Brian Neville 2/18/25 Brian Neville 2/18/25

Ministry Keeper

We’ve been sharing in our newsletter a little about Ministry Keeper, but you might be wondering, ‘what the heck is that?’ Ministry Keeper is an app you can download to your phone to get quick access to the most important information about Grace United Methodist Church. On the app you’ll find a calendar with all of our events, the blog that includes all of our congregational communications, a link to online giving, a link to our worship services so you can catch up on a service you may have missed, and a map to find our church. The app has lots of other features we could add in the future, but, as it is, I find it to be the most convenient way to quickly find the most important information about the church. We have the Ministry Keeper app because it is a free feature of Servant Keeper, our membership directory and financial giving system we use at Grace. You don’t need to use Servant Keeper in order to use the app. You can find a link below to both the Google app store version of Ministry Keeper and the Apple app store version. Let us know if it’s helpful to you!

Google Store

Apple Store

Brian Neville 1/14/25 Brian Neville 1/14/25

What’s happening at Grace UMC in 2025?

The church is taking some significant steps in the next year to help our church operate better and more effectively. For many years our Sunday School program has been requesting adding a paid staff person to run the Sunday School program. Emily Neville came on board as a volunteer to fill the role in the interim (she went to school to lead children’s ministry!) and has done an admirable job in the role. Now, though, its time for the church to take that step to move back toward a staff person devoted to helping our Sunday School program grow and thrive.

There’s more to the story, of course. In assessing the needs of the Sunday School program our Next Gen Team (formerly the Pathways for Congregation Development Team) discerned the need for help with Family Ministries and the Youth Ministry. We saw how all of our ministries for ages 0-18 needed this additional support, and so we are hiring a Family Ministries Director to oversee all of our programming for children and families. This is an exciting season for the church! Our youth ministry has grown tremendously in the last 10 months, and our family ministries events continue to attract hundreds of children and families throughout the year. These are such positive signs and we need to capitalize on this positive momentum by giving staff, volunteers and families connected to the church the support they need. A Family Ministries Director will oversee Sunday School, increase our community connection through family ministry events and be a part of a ministry team to lead the youth group.

We are also heading back to our roots when it comes to the youth ministry. We are going to have our first summer mission trip in many years! Previously the church supported RISE, which is a great ministry in the Southern Tier of New York. Unfortunately, they only allow high schoolers to go on the trip, and our youth group is full of middle schoolers, so we are trying something new! We are partnering with a new organization for our summer mission trip. I hope you’ll consider supporting the group through volunteering, giving financial support and in prayer. We’ll have a special send-off in worship the Sunday morning our youth depart for their missions’ trip.

Our confirmation class is also thriving at Grace! We have ten young people enrolled, but it looks different from how it was in the past. One of the biggest laments I hear from church folks all over is how young people show up for confirmation class, get confirmed and then disappear from the church. I agree; this is terrible and we have to do something to change it! One of the best things we can do to change this pattern is to lengthen the program. That doesn’t mean more classes, but it does mean more time between classes. Instead of meeting every week for four months, the class now meets once a month for two years! Its just as much classroom time, but it gives our young people a chance to experience the rhythms of our church for two full years. They also grow to know the other young people in the church, and see how much fun it is to be a part of our youth group! We even have a confirmation retreat planned for March that includes both confirmands and their mentors, so they can continue the journey of faith together. The response, so far, has been phenomenal, with an increased enrollment. I’m hopeful we’ll see an increase in young people sticking to the church, just as I’ve seen in other churches that have used this kind of programming.

The church isn’t just growing in the area of children and youth. We also have a large new member class joining the church, too! We will welcome them into membership in the month or March. Some of our previous new members are volunteering as mentors, joining our Bible studies and doing missions with the church. This is an incredible season at Grace, and there are so many ways people can step up to make a difference not just in our church, but in the world. Every person that connects with our church and grows in their faith is part of a network of faith-filled people that impacts the workplace, our communities and the world at large. We also want to make every dollar you give to the church stretch as far as it can, so we want to work smarter with the money entrusted to the church. That’s why we are exploring additional options around caring for the church grounds, stewardship and visitation. Grace always uses a combination of volunteers and paid staff to do the work of the church. Sometimes we find volunteers are the better option; other times it is paid staff. Sometimes people would rather give the church some money than use what little time they have for labor over at the church during the week. That’s okay! We want to facilitate the best combination of resources, but it takes work for us to get there. Additional staff grows our capacity to fundraise, connect with the community and coordinate volunteers. Its up to our church leaders to discern the best way to do this, so we are having important conversations on these topics all under the banner of “Normalize Next.” This is an initiative from the Annual Conference that helps us discern the next right thing for our church, grow our leaders, and take bold steps toward the future God has for us.

Keep praying for the church. Keep supporting and loving one another. This is the bedrock of the church, and as we discern what God has for us, I know we’ll experience an even deeper sense of his love and grace for all of us. God bless!

Pastor Brian Neville

Brian Neville 12/31/24 Brian Neville 12/31/24

January 2025 Congregational Letter

To the Congregation of Grace United Methodist Church,

We have now been using our mailed envelope system for a full year, and, by and large, it has been a great success! We’ve increased the total amount of money given by the congregation in 2024, reduced the total time needed by our volunteers and staff to track your gifts, and, perhaps best of all, we have increased our communication with the congregation. Of all the benefits to mailing our offering envelopes, this is the part about which I am most excited. You receive a calendar of upcoming events, you hear about ways you can support the church and I get to write you and share some of the amazing things happening here!

Despite the many challenges facing the church each year, there are so many good things to celebrate! We saw a dramatic rise in Sunday School attendance and youth ministry, the Christmas Fair was more successful than ever since relaunching it and people are growing in their relationship with God. When I have people come to my office and ask about how they can read the Bible in a way that it makes sense, or a confirmand asks a question about why Jesus did something that seems controversial, I know that they are wrestling with important questions that will help their faith grow. That’s what a financial gift to Grace United Methodist Church is – a commitment to helping people grow in faith, from children to adults, from birth to the last breath they take on earth. I hope you’ll join in on this important work and make a commitment to continue or increase your financial giving to the church.

We’ve made one large change in our financial process for 2025. Pushpay was the company we used for several years to process online gifts. That is no longer the case. Instead, we are using Servant Keeper, which is the same company we use for our membership program. This will further streamline our giving and our membership process all while reducing the associated cost. To give online you can still go to www.gumc.org/giving, but you’ll need to register a new account the first time you give. After that, it’s just as easy as before, except now you’ll be saving the church money.

