Category Archives: Announcements and Stuff

UMCOR SUNDAY
Sunday, March 15th is United Methodists Council on Relief Sunday. The Claybanks United Methodist Church has supported UMCOR for many of its eighty plus years providing relief for those in need. During 2025, 137 worldwide Humanitarian Crises were addressed by UMCOR. Records show 454,163 lives were directly touched through the aid provided by UMCOR. 153 grants for disaster response and recovery were given in 2025. Included in these grants were eighteen for global migration, six for environmental relief, and ten for agricultural initiatives.

On UMCOR Sunday, the donations we give go to support the administration of UMCOR. By supporting UMCOR Sunday giving, when special requests for disasters and crises relief happens, all 100% of the funds given go directly to relief. In 2025, special giving totaled $32.96 million. The total funds raised went directly to humanitarian crises.

There will be special giving envelopes in the pews for UMCOR Sunday. Please prayerfully consider supporting them March 15th.

Holy Week
Holy Week begins on Sunday, March 29^th, when we will celebrate Palm Sunday during our worship service. Holy Thursday, April 2^nd, we are invited to worship with the White Lake United Methodist Church in the evening. The Claybanks United  Methodist Church will have a Good Friday service at 2:00 in the afternoon. Easter celebration will begin with a visit to the empty tomb inside in the fellowship hall at 9:30 am. Following our visit, we will have an Easter breakfast provided for us by the Claybanks Women of Faith. At 10:30 am we will all enter the sanctuary together for our Easter worship celebration.

Adult Sunday School
Sunday, March 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th, we will gather and join other United Methodist churches in Michigan to learn from the  book “Knowing who we are: The Westland Way of Grace.” The program will include readings, video presentations, and discussion on what we believe, what we do, and why. The program will offer us a clear picture of our Wesleyan way of following Jesus, focusing on core values like God’s full grace for everyone, real life transformation, how your faith leads to positive, visual changes in your life, your community, and the world. The materials were developed by Lacey Warner, a professor at Duke University divinity school. Everyone is invited to participate. We will have the coffee ready each Sunday and occasionally doughnut holes! See you at 9:30 am beginning Sunday, March 8th. Reading handouts are available prior to the beginning of our classes located on the materials table in the fellowship hall.

Missions for March and April
In the fellowship hall, you will find a table for the Trinity Lutheran baby pantry. On the table are handouts that detail some of the needs that the pantry has identified for us as donations. We will continue to have updates through March and April and as the table becomes full, we will deliver our donations to the Trinity baby pantry.

We are looking for suggestions for mission work in our community that we can assist in beginning in May and running through the summer. If you have ideas, please pass them on to the missions and outreach team.

United Women of Faith
Ladies of the church, WOF, we will have our first meeting of the year on the third Thursday in March. Can spring be far behind? Yea!!

Mission For February/March
We are asking for baby Items to donate to Trinity Lutheran Baby Pantry (TLBP) for the months of February and March. Most needed items are diapers, wipes, and formula. Any baby items are welcome. If not new, items should be in good condition. Please place donations on the north table of the fellowship hall. We will have updated needs as we move through our donation time. Thank you for all you do to support our community.

Please find below Facebook information to share with anyone in need of items for the TLBP.

Link: www.tlcnewera.org

Adult Sunday School
Sunday, March 8, 15, 22, and 29, we will gather and join other Methodist Churches in Michigan to learn from the book “Knowing Who We Are – The Wesleyan Way of Grace”. The program will include readings, video presentations, and discussions on what we believe, what we do, and why. The program will offer us a clearer picture of our Wesleyan way of following Jesus, focusing on core values like God’s full grace for everyone, real life transformation, how your faith leads to positive, visual changes in your life, your community, and the world. The materials were developed by Laceye Warner, a professor at Duke University Divinity School. Everyone is invited to participate. We will have the coffee ready each Sunday and occasionally donut holes! See you at 9:30 a.m. beginning Sunday, March 8^th.

Adult Sunday School Break
Because of the difficulties that winter weather brings us, we will not be meeting for Sunday school during January and February. The plan is to resume Sunday School following the Peterson’s vacation in February with our first class back on Sunday, March 8^th. We will resume with a Lenten Study. Study details will be available in mid-February.,

Mission Notes
We have received a thank you from Trinity Food Bank thanking us for our monthly financial gift and a special thank you for our food gifts during the holiday time. They noted that our financial gift for the year allows them to obtain 15 000 pounds of food from Feeding America. Our special donations for the Baby Pantry were also very needed. Our special offering of $168.00, taken in December to go to Family Promise to assist a family to purchase Christmas presents for the children, was a special and unexpected gift that greatly blessed a family. We received $202.00 from our Christmas Eve Candlelight Offering. We are looking to assist in a special need in our community with these monies. Should you see or know of a need, please contact one of our Mission Committee Members or Pastor Gary.

