Category Archives: Announcements and Stuff

Special Thank You

Reba and I thank you for the blessing of the gift that we received from our Claybanks United Methodist Church family. We will set it aside and use when we want to do some special things together during the 2020 year. You bless us each day by allowing us to be a part of the Claybanks United Methodist Church Family.

Also, thank you for allowing me to be away from you for one weekend in January and one weekend in February to be a part of the Keryx Team as we bring Christ’s love to those men incarcerated in the Carson City Correctional Facility. It is not easy in this modern-day world to visit those in prison as Christ has instructed us to do. By allowing me to be a part 30 men who are allowed to bring Christ into the prison system you are fulfilling Christ commandment from Matthew 25:39 “And when was it that you saw me sick or in prison and visited me”. By allowing me to be part of the Keryx Clergy team we as Claybanks United Methodist Church work to fulfill Jesus command to visit those in prison. This work is part of the active mission we have at Claybanks United Methodist Church for 2020.

Nursery Schedule

Jan 5​ – Carol Adams
Jan 12 – Liz Grossman
Jan 19​ – June Freeman
Jan 26​ – Kathy Ohman

Ragnar Relay Update

This year we were paid $725. $600 is the standard site fee & an additional $125 for
our awesome spirit. Thank you to all who help and support with this important community event. We have already been asked to serve next year. Mark your calendar for September 25, 2020.

Advent and Holiday Schedule

Society of St. Andrew Devotional Booklets are available in Fellowship Hall for our Advent Season Study which beginning on Sunday December 1st.

Disciple Adult Sunday School will continue with Old Testament Study through Sunday December 22nd.

On Sunday December 8th at 2:30 we will be Caroling at the SKLD Whitehall Care Facility.

A Blue Christmas Worship will be held on Thursday December 19th at 7:00 pm in the Sanctuary.

Our traditional Christmas Eve Worship Service will be celebrated at Claybanks UMC on Tuesday evening December 24th at 6:00 pm.

Sunday School will not meet on the Sundays of December 29th and January 5th.

From the Missions Team

Here is the Food Pantry we are now working with. If you are interested in volunteering, please see below!! Missions Committee-Claybanks
Trinity Lutheran Church Community Food Pantry
5631 W. Stony Lake Rd., New Era, MI 49446
231.861.4059 tlccommunityfoodpantry@gmail.com
Contact: Sandy Barber, coordinator

Opportunities to Volunteer
Saturday morning, pantry open twice a month: There are 4 teams that rotate, one team comes every 8 weeks. Pantry opens to clients @ 9:30am, volunteers arrive earlier. About 3 hrs. work. Team leader – 1, Team members – 5 to 6

Thursday afternoon/evening restock twice a month: There are 4 teams that rotate, one team comes every 8 weeks. Start 7 pm, though one team does meet at 4 pm. About 1 to 1 ½ hrs. work. Team leader – 1, Team members – 4 to 5

Milk Transportation: Transport milk Saturday am before pantry opening, return milk crates. Requires truck/minivan or trailer that can handle 36 cases of milk to/from Country Dairy. **physical** 2 teams, 2 volunteers each, alternate pickups, therefore, help once a month.

Bread Transportation: Transport bread on Thursday or Friday prior to Saturday pantry. Requires truck/minivan trailer that can handle +/- 30 cases of bread from Muskegon. **physical** 2 teams, 1 – 2 volunteers each, alternate pickups, therefore, help once a month.

Unloading Delivery Truck: Feeding America truck delivers food for pantries every other Thursday, @10:30 am. Assist with moving food into the pantry – into freezers and refrigerators, and basement storage as needed. 2 teams, 4 volunteers each, alternate unloads, therefore help once a month for about 2 hrs. **physical**

On call Volunteers: for local food pickup. This is usually short advance notice, and may or may not a truck/minivan or trailer. Time involved variable, 1-2 volunteers.

Substitutes: for Thursday restock or Saturday pantry. May be called to fill in for regular team member who cannot be there that day. 8 – 10 volunteers on the list. Contact us to be part of this wonderful ministry.

United Methodist Women

Joyful, Joyful we adore thee————-!
Oh my, it is that wonderful, joyful, stressful, anxious but hopefully a most happy time of the year.