As always, if you would like to be removed from these mailings for any reason, please contact the church office so we can update our records and reduce the associated cost of these mailings at 201-891-4595 (ext. 1) or email Hilda at info@gumc.org. You’ll still be able to find our mailed letters on our website at www.gumc.org/blog. Our church seeks to be an inclusive community passionately following Jesus Christ. Thank you for your contribution toward this important goal and may you experience God’s blessing in your life as you support Grace United Methodist Church.

In Christ,

Pastor Brian Neville

Give Online

Brian Neville 12/1/24 Brian Neville 12/1/24

A Christmas and New Year Celebration!

To the Congregation of Grace United Methodist Church,

In Christ,
Pastor Brian Neville

Brian Neville 9/20/24 Brian Neville 9/20/24

Behind the Scenes at Grace UMC

Here at Grace United Methodist Church some incredible things are happening, but many of them are “behind the scenes.” I’d like to take a moment to pull the curtain back and highlight some of this great work.

First, you probably heard about it already, but our Founder’s Day celebration was a tremendous success! We celebrated with over 25 members present with 25+ and 50+ years at Grace, then afterward had a concert and barbecue. The concert was presented by Margin Alexander, our music director, and people were absolutely wowed by his performance! So many people came up to me afterward and raved about it. I think hearing about his international experiences has people even more excited about the Grace UMC choir heading to Poland after Christmas to perform as part of an international tour! I’d also like to say thank you to the team of people that made the day a success, from the Ewings that helped set up tables and chairs to the Capazzis who grilled and prepared the food (well done, Peter!). Carol arranged for people to bring food, and Bill jumped in on preparations just because he has a good heart and wanted to help. It was a tremendous event and I was proud to see Grace members and friends come together for this celebration!

Some other highlights behind the scenes includes our Sunday School program. Emily Neville shared that the Sunday school had a 300% increase in attendance from last year. That’s absolutely phenomenal! We also have more children in the Sunday School nursery care and are looking to hire a part time person to cover that area, as well as during choir practice immediately following Sunday worship. This will allow more choir members to participate in practice and strengthen our choir ministry, as well as strengthen our Sunday School program. We are right on the edge of taking this step and continuing the move of these programs in the right direction!

Our Youth Ministry is just about to kick off their regular Sunday evening meetings. They’ve had a great summer with the pool party and a trip to Six Flags. Not only has Sunday School grown, but so has youth group! We have about 20 youth in our program and are welcoming in three new 6th graders, too! There is great energy around this group of young people. Several have commented about how much they like being around each other and that at the end of church they don’t want to leave! What a blessing it is to see young people excited and enthusiastic for life lived in and through the church. We celebrate our young people and the whole church family that is helping to raise up a new generation to love and serve Jesus Christ.

In the nursery school we have Donna Ernst, who has helped the nursery school take some tremendous strides forward. The start of the school year has been eagerly anticipated and smooth in its first few weeks. Enrollment is up, teachers are happy and the school has resumed profitability. We thank Donna for her excellent work and the great additions happening in the programming and education of our littlest Methodists.

Truly excellent things are happening in the church. If you’d like to get involved, let Pastor Brian know. We are making significant strides, but there is so much more we can do! Together we are becoming an inclusive community passionately following Jesus Christ. God bless!

— Pastor Brian Neville

Brian Neville 8/28/24 Brian Neville 8/28/24

Founder’s Day

To the Congregation of Grace United Methodist Church,

As Founder’s Day approaches, the church is preparing a celebration! Every year on the first Sunday after Labor Day, the church highlights the members of the church who have been at Grace for twenty-five or more years and our members of fifty or more years! If that includes you, we’d love you to join us so we can take time to honor you! You can call the church office to tell us you plan to join us, or look for the congregational email and respond there. Don’t miss it!

Founder’s Day

September 8th

In the past, Founder’s Day was celebrated on the date of the church’s founding, June 21, 1868. After 27 ministers and a relocation from Paterson to Wyckoff, Founder’s Day became a celebration of the twenty-five- and fifty-year members of the church. These days, we celebrate all of our members on Founder’s Day, recognizing that it takes all of kinds of people to make a church healthy and vital. We still take time to read the names of our long-time members, who have given so much to bless and support Grace United Methodist Church and to have their picture taken in the chancel area after church, but we know everyone at the church is important to God. This is what it means to be created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and to love as God loves us (1 John 3:16-22).

Usually we have a cook-out and something fun for the children, so watch for other details on this event, but we hope all of our long-time members will join us, as well as family and friends that may have been away during the summer on vacation. Your presence with us means a lot, too! See gumc.org/calendar for all the other exciting events happening at Grace United Methodist Church this fall. God bless!

In Christ,
Pastor Brian Neville

Brian Neville 6/20/24 Brian Neville 6/20/24

Summer 2024

To the Congregation of Grace United Methodist Church,

The sun is shining, the temperatures are way up and summer is in full swing! I hope this summer gives you an opportunity to rest and relax. I know that’s something God wants for all of us. A trip to the beach or time spent in a special place renews and reinvigorates us. One part of scripture describes not only resting on the weekly Sabbath, but also spending special seasons feasting and celebrating. If the land gets a whole year to rest, how much more does God want that for you to fulfill all the wishes, hopes and dreams the Lord has for you? Maybe this summer is your time to rest, to feast or to celebrate. Consider what God wants you to do to recover, recharge your batteries, and prepare for the next place God wants to take you!

As always, if you’d like to give a gift in support of Grace United Methodist Church, you can use the enclosed envelopes and bring it to church. You can also go online at gumc.org/giving or mail a check to the address below. We also want to invite and encourage those of you who may be traveling or spending time elsewhere to “pre-pay” this summer. If you have the financial ability to do so, why not give your gift to the church before you leave, so that you can spend that time resting and relaxing knowing that the church has its financial needs taken care of this summer. Every bit helps in these summer months! On the back side of this letter are some of the events taking place this summer. Why not hang it on your fridge? God bless!

In Christ,
Pastor Brian Neville

And From the Finance Committee…

73 or Older? Want to save on taxes?

If you are 73 or older and have a 401(k), 403(b) or traditional IRA retirement plan, you can take your required minimum distribution (RMD), which is required by law to be distributed, and give any amount of it you wish to your church or other charity tax-free! If the money is not given directly to a church or charity you will be taxed on it as additional income. Some people can give Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) as early as 70½, so check with your broker.

