Please enjoy our newsletter for Oct/Nov 2015.
See it prettified in the PDF, with links and loverly photos: Beyond the Green Doors – October/November 2015 Newsletter
Beyond the Green Doors
The newsletter of the Peterborough United Methodist Church
43 Concord Street, Peterborough, NH
October/November 2015
MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
Oct 13 UMW Meeting 7 pm
Oct 15 Family Forum 2 pm
Oct 16 Open Mic 7 pm
Oct 17 Peak Into Peterborough
Oct 18 Friend Day 10 am
Oct 18 Blessing of the Bikes & Fall Leaf Peeper Bike Outing 1 pm
Oct 31 Men’s Group 7:30 am
Nov 3 Prayer Shawl Ministry 1 pm
Nov 4 Book Group 7 pm
Nov 15 Friend Day 10 am
Nov 19 Family Forum 7 pm
Nov 20 Nov Open Mic 7 pm
Nov 21 Holiday Stroll
Nov 25 Newsletter submissions due
Nov 28 Men’s Group 7:30 am
Nov 29 United Methodist Student Day
Dec 1 Prayer Shawl Ministry 1 pm
Anniversary Celebration: Nov 15 Open House Tea, Sun Dec 6 Fellowship Dinner
BEYOND THE GREEN DOORS
Please submit all materials for the next newsletter (December/January) to our editors by the last Wednesday of the month, November 25. Send to melissadfrench@netcastles.org, ready for copy and paste, with the subject “Newsletter submission” Thanks!
UPDATES FROM PETERBOROUGHUMC.ORG
Act with Great Confidence Survey
Open the Eyes of My Heart Music
Greatest of These is Love Graphic
Call to Serve from the Missions Team
Do All the Good You Can Graphic
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
The week of July 6-11 brought to Peterborough UMC “All things bright and beautiful” Summer Spirit Camp, our version of good old-fashioned VBS. Our week-long program was designed as a fun and animal-friendly week, teaching God’s love for and sovereignty over Creation (including US!) and our responsibility to be careful stewards of the Earth. And what a week it was!
14 children from grades 1-5, plus many helpful leaders, learned from people who have taken the stewards-of-earth role seriously, dedicating some portion of their life to personally nurture plant and/or animal life. In addition to creative time in our sanctuary, VBS visited with rabbits, alpacas, and all the animals at Heifer Overlook Farm. The week ended with a blessing of the animals during Sunday services.
A special thanks goes out to all the people in our congregation that helped make our VBS program a huge success. See you again next year!
OPEN MIC – STILL KICKIN’
Open Mic is alive and well at Peterborough UMC. We have consistently had 4 or 5 and sometimes 6 performers during our third Friday of the month event. During the performance in July we even had special music selections from a musician from the Atlanta area that was visiting in our town. Although that was a great performance, it is not to meant to down-play the talented acts from within our area and our own congregation. It was certainly a special evening.
Soft drinks and popcorn are served up, along with the performances. While we have had no lack of performers, our audience attendance has been a little light so consider joining in the fun at future events. Our performers could use the encouragement.
Open Mic Nights will be held the third Friday of every month. Doors open at 6:30PM with performances beginning at 7.
You are the light of the world.
A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Matthew 5:14
FINANCE COMMITTEE NEWS
The summer of 2015 was a good one and was certainly different than we normally expect. Very often, congregants are travelling, visiting with friends and relatives and enjoying well-deserved vacations. The end result is that sometimes attendance is lower than the remainder of the year.
Now, an exciting new trend has been established. Attendance has grown. It is uplifting to see quite a number of new faces as well as the return of many of our friends that we haven’t seen for a while.
We now have 75% of the year behind us and we have already received 90% of the planned budget including 72% of the pledges. All together, we have received $61,400 of the $67,900 that we budgeted and we still have a fourth of the year to go. We are on track for a banner year! And, we may well have the opportunity to take on ministries that we only dreamed about in the past.
As a result of all this, the Finance Committee needs a little help. We must have two counters every Sunday. If you are interested in becoming a counter, please contact a Finance Committee member (Ken Schultz, Carol Owen, Steve Griggs, or Pastor Lourey) or other lay leader and we’d be happy to discuss this opportunity with you. The process is not difficult and with just a couple more counters, no one would have to count too often. Any help would certainly be appreciated.
