fourth Sunday of Advent:
“Joseph”
December 24 – Christmas Eve (5:00pm, 7:00pm,
11:00 pm) “Baby Jesus”
December 28 – First Sunday after Christmas:
“The Shepherds”
January 4 – Epiphany of the Lord &
Communion: “The Magi”
Christmas Eve Candlelight Worship
5:00, 7:00 & 11:00 pm Join us for our Christmas Eve Candlelight
Worship. The tradition of lighting candles is
always a high point of our Christmas
celebration. A caring nursery will be provided
at 5:00 and 7:00 PM. Share the light of Jesus by
inviting friends and family to worship.
Worship In December
Church Christmas
Pageant
Sunday, December
13th Join us for a very special
morning in worship! The
Chancel Choir, Praise
Band, Children and Youth
will be performing our
Church Christmas Pageant at both the
9:00am and 10:30am services.
Sanctuary
Poinsettias We invite you to
“sponsor” the
poinsettias. Your
gift will help to
provide for all of the flowers and not just
one. Any proceeds beyond the actual cost of
the poinsettias will be given to our Hope
Chest food pantry ministry. Flowers can be
given “in memory”, “in honor”, or simply
given by an individual or family.
Contributions can be in any amount, but a
suggested donation is $15. A list of the
sponsorships will be included in the bulletin
on Sunday, December 21, and any
contributions that are not clearly marked “in
memory” or “in honor” will be listed as
“given by.” Please turn in your information
by December 6th in order to have your
contribution included in the list of
sponsorships. Please do not write your
dedication information on your check. Thank
you for using the appropriate poinsettia form
(found outside the sanctuary or in the church
office) or for signing up at
valleyviewumc.org.
UMC Giving Tuesday
Tuesday, December 1 Sharing our gifts is a
spiritual discipline that
helps us grow stronger as
the body of Christ. The
church’s response to those in need is an
expression of our faith, a confirmation of our
discipleship and a witness to our love for our
neighbors.
This year, The United Methodist Church has an
opportunity to maximize your support on
December 1, as part of UMC #Giving Tuesday.
You can express the spiritual discipline of giving
by donating online through “The Advance” to
any project or missionary of your choice. On this
day only, December 1, your gifts will be
matched up to $1 million. As always, 100% of
your gift will go toward the designated project
you choose. Help communities build churches,
dig wells, feed and educate children, and equip
hospitals and clinics. Support a missionary who
is sharing the light of Christ, or bring healing
and hope to survivors of natural and civil
disasters. Give on Tuesday, December 1st
www.umcmission.org/give
Christmas Eve Offering An important part of any
worship experience is the
offering of our gifts of praise.
On Christmas Eve we will
not only offer gifts to God, but we will also be
supporting education and our UM
denomination. Our collection will be shared by
the Lydia Patterson Institute in El Paso, Texas
and our Apportionments.
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Church Life Season Of Giving
Charge Conference
Tuesday, December 15th at 7:00pm Everyone in the
congregation is
welcome to attend our
annul Church business
meeting to review
church goals and
objectives, elect new church leaders, set clergy
salaries, and recommend and continue persons
for candidacy. This meeting will be facilitated
by the district superintendent.
Advent Devotionals In collaboration with our members, staff and
community, we are pleased to have published a
devotional booklet for the Advent season. Pick
one up at the sanctuary entrances or at the
brochure racks throughout the building.
The Upper Room Upper Room devotional
books are available on the
tables outside the north and
south sanctuary entrances
Worship Bulletin:
Printed Prayer List
If you are hospitalized or ill
and wish to be on the printed
prayer list, please have a
family member or friend
complete a prayer card
indicating your permission, or call the church
office and request to be put on the printed list.
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Church Life
Adult Sunday School Classes
(currently offered) Coffee and Conversation (9:00am) in
Fellowship Hall
Adult Forum (10:15am) in the Conference
Room
Open Door Class (10:15am) in the Parlor
People in Progress (10:15am) in Off Ct. 38/39
TNT (10:15am) in room 50/51
Valley Viewers (10:15am in room 52/53)
Go to valleyviewumc.org (programs/ministries)
for a description of each class.