Claybanks UMC Mission support from our General Fund in 2025 included gifts to Love In The Name of Christ, Child Evangelism Fellowship, Richard Lindell Mission trip to Peru, Adult and Teen Challenge, St. Judes Children’s Hospital and Muskegon Step Up Program.

From the Treasurer
I will soon be starting to fill out the individual giving forms that get sent out each January. If you choose not to receive this information of your church donations from 2025, please let me know.

Thank you.

United Women of Faith
Let’s talk Christmas for a minute, specifically poinsettias to decorate our sanctuary.

We’ll be taking orders for poinsettia plants, the same size as we usually get, in the color choices of red or jingle bell, which is red with white spots. Each plant will cost $16.00.

The plants will be delivered on December 20th and used to decorate the church on Sunday, December 21, Christmas Eve, and Sunday, December 28.

Our supplying florist needs our order earlier than typical, by December 8th. This means I will need any orders by December 7th. You can pay any time in December, but I need your order as soon as possible.

Please see Cinda to place your flower order.

Holiday Cookie Tins for Our Church Family
During our Fellowship Time on Sunday December 7^th, we will fill tins with cookies for those from our church who are not able to worship with us on a regular basis. We will then deliver cookies to them during the holiday season letting them know that they are continually in our prayers and hearts. Please bring enough cookies for about ten shut-ins and then we will have a cookie exchange among those who are with us on that Sunday. We suggest that maybe three dozen cookies will be needed to bless all.

Mission Projects For December
In the past, Claybanks United Methodist Church has assisted the Montague United Methodist Church with housing families in the Family Promise program. With a permanent home now in Muskegon we are reconnecting with Family Promise to sponsor a family for the holiday season. A special love offering will be taken up on Sunday, December 7th to support a family with gifts for the children and parents. We will also be assisting a local family who have been brought back together and are living in our community. Our assistance for them will come from our Shalom fund. Thanks to everyone, we were able to take many boxes of food prior to Thanksgiving to Trinity Food Bank, as well as an offering of over one hundred dollars so that they can purchase discounted food from Feeding America.

Mission
November is “Food for Trinity Food Bank Holiday Giving Time”

There is a table in the Fellowship Hall where you can place food items that will be taken to Trinity Food Bank just prior to Thanksgiving. If you so choose, there is an Offering container on the table in which you can place your monetary gift.

In December, we will be supporting a family being housed with Family Promise. Our efforts will be to see that all members of the family receive a Christmas Gift for the Holiday Season. Additional information will be shared as we approach the Christmas Holiday.

United Women of Faith
Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly, Fa La La La La La La La La! (Bet you were thinking of counting the La’s!)

Yes, we are approaching, rapidly, the season of love, snow, and Jesus’s birthday.

So, at the WOF meeting in October, we settled on donations to the organizations we support and gave the “green light” to Cinda to send the checks.

After that, we realized it was time to set the date for our church decorating and pizza party. Once again it will be at noon on November 28th, the day after Thanksgiving.

We are “calling all men and women” to join the decorating party! We will eat well and enjoy this fellowship time to make the church festive to celebrate the Christ child’s birth.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Ragnar Thank You!

I want to thank everyone who helped to man the Ragnar Michigan Road Race runner exchange at our church. You helped not only the runners, the Ragnar Institution, but also me. I stick my neck out and sign a contract in March KNOWING that you will have my back by helping out by baking cookies, buying donuts, working in the parking lot, working out at the chute, and directing traffic in the driveway. The hours were not exactly to our liking, but I never heard one person complain. Please know that you are all appreciated by not only the runners and Ragnar Staff, but especially by me. I am so proud of and LOVE my church family.  Konnie                      

Movie Afternoon

On Monday, October 13, we will be trying something new! Instead of a movie night we will be taking advantage of daylight time and offering a movie with a potluck starting at 1:00 pm. Our movie for October will be “Mountain Top,” a journey of faith based on the novel with the same name written by Robert Whitlow. Come and join us with a dish to share.