175TH CELEBRATION TSHIRT SURVEY
To celebrate our 175th anniversary we have explored having tshirts created to honor the event. There is a survey in the fellowship hall where you can vote for your favorite.
Color:
Blue or
Tan
Front:
Round logo or
Church logo w/ slogan
Back:
Do Good or
We are PUMC
For we are co-workers in God’s service;
you are God’s field,
God’s building. 1 Corinthians 3:9
FROM THE TRUSTEES:
Our church is growing and thriving with lots of energy and activity – Praise God!
We are blessed that our facilities are in very good shape but as they are being used more and more for a wide variety of activities we need to remind everyone of the users’ responsibilities. Whether you are an outside group renting the facility, a church committee or other usage by church members, it is important that ALL follow these basic guidelines:
• Write down the group name and times of use for the meeting or activity on the “official” church calendar hanging on the bulletin board by the sanctuary door in the fellowship hall
If it is not on this calendar the Trustees, Ad Council nor custodian will know about it and conflicts can arise. It is also a requirement for annual reports that we have an accounting for usage of the church
You can also email the general church address so that your event can be added to the church’s web site calendar
• Make arrangements well in advance of your usage to get a key or otherwise gain access (we are all volunteers, even the “paid” staff, so we often can’t respond quickly at the last minute)
• Review the “User Guidelines” as outlined in the rental agreement (yes, even church members need to do this whenever using the facility). The main things to highlight are to make sure:
all lights and appliances are turned off (the exterior ramp light has a timer to automatically shut off giving ample time to safely exit the building)
the thermostats are returned to programmed mode (see the instructions posted)
all interior doors and the kitchen bifold doors are shut (this is a requirement of the Peterborough Fire Dept)
all trash is taken with you (we only pay for a couple hours of custodial service per week so it could be there for days otherwise and the smells will permeate causing additional efforts to be taken. We also have participants with sensitive allergies so we want to make sure to provide a safe environment for all to enjoy)
you understand and adhere to the Town of Peterborough recycling requirements
all windows and exterior doors are shut and locked
• Generally leave everything the way you found it (or better!) and put all tables and chairs back where they belong. Remember this is OUR church so treat it like you would your own home
If you have any questions about using the church, issues you’ve noticed or repairs that should be made, please speak to any one of the Trustees. You may also contact Andy Dunbar if you have custodial questions by using either his cell phone or email (both are in the directory), please don’t call his home phone though!
Thanks for your help in making every event at our church a great experience for all involved, visible and behind the scenes.
CROP WALK UPDATE
Many thanks to the folks who supported this year’s CROP WALK anti-hunger fundraiser! PUMC’s team (Laura Nerz, Pam Troccia, and Susan Lindquist) raised $401 between on-line donations and personal checks and cash donations. The weather was beautiful on the morning of the walk, sunny, cool, and crisp! There were approximately 50 other walkers of all ages and stripes! A fun time for a good cause!
MANY THANKS FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS!
In total our humble church has raised an impressive $3,910 for various missions and charities. Very little of this was the missions team, it was all the members of our church and our community reaching out and lending a hand.
FOOD PANTRY NEEDS
The food pantry has requested more peanut butter and jelly, snacks, and macaroni. They are helping provide lunches for little kids as school starts.
FRIEND DAY
Remember, the 3rd Sunday of the month is Friend Day worship. Please consider bringing a friend or neighbor with you, calling someone to carpool to church, and wearing your nametag in worship! Don’t let another month go by without participating.
Invite a friend – Bring a friend – Be a friend
PHOTO DIRECTORY
If you haven’t had your photo taken for the upcoming Photo Directory, please plan to see Laura Nerz or Karen Keenan after church. If you have a photo you would rather we use, please speak to Laura or Karen. The photo should be a “head and shoulder” view.
YARD SALE!
Our annual yard sale was held on June 6th. Everyone had a chance to clean out their attics and basements of items they no longer needed and then turn around and bring back new treasures from the many donations from our community.
Again this year, with the exception of clearly valuable items which were appropriately priced, instead of individual pricing, we just asked for donations. This seemed to work well as we raised over $900 during the sale.
A big thanks to everyone that helped organizing this event and a special thanks to those people who donated items and purchased items during the sale.
TAILGATE DINNERS FOR HUNDRED NIGHTS – SHARE YOUR TIME AND TALENTS
It’s hard to ignore hunger. Your stomach growls. You get a shaky feeling. Sometimes, a headache blooms. Being hungry stinks and knowing that there are hungry people in our region is so unsettling, particularly when I know I can do something about it without breaking my bank or feeling overwhelmed by some grand project.