UM Women
United Methodist
Women
All women are invited. Go
to valleyviewumc.org for
additional meetings later
this month.
Hope Circle will have their Christmas Pot
Luck at Twylia Church’s home December 8th, at
6:00pm.
Joy Circle will meet on Tuesday, December 8th
at 11:30am for lunch at the Bristol followed by
the Evening Care Christmas Card Mission
Project.
United Methodist Women Cookie
Exchange
Saturday, December 5th, at 10:00am All women are invited to come on Saturday
morning, Dec. 5th at 10:00am in Fellowship Hall
for our Cookie
Exchange. We will
have refreshments and
fellowship. If you
bring 3 dozen cookies,
you may participate in
choosing an
assortment of 3 dozen
cookies to take home
for the holidays. Our
special guest will be
Sarah Kanoy,
granddaughter of
Bonnie Brown. She will share some of her
experiences as a Community Health Nurse and
Educator in East Africa. Mark your calendars
and join us!
Bishop’s Round-Up Against Hunger Thanks to everyone who contributed items for
the Bishop’s Roundup Against Hunger this
year. We took 95 health kits, 1 layette, 1
cleaning bucket and $70 over to Lawrence and
in addition, we collected over 1600 items for
our Hope Chest Food Pantry. Since we
included the value of the items we collected at
HyVee in October in our total count, we
contributed a grand total of $5457. Thanks so
much once again for your generosity. Please
continue to donate Hope Chest items and
money so we can replenish our shelves after the
distribution of holiday baskets to our guests.
Missions
December Sunday School Schedule In December we wait for that special night of
the birth of Jesus. Our children’s program has
some exciting things planned while we wait for
this special night.
December 6th:
Sunday School Topic: Mary
Christmas Pageant dress rehearsal after the
10:30am service.
December 13th:
Christmas Pageant
Be in the Upper Room by 8:45am. We will
perform at the 9:00am service, then have
doughnuts and juice in the Upper Room. We
perform again at the 10:30am service. After the
performance children are free to go with their
parents .
December 20th:
Sunday School Topic: Joseph
December 27th:
Birthday Party For Jesus! We will celebrate the
birth of our King. Children are invited to bring
Jesus a birthday gift of something that a baby at
our Hope Chest could use (diapers, formula,
etc.).
4th and 5th Grade Sunday School Beginning January 3rd, we will be offering 4th
and 5th grade Sunday School at 9:30am as part
of our new 5/6 GO program. We are excited to
give our older children this special time to allow
them to both grow in faith and attend worship
every Sunday.
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Children’s Ministry Special Needs Ministry
We kept very busy in November! We made
adorable snowmen ornaments that were sold
at Valley View's all-church Thanksgiving
dinner. The proceeds from that sale will be
donated to the Wounded Warrior Project. We
joined with Valley View families for the annual
Thanksgiving meal and celebration and
enjoyed listening to the Praise Band and our
very own Tone Chime Choir which played
after the meal. We made and donated
sandwiches to the Central United Methodist
soup kitchen, celebrated November, birthdays
and worked on our memory books! In
December our calendar is as follows:
Dec. 3: Gym & Board Games, EC Bakers bake
and package cookies
Dec. 6: Sell cookies (proceeds going to KC Pet
Project)
Dec. 10: Christmas party with Santa & elves
Dec. 17: Christmas music with Maggie,
Christmas craft, December birthdays
Dec. 24: No Evening Care
Dec. 31: No Evening Care
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Student Ministry
Student ministry has some exciting plans for 2016… here is a brief rundown of
what’s to come!
5/6 GO (5th & 6th Grade) – This will be our new offering to 5th and 6th graders (this will not
include this year’s 6th graders since they are already integrated into the youth ministry). This
age group (tweeners) is often a group that just gets shoved into areas that don’t really fit
their needs. They have aged out of Kids Ministry, but are still trying to figure that
intimidating move into the Youth Ministry. This will be an intentional effort to give this age
group a transition time from “kid into youth.”
IF Groups (7th – 12th grade Intentional Faith Groups) – These groups will tackle the “what if”
questions of life that we deal with on a daily basis. In this discussion group setting, the youth
will begin to develop tools based on faith that can help them work though things such as
current events, hot topics, teen issues, leadership, etc. This group will meet about 45 minutes
on Sunday mornings.
