Category Archives: Announcements and Stuff

Mission project – Readers To Leaders
Our mission project to raise monies for Readers To Leaders has begun with a craft/gift and adds items on a table in the Fellowship Hall. If you have something of any value that you would like to donate with the proceeds going to our mission, please bring them in and place them on the designated table with prices marked on them. All proceeds from this endeavor will allow us to exceed our goal of $600 for the Michigan area conference Readers To Leaders mission initiative.

MARK YOU CALENDARS

Faith On The Lake Saturday, June 24^th
Centenary (Pentwater) UMC is offering a way to grow our faith by hosting workshops around Faith and Healing, Grace, Methodist  Theology, and the Beatitudes. For more information see our Announcement Table in the Fellowship Hall.

Old Time Worship Service and Picnic Claybanks UMC – Sunday, August 21^st
The Claybanks UMC once again will be conducting an old-time worship service to be held outdoors weather permitting. We will   return to an old style of worship with liturgical hymns, and preaching. We encourage you to dress in styles that would reflect the history of Claybanks United Methodist Church. Following our worship we will have an outdoor cookout with hamburgers, hot dogs, corn, and other great foods provided. This would be a good time to invite family and friends to join us as we celebrate another year in our Claybanks community. As part of our worship service, Art Grumm will be providing for us a few highlights of the history of Claybanks United Methodist Church in service to not only our church members but our community as well.

Women of Faith News
Our May meeting opened with prayer and then we got down to  business! The Ladies of Faith (UMW) discussed the Strawberry   Social and reviewed the amount of surplus berries and biscuits we had leftover last year.  It was decided to purchase six flats and have the June meeting for washing, hulling, chopping, and freezing the berries.  We will ask Leona Twiss if she is able to bake the biscuits again this year. 

Last year’s bake sale went well as everything sold out early! We can certainly present more contributions this year!

Edie

Women’s Retreat October 17-19^th
The women of our church have been invited to join in with the women of White Lake UMC at this two-day retreat at the St. Francis Retreat Center in DeWitt, Michigan.  As you can see, there will be guest speakers, and different sessions that you can attend as desired.  Not all the time is scheduled, so there will be times to wander the grounds or be in solitude.  Each attendee will have a single room for sleeping, and a shared bathroom between two rooms.  As noted, the estimated cost is $155 per person.

If you have questions, you can contact Ruth Tuttle at the number posted or get with me for a possible answer. (Cinda Moulds)

Church clean-up has been rescheduled for Tuesday, May 2^nd, beginning at 4:00 p.m.

Our last movie and potluck night, until fall, will be Monday, May 8, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

UMW (Women of Faith) News

The UMW (Women of Faith) met in March and discussed the Easter Brunch to decide if any changes should be made for next year.  It was accepted that all seemed fine except for the congestion around the toasters.  Next year we will put some space between the toasters in the hopes of eliminating some of the  “bottleneck!”

The application with the Oceana Health Department has been filled out and sent in so the requirement to hold the    Strawberry Social can be fulfilled for August 11th.

We have a new member to the UMW, Carol, and she is willing to take over Doris’s secretarial duties.  Unfortunately, no one came forward to replace the chairperson. The positive side is that she gets wonderful assistance from the group!

A Note from the Past – Tanis

Claybanks UMC has been blessed to have Jim Tanis as a visiting preacher at our church for 42 years. His relationship goes back to the beginning of the Claybanks congregation.

The July 5th, 1885 edition of the Muskegon Chronicle: “… The timbers were hewed by hand by Archie Green from trees taken from the woods east of the Brocker farm. Leslie Steffe, then only nine years old, drove one team and helped his father (Thomas Steffe 1853 – 1905, Jim’s Great Great Uncle hauled the timbers to the building site. The building committee for the church included Thomas Steffe, chairman, assisted by William Gee, A. B. Sumner, and Herman Buttleman” (1853 – 1934 Jim’s Great-Grandfather ).

The Steffe family, David (1825 – 1884) and Elizabeth (1830 – 1918) moved to Claybanks Township in 1866 (Jim’s Great Great Grandparents). They were leaders in the Claybanks ME congregation the rest of their lives. Their son Thomas married Laura Greene who was the daughter of Archie Green who hewed the timbers for the church. Thomas was appointed class leader to succeed his father and was appointed throughout the years from the church militant to the church triumphant. In 1914 their son Jacob served as pastor in the Whitehall Methodist Church.

The Buttlemam family, Jurgen (1823 – 1899) and Louisa (1829 – 1893) (Jim’s Great Great Grandparents) came to Claybanks about the same time as the Steffe family. The descendants of Jurgen and Louisa have populated the Claybanks Methodist church throughout its existence with several surnames represented over five generations. Cinda Lohman Moulds is one of those members.

Mission Project
All during May, we will have a Craft/Gift/Odds and Ends Table in the Fellowship Hall. If you have something of any value that you would like to donate with proceeds going to the mission project “Readers To Leaders,” please bring in your donations with prices marked on them and place them on the table. A collection basket will be available for the item(s) you are encouraged to purchase. All monies raised go to a great mission project!

Adult Sunday School
Our Adult Sunday School will take a brief break from Easter Sunday through April 26^th. We will resume on Sunday, April 30^th picking up with Romans 6:12 where we left off prior to our Lenten Study. To be ready to resume, please read Chapters 6 & 7 for our first class back. We will meet to study during the month of May.