Hundred Nights Drop-In and Resource Center, a shelter non-profit in Keene, has a well-established weekend dinner program. The program grew from a need to make sure homeless and low-income families might have a source of help when the Friendly Kitchen (a much larger food pantry and soup kitchen outfit) is closed. Friendly Kitchen provides meals on a Monday through Friday basis, but is closed on the weekends.
People are still hungry on the weekends, though. So … Hundred Nights provides the space for a meal to be served and relies on volunteers to provide the meals and servers. And THAT’S where I come in …
I would like to begin organizing occasional meals for the hungry. My thought is that providing a meal every other month (or on an emergency basis, if Hundred Nights calls me), but I need help. I can’t make a meal for 40 – 60 people by myself. I need a corps of folks to provide prepared recipes for 8 – 10 people, donate paper goods and plastic flatware, buy a bag of bread and butter, some jugs of milk or cases of bottled water etc …
I have signed up to provide a meal for the guests at Hundred Nights on Saturday, December 19th. Will you consider helping me out? I’ll be planning a menu in the next couple weeks, asking the wider community for help at the Peak Into Peterborough event, getting a volunteer list together for sign-ups, and reminding folks at worship service of just how they can help.
Our PUMC community can become part of the greater volunteer community that is addressing hunger right here in our neck of the woods. I hope we can become a part of the overall effort at Hundred Nights! Grab me if you have any questions! Otherwise, look for the sign-up sheets and listen for my update at Sunday services!
Thanks so much!
Susan Lindquist
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
We continue to seek people to help with aspects of our worship and fellowship. Methodism was founded on the concept of Lay Ministry so consider volunteering your talents to strengthen our ministries.
Offering counters
Nursery attendants
Worship Helpers
Coffee Hour
PUMC BOOK GROUP
The PUMC book group has chosen Take This Bread by Sara Miles as its next read… the group will meet on Wednesday, November 4th at 7 PM at the church to discuss this “spiritual memoir of a twenty-first-century Christian”. To preview the book, see the following link to the GoodReads website https://www.goodreads.com/book/
show/153242.Take_This_Bread.
Feel free to look it over and if you’d like to join the group, get a copy of the book and join us! All are welcome to attend one or more of the group meetings! Talk to Ken Schultz, Sue Poplin, Carol Owen, or Susan Lindquist if you have any questions about the book group. Hope to see you soon!
“It was about action.
Taste and see, the Bible said, and I did. I was tasting a connection between my burgeoning religion and my real life. My first questioning year at church ended with a question whose urgency would propel me into work I never imagined: Now that you’ve taken the bread, what are you going to do?”
– Sara Miles from her memoir called Take This Bread
CHOIR IS BACK
Our choir is back (and has grown) and we are joyful!
If you would like to participate in this year’s Cantata without committing to the choir, practice is Thursdays at 6:30. Cantata singers are dismissed and choir then continues rehearsal. Choir also rehearses before church at 9 am on Sunday.
ADULT BIBLE STUDY RETURNS
Adult Bible study classes have resumed, and are held following the worship service on Sundays, around 11 am.
FAMILY FORUM
For October, Family Forum will be the third Thursday (15th) as usual, but at 2:00 PM at the request of local Home School leaders. This will enable anyone who could not attend the evening CPR classes to learn CPR. The Peterborough Fire Department and EMTs will be instructing. As usual, Family Forum is absolutely free.
Deane DeHotman, Family Forum Chair
MEN’S GROUP
The Peterborough UMC Men’s Group meets the last Saturday of the month. A free breakfast (scrambled eggs, sausage, bread, juice, tea, and coffee) for the group will be served just prior to the meeting. Cooking begins around 7:30 – 8 am. Although it is not necessary, all are welcome to arrive a little early to help set up.
All men are welcome no matter where you are on your spiritual journey. You can be of any religion or none.
PRAYER SHAWL MINISTRY
The prayer shawl group meets at the church the first Tuesday of the month. The next meetings will be on Oct 6 and Nov 3. We have plenty of yarn to choose from, and willing hands to help you get started. We knit or crochet from 1:00- approximately 2:00. All are welcome!
UNITED METHODIST WOMEN
There will be a UMW meeting on October 13th at 7:00PM at Karen Keenan’s home. Karen will conduct the meeting and Susan Lundquist will present the program entitled “The Spirituality of Happiness.”