We hope you’ll consider giving this special tax-free gift to Grace United Methodist Church. You must have the distribution go directly to the church. It must never be deposited in your personal account, or it will be taxable. You can take advantage of this tax-free giving any time during 2024, but we hope you will help the church by doing this sometime during the summer. A broker can assist you with your distribution, but if you have any questions, you can contact Alma Mader, finance chair, or call the church office.

Brian Neville 2/29/24 Brian Neville 2/29/24

Easter Letter 2024

March/April 2024

To the Congregation of Grace United Methodist Church,

This year Easter is early, arriving March 31st, and many people will be thinking of the Easter bunny or Easter eggs. My family always had a tradition of filling an Easter basket full of candy that we would open on Sunday morning before church. My siblings and I would try and eat as much of it as we could before we had to leave for church. The Neville children always left our Sunday School teachers shaking their heads at us for all the sugar we had so early in the morning on Easter!

But bunnies and candy is not really what Easter is all about. Before Easter is Lent, a season devoted to spiritual discipline. Some people give up meat, or chocolate, while others commit to prayer or fasting. They do this to prepare themselves for the joy and celebration of the resurrection on Easter. Our bodies suffer a little bit so the wonder of Jesus raised from the dead has an even greater impact in our lives. I invite you to consider how you might experience this wonder anew in this coming season.

This Easter season is a special one for us. We hope to have our amazing choir performing once again for us. The Living Last Supper will celebrate communion and baptism with actors recreating the Upper Room experience. We’ll also have our annual Easter Egg Hunt on March 30th, which is always a hit with the little ones. Then the Sunday after Easter we have the Reverend David Wiley preaching for us! Be sure to join us for our Holy Week services and all the other great occasions at Grace as we encounter the new life that comes from resurrection. You can see all our events at www.gumc.org.

As always, if you’d like to give a gift in support, you can use the enclosed envelopes and bring it to church. You can also go online at gumc.org/giving or mail a check to the address below. Thank you for being a part of our community and may this Easter have an even greater impact in your life.

In Christ,

Pastor Brian Neville

Brian Neville 2/21/24 Brian Neville 2/21/24

Staff Transitions at Grace

With the passing of our latest church budget, we’ve had a number of significant changes take place at Grace United Methodist Church. Sometimes changes happen to us and we need to respond in helpful ways to move the church forward. Other times we make intentional choices that affect our future. In the last two months we’ve had a mix of both of these kinds of changes and I want to share with you some details about how they came about and where we stand as we try to navigate the transitions.

First, many of you know that our music director stepped down as of December 31st. This was a change that happened to us and was not a choice of the church or its leadership. In the last month we’ve collected resumes, interviewed candidates and selected a new music director, Margin Alexander, to lead us into the next stage of our church’s music ministry. Margin was selected by a committee of both SPRC (staff/parish relations committee) members and the leaders and members of the various music groups in the church. The SPRC acts as the Human Resources department of the church, so it was expected that they would have input, but music can be a tricky thing. Some people may not have an ear for music, and our SPRC members are not selected to serve on the committee based on their knowledge of music! That meant it was important to include the members of the other music groups, which included our children’s choir, adult choir, contemporary worship team and the bell choir.

The process was a good one, especially as we talked about the needs of the congregation. In the end, we had well over a dozen applicants and narrowed it down to those who were best qualified and the best fit for our church. The final selection was of Margin Alexander, and I am pleased with his talents and abilities! He is gifted on multiple instruments, including the piano and organ, and gave an absolutely stunningly beautiful presentation on piano. One thing I learned about the organ is, not only are most organs uniquely designed for their church (and thus need some amount of getting used to), but that there are different styles of how one plays a hymn. Margin shared with me that some churches want the organ played exactly as the notes on the page dictate. Others want something more expressive and creative. I told Margin that his job is to make the hymns sound beautiful every day. Thankfully he has the gifts and skills as a composer to build up the sounds of our organ to truly make it sing! I’m looking forward to hearing the results with a little bit of time for him to do that work and get comfortable with our organ.

Margin will be away the last Sunday in February, since he already had a scheduled international concert before he was hired. We are excited to have him on our team and grateful to have such a skilled musician a part of our program. He will return to us at the beginning of March as we head into the Easter season, and he looks forward to working with our very talented musicians in the church as even more people join in! Be sure to send him a word of welcome at his email address - choirs@gumc.org

Speaking of the music program, we are making another significant change, one that was a combination of something happening to us and an intentional choice. For a few years we’ve been blessed with extra government funds because of the global pandemic. This money was important for us to navigate some of the dramatic changes that took place when we were not worshipping in person. We had to prerecord all our services, then transition to live services broadcast to people that were staying home. The extra money we had let us hire a lead technician for our broadcast booth and hire a lead singer. Both positions were very important to make sure we had the quality for our worship service, even as we had less people in the building and less volunteers available for the work that needed to be done each and every Sunday. Today, things are different. We are largely back to worship attendance numbers as they were before the pandemic, and people are back in the building singing and volunteering. Since our pandemic aid money came to an end in 2023, we knew we were going to have to make some changes. The end result is that our leader singer, Diane, has left us, and the volunteer choir will now lead us in congregational singing each week. In the tech booth, our tech director, Ian, will have his last week with us, and the booth will largely rely on volunteers to provide weekly assistance in broadcasting. Though these changes are challenging, and were not asked for by our church leadership, they were necessary because of the changing financial situation of the church. Largely, we are able to return to how things operated before the pandemic, and we are hopeful for a positive, inspiring atmosphere every Sunday in worship. Something that’s also a return to how things used to be is the recent hire of a new custodian, to keep the space clean, neat and organized to aid in worship. For years we’ve had a cleaning service that kept the building clean, but anything beyond that was much harder to get accomplished. You can welcome Mark at his work email address - custodian@gumc.org

Many changes in a short period of time can feel destabilizing for an organization. Because of this, our leadership team is focusing closely on navigating these changes well and offering the support needed over the next several months. We hope you’ll be patient with our new staff and our volunteers as they get used to their new roles. That doesn’t mean we don’t want to hear from you about how they are doing, though. Getting feedback along the way ensures that we are getting what we need in terms of the worship service, the online service and the church building itself. We need your input. In a few weeks you’ll see a congregational survey. You’re input there would be helpful. This post will also be updated, so check back here for changes coming up. Know that we are lifting each other up in prayer as we take these next steps God has for us in making Grace United Methodist Church an inclusive community passionately following Jesus Christ. God bless!