Youth Group (7th-12th grade Sunday evening youth) –Unlike Sunday mornings, this will be more
of an activity based gathering with active learning, crazy games, fellowship opportunities,
service projects, youth interactive worship… you get the picture. Evening gatherings are
more guest friendly, especially for teens.
PG Factor (Weekly Parents Group) – Many times, as parents of kids who are still in school, we
need to be surrounded by others who are dealing with or have recently dealt with the same
crazy stuff we are trying to figure out. This group will discuss family topics, balancing faith
and family, life issues, support, and whatever the group sees as a need at the time. This is a
great forum for inviting your family friends that might be looking for a community to plug
into. This group is for parents of all ages!
5th Sundays (Quarterly Fellowship Activity for youth & family) – We are one community and
should gather to celebrate that on occasion. On these Sundays we will have opportunities for
the youth and their families to all gather for a time of just pure fun and fellowship. These
could include Parent vs. Youth competitions, picnics, tailgating & game outings, etc. This is a
quarterly gathering on 5th Sundays of a month.
ME3 (Youth mission and service opportunities) - Our faith growth includes intentional service
to others in thankful response for what God has done and continues to do for us. ME3 is the
idea that we put God 1st, Others 2nd and “Me” 3rd, as is our instruction through scripture. Our
approach to service and mission is going to be multifaceted.
For more information about any of our Student Ministry programs, contact Jamey Bentley at
Staff Information
Pastors
Rev. Neil Gately Rev. Bridget Gately
(913) 642-4400 ext. 313 (913) 642-4400 ext. 312
[email protected] [email protected]
Office Dee Hetlinger Amy Woodworth
Business Administrator Scheduling &
Administration
(913) 642-4400 ext. 310 (913) 642-4400 ext. 311
[email protected] [email protected]
Children Janet Loos Leona Murphy
Director of Children &
Family Ministry Weekday Program Director
(913) 642-4400 ext. 320 (913) 649-5897
[email protected] [email protected]
Shelley Dopp
Asst. Weekday Director
(913) 383-9146
Youth and Recreation Special Needs Ministry Jamey Bentley Angie Beck, Twlyia Church,
Director of Youth
and Recreation
Ginni Duggan and
Julie Drew
(913) 642-4400 ext. 321 (913) 642-4400 ext 322
[email protected] [email protected]
Music Ray Martin Mary Haas
Worship Leader Chancel Choir
(913) 642-4400 ext. 316 (913) 642-4400 ext. 316
[email protected] [email protected]
Tina Gadwood Jan Barger
Hand Bells Organist
(913) 642-4400 ext. 316 (913) 642-4400 ext. 316
[email protected] [email protected]
Custodians Dave Wapelhorst Javier Ruiz
[email protected] [email protected]
Hope Chest Food Pantry
Michelle Hess
(913) 642-4400 ext. 316
From The Church Office
Church Building and Office Closed
for Christmas and New Years The Church office will be closed December 24th,
December 25th, December 31st and January 1st.
Winter Group Meetings Are you planning to cancel your regularly held
or currently scheduled December, or early
January meeting at Valley View? Please give
Amy a call at 642-4400 or e-mail,
[email protected]. with dates. Please
include the usual meeting date and time with
your request.
Publication Deadlines
The January newsletter deadline is Tuesday,
Dec. 22 at 5:00 PM. The Valley View E-News and
worship bulletin deadlines are each Wednesday
at 12:00 PM. Please e-mail information to Janet
Loos in the church office at
Inclement Weather & Building Closings
If the Shawnee Mission School District cancels its
activities due to weather, Valley View cancels its
activities as well. Check our home page at
valleyviewumc.org or listen to the recorded
message on the main office phone (913-642-4400)
for weather related cancellations.
Valley View United Methodist Church
Purpose Statement
We are a Christ-centered community, sharing God's
love. Come as you are!
Mission Statement
Valley View United Methodist Church is a welcoming
congregation, growing in grace, being transformed by
love and serving as disciples of Jesus Christ.