Laity Sunday

On Sunday, October 19, Bev and Art Grumm will be sharing the message assisted by members of our church family in worship. We will have special music by a quartet of singers with Janice and Richard and two members of Temple United Methodist in Muskegon. Following worship, we will have a church potluck with ham provided by the Worship Design Team of the church. A sign-up sheet for types of dishes to bring is in the Fellowship Hall on the table as you exit the Sanctuary.

Mission Updates

Thanks to all who have supported the Trinity Baby pantry during September. From October through November 9, we will be collecting food items to share with Trinity food bank for the holiday season. Please place your gift on the pantry table located in our fellowship Hall.

On Sunday, November 30, we will have our shalom offering and on Sunday, December7, we will have a special offering to support a family from Family Promise. Monies raised will allow parents from one of families being assisted by Family Promise staff to purchase gifts for their children.

Fall Sunday School

You are welcome to join many from our church family for Adult Sunday School each Sunday during October for “Stories from The Bible.” Each week we are using stories from Children’s Bibles to learn about the many stories contained in our Bibles. We sing Vacation Bible School Songs, learn about the culture, society at the time and have discussion about what the stories can mean for us today.

Covid-19 and Flu Clinic

The District 10 Health department will be hosting clinics at:

October 9, 2025, from 9:00 am – 11:00 am at St. Vincent Church, 637 6^th St. Pentwater

October 9, 2025, from 1pm to 3 pm at the Oceana Council of Aging, 4250 W Tyler Rd Hart

Women of Faith
Hello church – where did the summer go? My mind still wants to put me back into June again or at least July. Here it is the end of summer, school is starting or started, and our Strawberry Social has come and gone! I must say, the WOF (Women of Faith) once again came up with a roaring success. Every year friends, relatives, congregants, and neighbors come to enjoy a sweet fellowship time together. We even welcomed some “newbies” with great joy.

Cinda has compiled some statistics which reveal how our Strawberry Social has grown. Here is a summary:

2023: 136 servings, total collected $1,373.75
2024: 165 servings, total collected $1,408.75
2025: 195 servings, total collected $1,707.50

The WOF will so enjoy giving to the numerous charities we support each year after the Social. We will hold back seed money, but the rest goes out to the charities we select before the end of the year. We contribute with the prayers that what we give will increase the good these organizations do for others. Now, let us look forward to a lovely faith-filled Fall.

Love INC
Love in The Name of Christ will have its annual fundraiser event on Monday, October 6th beginning at 5:30 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church. The Event “A Harvest of Love” will be a little different this year. The evening begins with Hor D’oeuvres at 5:30 p.m. and Silent Auction followed by a dessert bar. Special guest will be Down Home Gospel Music Ministry which is a long performing old time Gospel Group from West Michigan. Claybanks UMC will have a table(s), so plan to attend to be entertained and gather in community as we support Love INC.

Fall Mission Opportunities
In September, we will be collecting items for the Baby Pantry at Trinity Lutheran Church. Please see the collection table in our Fellowship Hall for a list of needed items. In October into the beginning of November, we will be collecting food items or financial gifts for the Trinity Food Pantry. For the Holiday Season we will once again be supporting a family with Christmas gifts at Family Promise in Muskegon.

Fall Adult Sunday School
We will resume our Adult Sunday School on Sunday, September 14^th. This fall, we will be looking at some of the important stories from the Old Testament. Our study will include the background of the stories and why they can be important to us today. Plan to be part of studies this fall.

Movie Night
On Monday, October 13th, and November 10^th, we will gather at 5:30 p.m. for a shared potluck meal and a movie. Is there a movie that you would like to see? Talk to pastor Gary about it!

Ragnar Race is Coming Soon!
The end of September will be the ninth year that Claybanks UMC has volunteered to be involved with the Ragnar Michigan Road Relay. While the task seems daunting at times, we can’t ask for a better way to help others as well as put a little money into our funds for more mission work.

This year, the relay will be running from Traverse City and will be coming by CUMC on Saturday, September 20^th at approximately 4:45 a.m. on their way to Pere Marquette Park in Muskegon. Yes, that’s right. They will be here before the rooster crows so set your alarms, three if you need them, and come out and enjoy the fun. We need people to “man” the chute, cheer the runners on, control traffic flow and parking, bake cookies and maintain the snack table. Please give prayerful consideration to joining us on this major one-day-mission for which we not only receive a generous monetary donation to the church, but we are also able to give back to others in a small but helpful way. A sign-up sheet is in the fellowship hall. Any questions, contact Konnie Grant.