Pastor Brian Neville
(updates to follow)

Brian Neville 12/23/23 Brian Neville 12/23/23

Tithe Envelopes

December 2023

To the Congregation of Grace United Methodist Church,

Recently the finance committee has made a change in how offering envelopes will be distributed to our congregation. What you have just received is the first of six bi-monthly mailings to be sent this year. Each mailing contains all of the offering envelopes for the next two months. There are a number of factors that have gone into this decision and I want to share them with you.

1. The cost of these offering envelopes is only a few hundred dollars more than what we are already paying for this service. By mailing envelopes to your home, we are confident that everyone in the congregation will receive them and be able to “give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

2. With this new service, we will be able to combine offering envelopes with our communications to the congregation. Many have lamented the move from mailed communications from the church to email and online communications. We want to be a church that does both, and this change allows us to reduce the associated expense, while increasing mailed communications. We are excited to keep everyone in our congregation updated with all that is happening in the church!

3. By mailing offering envelopes with the information of each household already on the envelopes we are making the process easier on our volunteers. In reducing administrative work, your tithes and offerings will go toward the areas of ministry most needed!

If you would like to be removed from these mailings for any reason, please contact the church office so we can update our records and reduce the associated cost of these mailings at 201-891-4595 (ext. 1) or email Hilda at info@gumc.org. As always, we seek to be an inclusive community passionately following Jesus Christ. Thank you for your contribution toward this important goal and may you experience God’s blessing in your life as you support Grace United Methodist Church.

Sincerely in Christ,

Alma Mader (Finance Chairperson)

Brian Neville 12/16/23 Brian Neville 12/16/23

Christmas Letter to Grace

To the Congregation of Grace United Methodist Church,

The church is busy preparing for Christmas! We’ve had our Christmas fair, the Cookie Walk and will shortly host many children for a fun parents ‘day’ out event. There is also a Lessons and Carols event that I know will be excellent. All the decorations throughout the church were put up at the start of the Advent season and the poinsettia plans are on display as well. As I’ve visited in people’s homes, I know many of you have prepared your home with decorations, too. All is prepared for a wonderful Christmas in our community!

With all that’s happening in our world, though, I hope you are finding time and space for God to lead you. Its easy to rush from one thing to another, but I want to invite you to meet with God in this season. Is there something that seems important, but can be set aside so you can have that time you need with God? Or perhaps something you must do can be transformed with a new mindset. Simeon was changed when he met the baby Jesus as he declared, “for my eyes have seen your salvation…” (Luke 2:30). I hope you will be able to see what God has for you this Christmas!

We look forward to our Christmas Eve services at 4 and 8pm. The children’s service at 4pm will have our interactive nativity, with a special focus on the star. No one will need to sign up in advance; just come as you are as we invite children (and adults!) to take on roles as we tell the Christmas story. At 8pm we’ll have a more traditional service. Be sure to join us on Christmas Eve to celebrate Jesus’ birth! Don’t forget that we still have a church service the morning of December 24th (Sunday), where we will celebrate the 4th Sunday of Advent. It will be wonderful as we meet with the Lord this Christmas!

We’ve included an envelope for a Christmas offering in the mail if you would like to give a special gift this year. Also, your giving record so far in 2023 is included for your convenience in that same mailing. If you didn’t get it by the week leading up to Christmas Eve feel free to give us a call at the church office. God bless!

In Christ,

Pastor Brian Neville

Christmas Eve Services
December 24th 10am, 4pm & 8pm
4th Sunday of Advent 10am
Family Service 4pm
Candlelight Service 8pm

Brian Neville 12/7/23 Brian Neville 12/7/23

Tithe Sunday Update

TITHE SUNDAY REPORT

We want to thank everyone who participated in our Tithe Sunday Stewardship Experiment on Sunday, November 19. Thank you to those who did tithe and everyone who gave generously. On Tithe Sunday, 17 individuals or families (I.e. “giving units”) indicated their offering that morning was a Tithe. Our total offerings in church and online that morning totaled $6,491.

By contrast, our normal average weekly offering is $2,845. The 17 offerings that were tithes helped to more than double our offering and increased our available Ministry potential by $3,646! We know that tithing is not a requirement for New Testament Christians and we are completely aware that not everyone feels they can afford to tithe every week. But our Tithe Sunday stewardship experiment does indicate that if more of us did tithe (keep 90% for our needs and just give 10% for God’s work), we at Grace would potentially have $189,592 per year in additional giving to use to carry out Christ’s ministry. In other words, if we accept God’s encouragement to tithe, we at Grace could easily DOUBLE our ministry in our community and the world. And if we do, God promises to”open the windows of Heaven” and pour out blessings so abundantly they overflow!

Several individuals and families said they plan to continue giving a tithe in the future. Most others said they might not be able to tithe but would be as generous as possible in their future giving. Again, thank you for participating in Tithe Sunday and thank you for your on-going generosity in your stewardship support of all our ministries at Grace. We are thankful to God for blessing us at Grace so abundantly.

— Ralph Salzgaber (Lay Leader)

Brian Neville 9/2/23 Brian Neville 9/2/23

Discipleship at Grace United Methodist Church

The United Methodist Church has a mission. It lines up squarely with the words of Jesus to “go and make disciples” in Matthew 28:16-20. Our denomination says it like this, “our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” Ultimately, everything we do as a church comes down to making disciples, but you might be wondering, what, exactly, does that mean? How do we make disciples?

Making Whole Disciples

I was asked a question along these lines several years ago when I first started at Grace United Methodist Church. One of the things I recognized in answering it was that the things the church historically does (worship, small groups and missions) is not all-encompassing of what it means to be a disciple. Our mind, body, heart and soul all need to be developed in ways that honor God and help us to love our neighbor (Matthew 22:35-40). To that end, I’ve developed a document that is a more inclusive look at what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. It lists some ways we can grow, since literally, anything we do can be done in such a way that it honors God, or shows love to our neighbor and moves us closer to the ideal God has for us. ‘Disciple Making at Grace’ (attached below) shows five categories that help us grow: intercultural competence, emotional intelligence, spirituality, mental development and physical development. All of these areas contribute to discipleship and help us to fulfill our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Too often the church can get caught up in one area, spirituality, and think only “spiritual” things matter, ignoring all the other categories. We recognize focusing on spirituality alone will never be enough for us to be whole disciples.

