Category Archives: Announcements and Stuff

Adult Sunday School

Several years ago Claybanks UMC offered the Disciple Series as a way to better understanding of God’s Word and of living out God’s desire for us in our daily lives. The Disciple Series is intended to help you touch each book of the Bible in a meaning and understanding way. Since that time an updated Disciple Program call Fast Track has been developed and designed for use as a Sunday School lesson. We at Claybanks UMC will be offering the Fast Track Disciple Study in two parts of twelve Sunday each. The first twelve week session will begin on Sunday September 8th and run through December 8th. The program requires a Disciple Study Manual and working with your Bible Six days a week. This program requires a strong commitment from our participants and leaders. If for any reason you should miss a class the Study Manual will keep you up and going to the next session. Please sign up at our sign up table or let Pastor Gary know if you are interested in being a part of this engaging and blessed study.

Emergency Action Plan

The Trustees for some time now have been working on an Emergency Action plan for Claybanks United Methodist Church. We would like to share it with the congregation on Sunday September 22nd. Following worship we will share a meal together and then and begin our training. We have looked at a number of Emergency possibilities and have come up with what we believe will be appropriate responses for us as a congregation. Please plan to join us as we look to keep one another as safe as possible as we gather together in worship, Sunday School, for meetings and other activities of the church.

A Chance To Be In Mission

We as a church have an opportunity for a new direct contact mission in our community. Love In The Name Of Christ (Love INC.) offers and education and learning program for those they serve. On Monday September 23rd Claybanks United Methodist Church will be serving a meal on their reNEW Program Night which happens at New Era Reform Church. We as a church have joined other churches from our community in hosting a meal for those seeking opportunities in education and learning. We will be providing the main dish and one vegetable dish for the families participating in the renew Program. Participants’ families will be joining with us by providing a side dish or desert. Following our meal together children are cared for in a Biblical program as parents receive education and learning in a number of areas around parenting, family, finances, budgeting and other areas of life. Please talk to June Freeman or Reba Peterson about participating in our new mission for Claybanks UMC.

August UMW Meeting

At the August meeting of the Claybanks UMW, the women discussed the success of the ice cream social. We realized it was so successful that we had to “raid” Cinda’s freezer for more strawberries, send Edie Brown to her freezer for more ice cream, and went into Patsy’s bake sale biscuits for more to finish out the day! Next year we will increase the amounts of these items to reflect the need. We also feel the cost of the berries should come out of the women group coffers to compensate the expense incurred by the strawberry pickers as the berries have become rather expensive. Everything else will still be donated. We served 144 persons the wonderful deserts but most important was the opportunity to engage in community fellowship with neighbors, old friends and new friends from far and wide!
We also have voted to send a donation to MOKA on behalf of Ben Boersema. We also will send our annual check to missions but our other donations to our chosen charities will be sent by the end of this year. Since our Social and bake sale brought in $1111.50, we will be able to better aide the missions we support.

Nursery Schedule

September 1 ​​- Carol Adams
September 8 ​​- Kathy Ohman
September 15 ​​- Joyce Twiss
September 22 ​​- Doris Graham
September 29 ​​- Carol Adams

United Methodist Women

Once again the CUMW have joyfully finished planning and preparing for the annual Strawberry Social held the second Friday of August, on the 9th this year. Strawberries have been picked, volunteer sign-up sheets placed in the church, and ice cream by the buckets will be “on the ready” to be served by men of the church. Our fabulous biscuit maker, Leona Twiss, will supply the tender, light and fluffy creations. One year, we tried to “let her off the hook” by letting several volunteer to make them. Although it was not quite a disaster, it was problem enough for Leona to make all of them since!

There will also be a wonderful bake sale and often there are yummy garden vegetables ——if Mother Nature cooperates!

The rest of our meeting, we talked about helping our church decide on new ways we can put our finances to good use to benefit others of need.

Step Up Potluck

Join us for Step Up’s summer potluck picnic Sunday August 4 at 5:00 p.m. at Pere Marquette Park. Please bring a dish to pass and meet us near the channel. Table service will be provided. Watch for the Step Up sign. Rain location: Forest Park Covenant Church, 3815 Henry Street, Norton Shores.

Ragnar Relay, September 27th

Once again we will be hosting exchange for Ragnar Relay. Our church promotes good will and in return we receive a donation of $500. This year we will participate in the contest for most spirited. Our theme will be guardian angels. Last year we received $75 Honorable Mention for tolling the church bells! We will need lots of volunteers, cookies, and coffee so mark your calendars!

Thank you!

I want to send a huge thank you to everyone at Claybanks UMC for the gift for Administrative Assistant’s Day. As I have said before, I feel I’ve been getting more blessings out of being your secretary than I have given, and I thank God that I was able to work for Him as well as you. As most of you know, I have passed my secretarial duties on to Mechelle Schneider and have picked up the bookkeeping portion of the treasurer’s job for our church. Elaine Best has left me with some very big shoes to fill. I pray that I’m able to do the job half as well as she has done for so many years. Thank you, Elaine, for your dedication and all you have done and are still doing for our church. You are truly a blessing to us all!

Konnie Grant

In 2019 I shifted into the position of church secretary. I definitely do not have Konnie Grant’s patience for the job, but at least I feel reasonably competent! I am happy to be able to serve. Little by little, I am learning more about the job. Like Konnie, I also was blessed with a generous but totally unnecessary gift from the church. Many thank you’s but serving the congregation is enough.