Potluck Sunday April 30th
We will be providing a Potluck Meal for our Adult and Teen Challenge Guests following worship on Sunday, April 30^th. Beverages and place settings will be provided. For those that are able, please bring one of your “Special Dishes,” salads, breads, desserts or whatever is available to share. It is a blessing when we can come together for a meal and fellowship. All are welcome.

UMW News
Hallelujah!  It is Spring -sort of- and the Women of Faith, as the UMW is now called, have met for the first meeting of the new year.  What a joy to be back together to do what we can to benefit the church.  We probably will still call ourselves the UMW for now out of habit!

Our first meeting was opened with a devotional and prayer.  What a positive and wonderful way to start the new year.  Our current chairman and secretary have announced their retirement and we are actively seeking their replacements.

We then went on to plan the continental breakfast of bagels, mini muffins, and fruit.  This is for the whole congregation and will be served between the 9:30 a.m. Sunrise service and the 10:30 a.m. worship service.  What a delightful way to celebrate the risen Christ.

Mission Project
We have been challenged by our conference to support “Readers To Leaders”, a conference-wide mission project for 2023. This mission program will support young people in Nigeria as they complete their upper-class education and assist them as they enter seminary. We have already raised $100.00 through offerings and plan to raise the balance by having a Pancake Luncheon following worship on Sunday, February 26^, with an offering to be made for the luncheon. Plan to be with us and bring a guest or two for a good meal and fellowship!

Lake Michigan Camp and Retreat
Should you like to camp or have family and friends visiting and they would like to camp, our Lake Michigan United Methodist Camp in Pentwater is open from mid-May to mid-October for everyone. See our information table in Fellowship Hall for more details or visit info@lakemichigancamp.org

Scripture For the Moment
1 John 4:16, 17, 19, 21 God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. We love because he first loved us. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

UMW News
March 16, the first UMW meeting of the year will soon be here.  That means Spring cannot be far behind! Ladies, young or young-at-heart, come join together to celebrate and plan a new year of service and giving.  We will meet at the church at 1:00 p.m.

Edie

Help Wanted

Be a part of keeping our church fresh, beautiful, and decorated.

We are looking for someone to work with Cinda Moulds to be a part of keeping the centerpieces on our tables in Fellowship Hall and other decorations in the church in step with the calendar year.  The tasks will require creative thinking in décor and once in a while assisting in acquiring new or replacement items to keep our church areas fresh and beautiful. Should you want to be a part of this, please talk with Cinda or Pastor Gary.

Thank You!

Suzanne, Reba, and I, thank you for your love offering we received this Christmas. Your support, in so many ways, continues to bless us, and we know that we are loved so very much by the Claybanks United Methodist Church Family. We pray that God continues to bless the Claybanks Church, its families and our community.

Pastor Gary

Christmas Crafting & Cookies
Sunday, December 18^th will be a special Sunday. Starting at 9:30 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall, we will assemble to make a simple Christmas Decoration (all needed items will be provided along with direction) as we share coffee, Danish and fellowship. Follow worship we will have our coffee time with snacks while we assemble cookie tins (to be delivered to our shut-ins) and participate in a cookie exchange for all. We ask that you bake some cookies for our shut-ins and additional cookies that we can exchange with each other.

Christmas Eve Service
Christmas Eve we will come together at Claybanks UMC for our traditional Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at 6:00 p.m. Our service will consist of Scripture readings, carols, meditation, and communion. Please plan to attend. Bring your extended family and let your friends and neighbors know that they are always welcome to worship with us.

Christmas Morning Service
Christmas Morning (December 25^th) we will assemble for worship at 10:30 a.m. During worship we will devote additional time in singing of Christmas Carols. If you have a favorite carol, please let Suzanne know and we will try to sing several of the suggested carols.

UMW
The final UMW meeting on November 25th for this year, as always, is the much-anticipated pizza party and the decorating of the church for advent and Christmas.  It is such a fun time, and we include anyone who can come, even the church men!  We need the star put high over the alter and that is definitely delegated by the women to a man and a ladder!

A short meeting was held after pizza to appoint two individuals to keep track of the closet inventory.  Mitzi and Ruby volunteered to do that, and Konnie volunteered to do the purchasing.  Edie and Cinda will sort through the storage room.  It is recommended that an inventory list be compiled to help keep track of the pantry/closet supplies.

The church sanctuary and fellowship hall look amazing!  Reba came up with a new decorating idea and we “ran” with it!  There has been some positive response to our “tree forest” with the clear white lights.

The UMW will meet again in March but until then, we will see you all in church.

Immigrant Connection
Immigrant Connection is now open at Hart Wesleyan Church, 3757 W Polk Rd, Hart. The church is now accredited by the Department of Justice as a recognized site to offer low-cost Immigration Legal Services to Oceana County and surrounding areas. For additional information or to request a consultation, contact Hart Wesleyan Church at 231-873-0832 Tuesday – Friday from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Step-up
The Step-Up Program continues to celebrate those who transition from the Step-Up program into independent living. During the past few years, we as a church have help support the Muskegon Step Up program by our gifts and interactional activities with the young people transitioning from Foster Care to Step Up and then to living on their own. Recently the program has expanded one of their homes and has added a new Maternity Home. Step up is always looking to provide cultural experiences for their young people through concerts, plays, and outing such as Claybanks provided at Stoney Lake Stables. Should you know of possible experiences or being of assistance please contact John Bradfield (Director) by phone (231-794-2316) or email (www.stepupmuskegon.org).