Churches, though, are uniquely positioned to help people grow spiritually. Out in the world you can find communities and classes that help you grow socially, emotionally, mentally and physically, but you will be hard pressed to find a secular class that helps you grow spiritually. In fact, many of the social ills we suffer from in this country stem from secularization. The less people are challenged to grow spiritually through moral discourse, practicing other-centeredness, and finding meaning in something beyond oneself, the less likely they are to value life. This has all kinds of dire consequences, so we have to take specific steps in the church to help people grow in these specific ways. That’s why we have a vision statement.

The Vision of Grace United Methodist Church

The vision statement of Grace United Methodist Church is to be an inclusive community, passionately following Jesus Christ. This vision statement is narrower than a mission statement, and helps us look at specific actions and tasks people at Grace can do to grow spiritually. This doesn’t mean that making whole disciples is not important, it is, but no one church could possibly do everything it takes for people to grow. We look at three specific areas taken from our vision statement to help us grow spiritually. They are inclusivity, community and passion. Here are a few thoughts on each category:

Inclusivity

Gracious Reconciliation

Several years ago, the Gracious Reconcilers group met to discern what “inclusive” meant for Grace United Methodist Church. Every church will have a different view of this. Some even think that just because you are friendly toward someone you are “inclusive.” That can be far from the case! We have a statement approved by the highest body of our church that says we welcome all. My favorite part of this statement is that we covenant to, “be a congregation who serves all people including the overlooked and the unseen; the people who are seen by God, but who may be invisible to us.” If you’ve ever felt invisible, or unseen, we want you to feel that you have a place here with us.
This group continued to ask what reconciliation means for our church and came up with a welcoming statement recently. This statement is published in our bulletin every week. It says, “We welcome all people as friends in Christ, without prejudice or distinction based on race, national origin, gender, gender identity, social or economic standing, education, sexual orientation, physical or emotional limitations, or any other classification by which humanity divides people.” We understand that human distinctions between people are not the distinctions by which God sees us. We are a new creation in Christ, so any violation against people or God is reconciled through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14-19).
Grace United Methodist Church is an inclusive place when we “walk a mile in their shoes” and consider things from another person’s perspective. When someone says something we don’t understand, or violates our understanding of God, we don’t berate them, we ask a question. Dialogue is the way forward when we are truly being an inclusive community.

Community

Visitors

Visitors to our church connect in various settings, some only being loosely connected to the church. It is most often Sunday morning worship, but could be any small group, mission, ministry, event, fundraiser, or any encounter members and friends have in the community. At Grace we record the names and information of new people so we can encourage them in this journey. Often it begins with a visit, phone call or email from the pastor, but many people join the church because a friend invited them to come

Members

Membership formalizes part of the discipleship process. As visitors and friends connect with our worship service, attend in small groups and participate in missions work they are taking steps of discipleship. Members take a vow to participate through their prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. These are key ways members keep these vows at Grace

Worship

Greeters and ushers meet people at the door of our church. Sometimes they even bring an umbrella to your car! But always they have a bulletin and a smile to make you feel welcome in this space. You can fill in a prayer request as you enter, which will be brought to the pastor for a time of corporate prayer. If you have children, they can join our Sunday School program, but don’t forget to fill out a Sunday School form first so we can make sure they are safe. In worship we have songs we sing, prayers and responses that signal our commitment to God, and we listen to the scripture reading. We hear both the Bible read, and an interpretation of that scripture. This sermon is meant to connect with real life as we consider how it is God calls us to live every day. As worship ends we have a coffee hour to spend some time connecting with other folks, but be quick, the children often get the sweet treats first!

Small Groups

We have several small groups in our church. If its your first time, the short-term studies with Pastor Brian are a good start. They last usually 3-4 weeks, for about an hour each week. When you are ready to go deeper, join a long-term group, like the choir or bells groups, the adult studies, the movie club, youth group, the men’s group, or help us relaunch our young adult group.

Missions

Missions work is an exciting area of church ministry. We help feed the homeless or those with transitional housing needs through Family Promise, we make soup to be delivered to those who are sick, hospitalized or homebound through our soup ministry, we assist in educating young minds through CAMP YDP in Paterson, and collect food for CUMAC, a United Methodist ministry in Paterson that feeds over 40,000 per year. That’s not to even mention our Christmas collections, food drives, visits from the congregational care team and the SOUPER Bowl.

Passion

Service

Perhaps the biggest, and most important change that happens in a disciple is when they go from “getting” to “giving.” Participating in worship or a small group or a mission is good. We wish more people would do that! But, we also know we are only limited by the number of people willing to do good in this world. With passionate volunteers and more leaders, the church could do innumerably more good. Are you ready to take the step from being in a small group to leading it? Are you ready to go from sitting in a pew to leading in music or preaching? Are you able to not just offer some support for a good mission project, but to actually make it happen through organizing a project and volunteers? Too often we think we can’t do it. Maybe we think we don’t have the gifts or skills, but discipleship means we are growing! We are developing those skills so that one day we can say “I didn’t have the skills to do this, but now I do.” This is true at any age or stage of life. Someone once told me they were “too old” to volunteer, but I reminded them how they call their friends on the phone all the time. How is that not a gift that God could use to help the church and help build the kingdom of God?! We can serve God and others with any gift we have; it is simply a choice to make the mental shift from being served to serving others. How are you called to serve today?

This is a touch of what the discipleship process looks like here at Grace United Methodist Church. We want to help people become whole disciples, and the best and most unique work we can do as a church is to help people grow spiritually. Opportunities abound, so we invite you to consider what your next step in the discipleship process may be. God bless!

In Christ,
Pastor Brian Neville

Disciple Making at Grace

Brian Neville 6/13/23 Brian Neville 6/13/23

Planning for 2023-24

We had a great planning meeting this past week! We’ve laid out plans for the following year that include some exciting events! One of the biggest is the return of the Grace Christmas Fair schedule for December 2nd! You can see some of the other great events scheduled below (please note, some dates and times are tentative). You’ll also find a survey link here to hear some of your thoughts and suggestions for worship, including sermon suggestions for the next year. Remember, if you have an event and want to advertise for it, head to the calendar page to fill in the form!