Mechelle Schneider

Nursery Schedule

6/2 – Carol Adams
6/9 – Liz Grossman
6/16 – Kathy Ohman
6/23 – Joyce Twiss
6/30 – Doris Graham

UMW Women

On May 16th, the UMW held their monthly meeting to pray, ponder, plan, and…….eat! The oFundraiser for Step Up Planned for June 23rd. Mark your calendars!pening devotion was started with a numerous reading about why our phone calls most often do not have a real person to talk with. How we would much rather chat with a real persons with compassionate hearts! The meeting then was opened with prayer.

After roll call was taken, minutes read, and the treasurers report given, old business was discussed. We talked about what we may need to change or what can stay the same for next year’s Easter brunch. For new business, we started planning the summer strawberry social. We hope to have Cinda do the flyers and publicity. A sign up sheet will be showing up soon for the ingredients we need so keep your eye out for that!

We encourage new members to join us. We meet the third Thursday of every month at one o’clock. Our laughter makes a “Joyful noise unto the Lord”!

Missions

Fundraiser for Step Up Planned for June 23rd. Mark your calendars

Sunday, June 9th is Pentecost

What is Pentecost? Pentecost is the Church’s birthday because on that day the Church was born. The Church is that group of believers in Christ who receive the Spirit of Christ. It is the 50th day after the resurrection of Jesus. Traditionally we
wear red that Sunday to signify the flames of the Holy Spirit.

New Adult Sunday School

What Does Scripture Say About…….?
There are a number of Scriptures in our Old and New Testaments that seem to be in conflict with each other. We will be meeting for Sundays May 12th, 19th and 26th at 9:30 – 10:15 am as an Adult Sunday School Class to discuss some of these conflicts as we interpret Scripture. We will look at a number of Scriptures around Women as Leaders in the Church, Ordination, Slavery, Divorce, Gluttony

Scripture and Message May 2019

May 5th – Youth Sunday – Various scripture depicting Children – The Role of Children in the Bible

May 12th – Festival of Mothers  – Communion Sunday – Acts 9:36-43 / John 10:22-30 – Good Shepherd

May 19th – Teen Challenge – Meal & Freewill Offering

May 26th- Memorial Weekend – Psalm 67 / John 14:23-29 – What Is Our Response To God’s Forgiveness and Love

Claybanks UMW

The UMW met on the Thursday of Holy Week. We started off with a light-hearted devotion dealing with the matter of how the clothing manufacturers have changed the sizing so what used to be a 12 now is marked as size 16, and the fact that everyone seems to be whispering these days! Getting old ain’t for wimps!  Anyway, we made sure all was in order for the Easter Brunch. The check lists were all checked and approved, everything was falling into place, and the men enlisted to arrange the tables. We love when a plan comes together, praise be to God!

Dinner and A Movie

Dinner ( potluck) Claybanks UMC has some of the best cooks!) and a movie! Last Monday of each month. Come for the fellowship and fun. 5:30 p.m. Movie will start during the dinner.

Important Dates and Times Upcoming

April 16th 4:00 p.m.
Church Spring Clean
Hotdog Roast to follow

April 19th 2:00 p.m.
Good Friday

April 21st 9:30 a.m.
Easter Sunrise Service
Brunch Following

Lenten Sunday School Program

Our Lenten Sunday School Study will begin on Sunday, March 10th and run through Sunday, April 14th (Palm Sunday). The study we will use, “The Rock, The Road, And The Rabbi” has been developed by Kathy Lee Gifford and Rabbi Jason Sobel. This study will help us deepen our faith as we journey through Lent. We are invited to join Kathy and Rabbi Sobel as they visit sites in Israel that have a profound impact on our Christian faith. Kathy will share her faith story and Rabbi Sobel (a Messianic Jewish Rabbi) will provide fascinating background details that make the stories of the New Testament come alive. Our study will consist of a short video presentation followed by a class discussion led by Pastor Gary and Reba. Pastor Gary will then follow each Sunday’s study by presenting a message during our worship time from our study so our entire Claybanks United Methodist Church Congregation can share with the Sunday School new depths as we reconnect the ancient Jewish wisdom with the teachings of the New Testament. Please plan to join together as we walked the roads, visit sites and embrace the transformation of our faith from where it all began over two thousand years ago Israel.

United Methodist Women Resume

“At last —soon we will welcome the early signs of a much anticipated Spring! One of the first signs along with robins and perhaps a crocus or two, is the first UMW meeting of the new year. Oh, how I look forward to our new year and the monthly meetings. An invitation is extended to all women who wish to enjoy our fellowship and help plan for the new year. Come one, come all — Spring is about to explode!

What is Ash Wednesday & Lent?

In the Christian liturgical calendar, Lent begins with Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is named from the placing of repentance ashes on the foreheads of participants with either the words “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” Or “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”. The ashes are made from burning the palms of the prior year’s Palm Sunday. How long do you leave the ashes on your forehead? That is up to the individual. For some it is a conscience mark of humility. Some will clean the ashes off immediately. Lent is a time for fasting, abstinence, and commemoration of Jesus’s forty days in the wilderness. Lent ends the Saturday before Easter Sunday. Sundays do not count in the forty days of Lent. The term lent comes from the Anglo Saxon word lencten which means spring.We often think of giving something up for Lent, but we can also focus on a behavior change. We might give up chocolate or sweets, but we can also refrain from harsh words or criticism. We can read scripture; say an extra prayer, set aside a time for meditation. Most importantly we can reflect on the life and sacrifice of Jesus.

Nursery Schedule

March 3- Edith Bogart
March 10- Carol Adams
March 17-Liz Grossman
March 24- Kathy Ohman
March 31- Joyce Twiss