We ladies of Claybanks UMW had a grand time decorating the sanctuary and fellowship hall to inspire the congregation on the first Sunday of Advent and throughout the holiday season. We are to happily greet the birth of Jesus no matter what circumstances impact our lives with a sense that He holds us up through the joy of his birth.

This is the month the UMW shares our funds with the organizations we have chosen to help. This year we are adding a financial gift to the White Lake Giving Tree. We also hope to collect warm gloves, mittens, hats or scarfs to help warm those persons that might need something more.

Our UMW will reconvene our regular meetings in March. All church women are welcome! Meanwhile, shalom and Merry Christmas from your UMW!

NURSERY SCHEDULE​​​​
If you cannot attend on your scheduled day please trade with someone on the list.
The nursery should be limited to children 5 years old and under.

Dec 1 ​Liz Grossman
Dec 8 ​ June Freeman
Dec 15​ Kathy Ohman
Dec 22​ Joyce Twiss
Dec 29 ​Doris Graham

Directory Information for 2020

It is time to update our directory. If the information for you is accurate in the 2018 Directory, you do not need to do anything. If you are new and have not been included in the directory or if you need to revise the information, please complete and return the form below. You need only share the information that you choose to share.

Name_________________________________________________________________________

Street Address_________________________________________________________________

City_____________________________Zip Code_____________________________________

Telephone_____________________________________________________________________

Cellphone_____________________________________________________________________

Email address_________________________________________________________________

Birthdate_____________________________________________________________________

Would you like your birthday included in the newsletter? Yes No

Anniversary___________________________________________________________________

Would you like your anniversary included in the newsletter? Yes No

Please indicate how you would like to receive the monthly newsletter:

___________________email

___________________ Pick up at church

___________________snail mail

United Methodist Women

The Claybanks United Methodist Women met on October 19th and opened with devotion and prayer. We revisited our plans to add new ways to use our funds in addition to the usual four organizations to which we contribute yearly. The three we are considering are the Oceana Council on Aging, perhaps the Senior Center, and we will look into helping the school hot lunch program with funds to cover lunches unpaid for in any other way.

We also hope to have a Christmas tree set up in the fellowship hall that we can hang donated hats, gloves, mittens and perhaps socks for anyone to take if needed and just before Christmas we could donate them to and organization not determined at this time. Perhaps we can partner with Missions for this venture.

Yes, you read correctly! We are talking about a Christmas tree to load with Christmas donations! When we women next meet as a group, it will be to decorate the church and have pizza!

Missions/Outreach Meeting
Sunday, October 20, 2019
11:45am

1. Our Thanksgiving food gathering will begin next Sunday, October 27 and the congregation was invited to bring canned and boxed goods, or if they’d rather, a gift of money is always appreciated. This will run for three weeks ending Sunday November 10th. We will be taking the food/money collected to Trinity Lutheran Church on Stony Lake Rd, New Era.

2. Christmas carol singing is being planned for the SKLD home (Heartland) for a date in December to be decided between Konnie Grant and the activities director TJ. Mitzi Parsons and Konnie will oversee buying the cookies, and our committee will get the punch. SKLD provides coffee. Hopefully many of our congregation will again show up and sing!

3. Kelly White has been in contact with the people from CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) who came to speak with us. She will oversee (along with this committee) setting up a giving tree for Christmas that involves the congregation in buying Bibles for the kids in their Good News Club at CEF. We agreed that 50 Bibles at $6.50 each would be a good donation. A tree with tags will be in Fellowship Hall from November 17 until December 8.

4. The financial secretary reported on our Shalom fund.

Nursery Schedule for November

Nov 3 – Kathy Ohman
10 ​​- Joyce Twiss
17 ​​- Doris Graham
24 ​​- Carol Adams

THANK YOU

A huge thank you for the congregation’s support of the Ragnar Relay. This is our fourth year. We have wonderful volunteers on site every year. Lots of help making Cookies and Coffee for the runners. This is definitely an important public relations mission for us. Additionally the funds we receive will go to support youth camp scholarships.

Nursery Schedule for October

10/6 ​​Kathy Ohman
10/13 ​​Joyce Twiss
10/20 ​​Doris Graham
10/27 ​​Carol Adams

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