Annual Calendar

Grace Church Calendar 2023-2024

January (2024)
January 15th Nursery School Closed
January 21st Family Promise

Game Night
Movie Club
Mid Winter Advance

February
February 9th Parents Night Out
February 10th Grandparents Social
February 11th Souper Bowl
February 13th Fat Tuesday Pancake Dinner

Easter Lilies
Movie Club
Souper Bowl Collection

March
March 17th Family Promise
March 28th Living Last Supper
March 30th Easter Egg Hunt

Movie Club

April

CUMAC Egg Carton & Reusable Bag Collection
Volunteer Reception Breakfast
Family Kickball
Movie Club

May
May 10th Mother’s Day Tea
May 10th Parents Night Out
May 19th Family Promise

Movie Club

June
June 5th Nursery School Picnic
June 7th Nursery School Graduation

Summer Camp
Movie Night
Movie Club

July

Summer Camp
Food Drive

August
Building Closed August 19-23

Summer Camp
VBS Summer Camp
Back Packs for Camp YDP
Movie Club

July (2023)
July 15th Food Drive
July 17-21 VBS Summer Camp (9-12pm)
July 21st Youth Group Mid-Summer Gathering (6-9pm)
July 23rd Family Promise

CUMAC Cereal Collection
Movie Club

August
August 14-18 Building Closed
August 22 Mum Sale

Back Pack Drive for Camp YDP
CUMAC PB & J
Movie Club

September
September 10th Founders Day
September 10th Block Party
September 11th First Day of Nursery School
September 15th Jr. High Group (7-8:30pm)
September 17th Sr. High Group (5:30-7:30pm)
September 22nd Parents Night Out (5-9pm)
September 29-10/1 Ignite Youth Conference
September 29-10/1 Women’s Retreat

CUMAC Canned Meat
Movie Club
Grad Group?

October
October 7th Dads & Donuts (NS, 10/14 Raindate)
October 15th Family Promise
October 21st Muffins with Mom
October 22nd Personal Hygiene Kits
October 23-24 Nursery School Closed
October 31st Nursery School Trunk or Treat

CUMAC Pasta & Sauce
Movie Club

November
November 1st Wreath Sale
November 9-10 Nursery School Closed (NJ Teacher Convention)

Thanks for Giving Food Drive
Movie Club
Poinsettias

December
December 2nd Christmas Fair (9-3pm)
December 9th Cookie Walk (10am)
December 16th Parents Night Out (5-9pm)

Stockings Full of Joy
Movie Club
?Advent Family Workshop?
?Lessons and Carols?

Brian Neville 5/17/23 Brian Neville 5/17/23

The Grace Nursery School

As many of you know, the Grace Nursery School is a phenomenal 5-day preschool program. Since its creation in 1965, Grace has blessed so many families, including both children and their parents. The nursery school began as a ministry of Grace United Methodist Church, which continues to provide oversight to the school. We look forward to continuing the rich traditions of Grace, even after the pandemic and the many changes since. That is why it brings us such pain to announce the resignation of Amy Hofmann, the Grace Nursery School director. After faithfully leading Grace for 22 years, she will be relocating this summer to North Carolina to live closer to her daughter. We wish her the very best in this new adventure!

As the nursery school goes through this transition it falls to Grace United Methodist Church to guide the process of hiring a new director for the 2023-2024 school year. There is a staffing committee (SPRC) that will review candidates for the position, and the Nursery School Board, made up of members of Grace UMC who have experience in the teaching field, that will make the final decision of who to hire. We are very excited, however, that our head teacher, Donna Ernst, has submitted her name for consideration as the future director of Grace Nursery School and is our leading candidate. We will work quickly to have our new director in place as soon as possible so that you can be assured of the leadership of the school for your little one.

Know that you are in good hands as Grace Nursery School and Grace United Methodist Church work together to provide an excellent preschool program. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. You can reach me by phone or email using the information below or stop in my office during nursery school hours. God bless!

Sincerely,

Pastor Brian Neville

An Important Update as of May 15th, 2023

The Grace Nursery School is undergoing important changes. Amy Hofmann, the director at Grace Nursery School, announced her resignation on April 20th to move closer to her daughter in North Carolina. We have already offered our thanks for her service to the school, but we need to give a further update. As of May 11th Amy is on leave. During this interim period Patti McHugh, the Assistant Director, will be leading the nursery school.

In preparation for this transition the Staff/Parish Relations Committee (SPRC), which acts as the human resources department of the church, has worked in tandem with the Nursery School Board to select the next director for the Nursery School. Today we are excited to announce that Donna Ernst has accepted the position as the new director at the Grace Nursery School! Though she has already been busy preparing for the position, she will continue to work closely with Patti to begin in this new capacity at the end of the school year, June 12th.

As always, the Nursery School, at the direction of the director, will have full control of hiring teaching staff. Positions for the summer camp and 2023-2024 school year will be at the discretion of Donna Ernst. In the meantime, we invite you to direct any questions about summer camp, tuition and next year's registration to Patti McHugh.

Once again, we welcome Donna to this new role at the Grace Nursery School and thank our staff, parents and especially our wonderful students for making the Grace Nursery School a truly special place to be. God bless!

Sincerely,

Pastor Brian Neville
Brian Winiarski, SPRC chairperson
Bill DeBlock, NS Board chairperson

Brian Neville 5/8/23 Brian Neville 5/8/23

Custodial Services at Grace

We have said farewell to the ‘Steve Kay Cleaning Services’ team at Grace United Methodist Church. This outside company has served to clean the church for the last 16 years. Now, though, we attempt something new. We are going to try and hire our own custodian to do the work here at Grace. Some members have shared with me that ‘the old is new again.’ We once had exactly this situation previous to a cleaning service. We think this change will be good for the church for a number of reasons. One is that, by having our own hired custodian, we’ll be able to ask them to prepare space for us throughout the building. Need a table and chairs set up for a meeting after church? Ask the custodian! Need a space to be prepared for a presentation? Again, our custodian can do it! In the past we’ve always asked whoever was using the space to set up and tear down themselves. That meant sometimes we were asking a group of older women to set up and take down chairs themselves. That just didn’t seem like the right thing to do, so we are excited for this change.

Another good reason for this change is for some of the basic maintenance in the church building. You may have noticed some items and areas of the church have been neglected. Though our Trustees are doing several things to make critical upgrades, such as installing new doors and preparing work to be done on the steeple, many of the smaller tasks that could have been done by a custodian have been left undone. This transition from a cleaning service back to a custodian will allow those smaller projects to be completed.