Please let Karen know if you plan to attend and hopefully next Sunday those who would like to carpool from the church can arrange a meeting time.
All women of the church are invited to enjoy this fellowship time.
For questions, please call Barb MacInnes or Carol Owen, or speak to any member at church.
PUMC MISSIONS NEWS
The missions committee meeting held on Wednesday, September 23rd served to focus the committee on the 2015/16 mission goals. In reviewing last year’s events, the committee came to the conclusion that its efforts have been spread far and wide – malaria eradication, economic justice, hunger relief, UMC sanctioned special collections, transitional housing support, and sponsoring a child in India name a few of the many initiatives that the missions committee has worked on.
There are those on the committee that felt we have been asking for money more often than we should and that an effort might be made to concentrate on asking for help from our congregation that involves more personal involvement – more time and talents and less bottom-line checkbook, if that makes sense.
After looking through the various events and activities that were worked on during the 2014/15 year, the committee has decided to concentrate its efforts in the areas of local basic needs: hunger relief, and advocacy for the homeless or transitional families in our region. To that end, the committee will continue to work to support the New Hampshire Food Bank and area food pantries, work to find out the exact needs of the local MATS and Shelter From the Storm homeless relief agencies, and re-work the Gift Cards for the Hungry initiative so that it is easier to help folks as the need arises. The gift cards were a hassle to access and use on the spur of the moment, so the committee will work to find a way to set aside funds for committee volunteers to have at their disposal… more information as ideas are floated and discussed.
Individual Mission Efforts
Another area that the committee would like to work on this year is the support of the individual mission concerns of our fellow church friends. It is increasingly apparent that there are activities that folks want to support and work on, but they need the help of their church friends and the surrounding community. The mission committee would like to take an active role in facilitating on these activities by working with individuals to help them accomplish their goals and objectives. This may take the form of helping them publicize their project within our church and in the wider community, attending a friend’s mission event, helping on the gathering of supplies that are needed to accomplish a personal mission activity and being a reliable and helping presence for our church friends. These seem key behaviors (continued…) (…continued) to fostering more individual efforts within our church. While the church members have done this in the past, the committee would like to emphasize this strategy more so this year and see just how many folks come forward to realize some of their personal mission ideas.
In discussing how individual mission activities might look, we touched on Susan’s idea of hosting “tail gate dinners” at Keene’s Drop-In Resource Center called Hundred Nights. Susan would like to sign up for a tail gate dinner date in November, plan a menu, arrange for folks to help prepare the meal, deliver and serve it, with the help of three other servers. The average number of guests at Hundred Nights on a Saturday Tail Gate Dinner is 40. She can’t do it all by herself, so she has spoken with Pastor Lourey about approaching the congregation to ask for help. She has also asked the missions committee if she could have a community volunteer informational poster and sign-up at the informational table that PUMC will have at this year’s Peak Into Peterborough event. The missions committee has supported this idea, so Susan’s off to a start.
In another area, information was shared at a previous missions meeting that Bob Johnson hosts hymn sing-alongs at the Rivermead the first Thursday of each month at 11. He would like some folks to come and share their time and voices to make these sing-alongs more fun and more inspiring for the folks attending. Helping Bob fulfill his mission of evangelizing though music would mean that the missions committee might give Bob a call to find out the date of the next sing-along, organize a group of friends, and carpool over for the sing-along.
The idea is to support and foster more individual efforts… so off we go in this direction.
Annual Activities
Finally, the missions committee discussed the possibility of returning some activities that it has worked on in the past to the committees that originally spearheaded them. For example, Sunday School/Bible Study might take on the Imagine No Malaria eradication and education project. Special Sunday offerings like Bread for the World, Native American Missions, and One Great Hour of Sharing are all national UMC-sponsored Sunday awareness programs. The committee would like to see representatives from other church committees speak to these special topics when it comes time to have special offerings.
Prepared by Linda Wallenstein, Melissa French, and Susan Lindquist
PETERBOROUGH UMC COMMUNICATIONS
In addition to “Beyond the Green Doors,” Peterborough UMC offers the following ways you can keep in touch.
We are on the web. Visit our website at: http://www.PeterboroughUMC.org
We are on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/peterboroughunitedmethodist/
We are on Google: plus.google.com/102483185988404254932
We are on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/pumcnh
We are on Instagram http://www.instagram.com/pumcnh