Perhaps the best part of this change is that we are saving the church money! Between the added expenses for special projects and the fees for administration through an outside company, the cost for a cleaning service is higher than having a hired staff person. This is one small thing the church is doing to improve services, and make sure every dollar you give to the church is used as wisely as possible for the Kingdom of God. If you’d like to contact our new custodian you can email Nelson Perez at custodian@gumc.org. God bless!

In Christ,
Pastor Brian Neville

Brian Neville 2/7/23 Brian Neville 2/7/23

Did the Church Just Lose $45,000?

In short, no, the church did not just lose $45,000. A couple of weeks ago the finance committee met together to review the budget for the 2023 year. We had a very significant shortfall and many of us wondered “where did all the money go?” It took a little bit of sleuthing, but it turns out that a mistake was made all the way back in 2021. The income on our quickbooks program never properly displayed two numbers - Payroll Protection Program (PPP) and the allotment from the Nursery School. All year the numbers showed “0” dollars, despite thousands of dollars coming into the church. When the 2022 budget was put together the income for those areas was properly reported…but the extra income in the line items where that money actually showed up was never reduced. That meant our 2022 budget showed tens of thousands of dollars more than what it should have showed!

With that there is good news and bad news. The good news is that we managed to weather the financial situation in 2022 decently well. That means even with all the assumed income that wasn’t realized, we kept our expenses down enough that it wasn’t a problem. After fixing the numbers, and properly accounting for all of our income 2023 looks like it is slightly out of balance. We are still working to see if we can further reduce expenses to, again, balance the budget. The bad news is that in 2024 we will no longer have additional income from the government like we’ve had since the start of the Pandemic. PPP and ERTC money have helped us weather the storm financially for the last few years, and we’ll be perfectly fine this year, too, but we know we need to make changes in 2024. Changes can come in the form of additional income and they can come in the form of budgetary cuts. I think its always wise to consider both options simultaneously. If we can increase giving a little, and reduce expenses a little, we can much more easily get to a balanced budget. Sometimes even having volunteers step up for things we pay for can be a huge help, so I invite you to consider how you could help in the coming year. What are ways you can give, both through volunteering and in financial gifts, that can help strengthen the church? Perhaps there’s even something we haven’t thought of to help reduce our budget expenses! A little time and effort on your part can go a long way in helping us to get to a healthier place as a church. Let me know if you have any thoughts or suggestions!

In Christ,
Pastor Brian Neville

Brian Neville 11/21/22 Brian Neville 11/21/22

Facility Usage Requests

With the changes we've had, the church administration had discussions about what made the most sense for receiving facility use requests and how to process it. We have something in place we think will work for now. Basically all facility use requests will be processed through the facilities@gumc.org email address. Most simple items, like a committee meeting or ministry meeting request, can just be emailed to that address. About once a week the church's google calendar will be updated with those requests and you should get a reply that the request was granted. We want to make sure we keep that calendar accurate so everyone knows what's happening in the building, so please send an email with any changes to your meetings or schedule. If you are a staff person and would like to be added to the list of people that have access to that calendar to add and change events, let me know. It's always easiest and best if people in charge of their meetings are the ones keeping the calendar updated. Remember, all meetings at Grace MUST be on the church google calendar for insurance purposes. If you don't see your meeting on there, let us know!

For things bigger than a meeting, we have a usage form. Anyone using the building for the first time or first time events must use this form, too. You can find the document on the website at gumc.org/calendar (scroll to the bottom and click 'Usage Form'). There you can also request social media items, like the bulletin, an announcement, Facebook post, etc. When you submit your form (via facilities@gumc.org, the website or to the office mailbox using a form from the main office) it will be added to the calendar unless there are conflicts. It will be forwarded to Hilda, our office administrator (info@gumc.org), for the bulletin and to Emily for social media.

Oh, yeah...Emily Neville has agreed to do social media for Grace! Hurrah! We haven't had someone doing social media here since I began over 2 years ago! Even Alexa, who volunteered for the position in 2020, quickly transitioned to running our sound and video for our online audience, which was a much bigger need at the time. If you'd like to follow up with Emily regarding social media items, you can email her at socialmedia@gumc.org. This information will be included in a response to your usage requests, unless, of course, you don't provide us with an email. In that case, you better call us (201-891-4595 ext. 4) and leave a message. You'll also be able to click a link in the response email that shows all the items that have been submitted with usage forms and what selections you've made.

Using the button below you'll also find the Communications Audit for 2023. This document lays out the general timeline for various requests and who is in charge of what items at Grace. Where there are ??'s no one is assigned to that item, so it's harder to make those ones happen. Everything is "first come, first serve," based on the time and availability of staff and volunteers, and at the expense of the person running the ministry or event (of course, you can use budgeted line items for advertising, but that's up to the people overseeing those line items). Hilda plans to begin including the weekly calendar in the bulletin in an effort to increase communication of events happening at the church, but you can always check the website. Gumc.org/calendar will always be the most up to date information on what's happening in the church. Other items are updated as our volunteers are able to, so please be kind and patient in this process. Also, if you see something is not updated properly, you should check in with the person in charge of the event. Did they send in an email? Did they fill in the form and request a particular social media? If not, that's why the information is not being updated. Volunteers need to have the necessary detail given to them in order to make the changes.

That's the basics. If you have any questions or concerns, let me know. Below are some key items for your information. God bless!

In Christ,
Pastor Brian Neville

Google Calendar: gumc.org/calendar
Email for facility and usage requests: facilities@gumc.org
Email for bulletin items: info@gumc.org (but the attached form also at gumc.org/calendar should be filled in first)
Email for social media requests: socialmedia@gumc.org (but the attached form also at gumc.org/calendar should be filled in first)

Brian Neville 9/27/22 Brian Neville 9/27/22

Penitence in a New Season

Hello Grace Members and Friends,

This past week the weather turned cold quick! It was 70 degrees, yes, but I definitely had to wear a jacket because of the wind! I can’t believe how the temperature can be exactly the same, but the feeling is so different. Much of life can be like that - things look one way on the outside, but feel different on the inside. Even the church experiences this as we go through ups and downs, seasons of growth and times of trial. Sometimes just one person can make all the difference; I hope you will seek out ways you can be a person that makes a difference, whether through outward expressions of care and concern, or by looking inward to see how you can grow.

As we begin our October series on Penitence, I am thinking and reflecting specifically on how I have made mistakes, how I have hurt others (whether intentional or not) and how I can do what I can to make things right. Things will never be perfect; we’ll never have everyone happy with us or perfectly content with our work, but we can always apologize. We can always seek to improve our relationships with others. I say with some regularity that people are more important than things. Still, its easy to leave things broken between people. Its easy to ignore difficult relationships, rather than seeking to redeem them. I think Jesus calls us to work on those difficult relationships, to improve them and find life even in the challenging places. I hope you’ll join us for our October series and explore with us how we can be penitents that turn to God and find our life in him.

I also wanted to share a few updates with you as we start getting into the core of the church year.

This weekend is the annual women's retreat and the youth IGNITE weekend. Both are phenomenal events and can have a really big impact on those who attend. I invite you to be in prayer for those attending
We have our first Pathways to Congregational Development meeting October 11th. This is a group that will work with a Conference Coach to help us assess strengths and opportunities at Grace as we come out of the pandemic. I'm excited to see what will come of our work together!
October 2nd is World Communion Sunday. This will be the first time in several years that we take communion by the rail. We'll invite people to come forward to kneel, and also have the ushers provide prepackaged communion for any who wish to remain in their seats.
The Trustees are continuing their work to aid the church in both ministry and facilities. They are exploring a process to help increase funds available to do important work in the church.
We've just added a movie night to the schedule for October 14th at 7pm. We'll have free concessions and hope to have a great night!
We are working with the new Stewardship Foundation Executive Director, Brian Roberts, regarding long-term sustainability for the church. We hope to have a luncheon after church with him when he joins us this winter.
Nominations for 2023 is ongoing. We have filled some important vacancies, as well as added some new committees for the long-term health of the church! Its a great group of leaders for next year!

Those are some of the things we are working on here at Grace United Methodist Church. October 2nd is the start of a new sermon series on Penitence and I hope it will move your heart! God bless!

In Christ,

Pastor Brian Neville

Brian Neville 9/14/22 Brian Neville 9/14/22

A Founder’s Day Thank you

Some of our 50-year golden members at Grace United Methodist Church

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Our Founder’s Day celebration came together in some surprising ways, with unexpected changes, but it was a success none-the-less, and its all thanks to you! I want to give a specific thank you to those who took on leadership for the event. Some of you will recall that this event is combined with festivities for the Sunday School and much of the planning would typically happen through the Sunday School director position. Our church has had gaps in that position as we seek to hire a new director, so several folks stepped up to fill the void. Hilda Gomez, Asha Anand and Emily Neville were instrumental in making Founders Day happen, so the first ‘thank you’ goes to them!

We also had Carol Freeswick organizing the food, drinks and desserts. The Winiarskis returned for their second year of grilling making sure those hot dogs and hamburgers were delicious. Patricia led our children and helped to organize the 9/11 flag-planting that happened between the worship service and the food. Ian and Colby made sure we had sound available. Asha had an awesome craft that let the children make there own bubble wand, which fit nicely with our theme about the Holy Spirit. Jack and Mark helped set up tables and chairs (along with the Neville boys, Davy and Halloran!). Gwen and Laura had a booth set up for Mathnasium in Wyckoff. Many of you donated food, and so many delicious desserts! It was an all-out success, and I’m grateful to all of those who helped and participated. Thank you!

As part of Founder’s Day, we also had the many 25- and 50-year members of Grace come forward for a picture after the service. Each received a carnation for 25 or 50 years of membership, and it was a blessing to see so many of the saints of the church there to mark the occasion. I want to offer a particular warm welcome to those who, for the first time hit the 25 and 50 year milestones. Welcome to a very exclusive (but inclusive) club! For another year, Mr. Whiteman has retained the title as longest living member of Grace United Methodist Church, having become a member January 1st, 1941! Take a look at the picture of our many, incredible members here at Grace.

The 25- and 50-year members at Grace United Methodist Church

I do want to give an update on a few things here at Grace. One is that we continue to look for a Sunday School director. We have had several candidates come forward, but none has been the “right” one, so we continue to look for the best fit to help our program thrive. If you know someone who might be a good fit, let us know! You can find the job posting on the Grace UMC Facebook page. In the meantime Patricia has agreed to continue to oversee our children’s programming along with our amazing Sunday School teacher volunteers. I know my boys are loving Sunday School these days so something good is happening there, for sure!

I also want to offer a hearty ‘thank you’ to our Trustees, who have organized much needed work around the church. If you come by sometime during the work week in the next few weeks, you’ll see construction happening all around. The facia board and gutters are being repaired and replaced around the entire building. So far the work that is completed looks beautiful! I’m looking forward to the completion of that project and the renewed look that it will give to our church.

We also have a few changes happening inside the building, as well. The worship committee met over the summer to discuss a few changes. Mostly it is rearranged furniture as we turn the bell tower into a information center that will let people sign up for events happening in the church. This committee also provides flowers and decorations for the sanctuary every week, so I hope you’ll tell some of our worship committee members how much you appreciate their efforts. Along with some of the indoor changes, people have asked for the coffee hour to be served from the bell tower, closer to where the people are. So, this week, as we return to a weekly indoor coffee hour, you’ll find some hot coffee waiting for you without having to go anywhere special! Remember, coffee is only served when someone signs up to provide it! Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers over the summer who provided for the outdoor reception. We hope to have the same kind of response of volunteers throughout the rest of the year. You’ll find a sign-up board in the bell tower, right next to where the coffee is served, so sign up to create a warm, welcoming environment for folks after church.

We are also starting new member classes soon, and you can check out all of the short-term small groups I will be leading over the next year (including new member classes) on our website at www.gumc.org/study. There are several interesting topics this year, but I am most excited for ‘The Gift of the Nutcracker.’ Can you believe I have never seen the Nutcracker before? This Christmas will be a first for me as we explore this ballet through the lens of Christ and culture.

Regarding the long-term, the church is participating in the Pathways for Congregational Development program. A small group is coming together to discuss the strengths of the church, growing opportunities, and to discern how we can more faithfully serve God with the people, the gifts and the resources we have. I invite you to be in prayer for the Pathways team. You can learn more here.

One last note for you. This morning many of us heard word that Tom Kemper has come out of his surgery in good health and in high spirits. Many of you have prayed for him throughout his cancer journey, and we are so grateful for this good news today. I take it as a sign of the faithfulness of God; not that everything will always go well for us. It won’t, and we will always face trials throughout our lives. It is a sign of faithfulness, because we know that no matter where we go, no matter what we may face, God is always with us, and these acts of grace remind us of that. Keep praying for Tom, for each other and for Grace as we seek to be an inclusive community passionately following Jesus Christ. God bless!

— Pastor Brian Neville