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Ministry Opportunities
Native American Ministries Sunday Special
Offering
Native American Ministries Sunday serves
to remind United Methodists of the gifts and contributions
made by Native Americans to our society. With more than
20,000 Native Americans within the denomination, this special
Sunday helps to ensure that Native American United Methodist
leaders are recognized, provides hope for a brighter future
in impoverished communities, and a voice to those who have
felt voiceless for centuries.
25%
of every donation made on Native American Ministries Sunday
provides scholarships. Your donations provide
development, implementation, and assessment of a higher
education recruitment and retention for Native American
clergy.
50%
of donations to Native American Ministries Sunday remain in
local annual conferences. The Northern
Illinois region has a high population of Native Americans
from varying tribes, many of whom have encountered harm or
misunderstanding from the Christian church. The Northern
Illinois Conference Committee on Native American Ministries
(CONAM) leads efforts to provide basic educational
resources for churches to explore the history and culture of
Native Americans in their region, and gain a better
understanding of contemporary Native American life.
Ways
to donate to the Native American Ministries Sunday Special
Offering:
—Put your check or cash in a Native American Ministries
Sunday Special Offering envelope and place the envelope in
the offering plate in the Narthex (the room outside the
sanctuary) or in the gold-plated mail slot at the church’s
east door.
—Online via our website. Select
“Native American Ministries” in the drop down menu.
—Text the amount you want to give to 630-449-7121 and select
“Native American Ministries” in the drop down menu.
Interactive
Bulletin Board
Everyone is invited to go see the bulletin board in the
church hallway, take down a post-it note and fill it out with
a scripture, prayer, message, lyrics, quotes and then,
replace it on the board. We will soon have a beautiful
display representing the people of our church.
Upper
Rooms
The Upper Rooms for May -
June are available in the narthex and a
small number are available in the mailbox.
First Friday Lunch
Everyone is invited to have a very enjoyable
lunch of easy conversation with friends on Friday, May 7 at
noon. It’s so easy! Bring your own lunch and beverage and
look forward for a relaxing hour. If it’s a nice day, bring a
lawn chair and we’ll enjoy lunch outdoors.
Second Saturday Diners
We are still looking for a host for the May 8
outing. Contact Gwenn if interested.
Invitation
to Toastmasters
Does the thought of PUBLIC SPEAKING strike fear in your
heart, as it does for many people? Let me tell you that
help is close at hand. The Woodridge Toastmasters Club
is your local chapter of a global organization called
Toastmasters International. We meet here, at
WUMC, the 2nd & 4th Thursdays each month, at 7:30 pm.
Our Mission statement reads: “We provide a supportive
and positive learning experience in which members are
empowered to develop communication and leadership skills,
resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth.”
If you are looking for a career as a motivational speaker
or you just need to prepare to give a toast at your brother’s
wedding, Toastmasters could give you the confidence and
polish to deliver a presentation that will make you proud and
without having a panic attack. Visitors are always
welcome to attend our meetings. Our website has valuable
information and just click on “CONTACT US” to leave a message
or see the contact info for leaders of our club.
We look forward to meeting you!
983.toastmastersclubs.org
WUMC
Music Ensembles Spring 2023
There is one more chance to join a group this
spring. All ensembles are LOW commitment. We ask that you
please attend the rehearsals leading up to the service date.
So simple!
Adult
Choir, ages high school freshmen-seasoned adults (optional
“singer’s masks” are available). Please RSVP by Apr. 23
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Rehearsal
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Apr. 30
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11:30 AM-12:30 PM
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Music Room
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Rehearsal
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May 7
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11:30 AM-12:30 PM
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Music Room
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Rehearsal
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May 14
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11:30 AM-12:30 PM
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Music Room
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Service
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May 21
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10 AM
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Rehearse in the sanctuary at 8:45 AM
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Youth
Ministry 2023
What’s happening in Youth Ministries for the
rest of this year? Take a look:
Sunday, April 23rd: Prayer in Creation Walk! We’ll take a walk
around the neighborhood and forest preserve path to see,
smell, and hear God’s presence. Bring comfortable shoes and
warm clothes for walking outside. We’ll be back to church by
12:15pm.
All students in 7th-12th grades are welcome in
Woodridge UMC’s Youth Ministry activities.
The
Bible for Curious People
The Bible for Curious People is the name of our bible study
that meets via Zoom on Tuesdays from 10:30am-12:00noon. It is
an intentionally communal experience: each week we read aloud
the text we are studying, explore our reactions to the text,
and consider some questions about the text.
No prior bible reading or knowledge or expertise needed. No
question is dumb and no one is forced to read the bible in
one particular way. We all learn as we go along exploring
what the text says, what it leaves unsaid, what history and
tradition tell us about the text, and how our own experience
influences our reading.
Reading
assignment for Tuesday, April 25th: Read Matthew chapters 20-21, plus any notes
your study bible provides.
Contact Pastor Dave (pastordave@woodridgeumc.org) to learn more or to join in the adventure.
Wednesday
Bible Study
Our Wednesday class is a "hybrid" Bible study
class. This simply means that while it meets in person
you are also able to participate via ZOOM. The class meets on
Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m. and using the resource, STRUGGLE TO THE
CROSS written by Bishop Sharma Lewis,
resident bishop of the Mississippi Annual Conference.
Please contact Pastor Danita if you are interested in
joining.
Pack
the Van with Care Update
You did it! We packed a 5th van-load full of diapers and
other personal care items for the West
Suburban Community Pantry!
With that 5th load, the Burke Estate funds designated for
Mission Giving will send a matching donation of $1000 to the
Pantry—that’s enough for the Pantry to purchase 2000 meals!
THANK
YOU SO MUCH! Your generosity helping neighbors in need is
truly inspiring!
Weekly
Sunday School
Sunday School for Preschool and Elementary
School-aged children is offered every Sunday. We use inspiring stories, creative crafts, and
fun games—all done with guidance of loving, dedicated
teachers—to engage our students.
Here’s our process: Children are invited to
begin the worship service in the sanctuary with their family.
Following the prayer time, the children will be invited up to
the chancel steps for conversation with the
pastors. Following the conversation, the Sunday School
teacher will meet the children in the Narthex and walk them
to their room (either Trinity Room in the main hallway or
Blue Room in the Preschool wing).
iGive
Replaces AmazonSmile
Amazon announced the closure of AmazonSmile as
of February 20th. Woodridge UMC is working with iGive
to offset this loss of donations. Please go here to
set up your account and to help simply by continuing
shopping.. iGive is offering an additional $5 bonus
with shoppers first purchase if they join before March 30th
and make their first purchase within 30 days. Donations
average 3% of the purchase, compared to 0.5% with Amazon.
iGive features over 2,000 fantastic stores like Walmart,
Chewy, and Expedia. See a brochure here.
See a list of stores here.
See technical information on using the system here.
Ways to Use iGive:
- Clicking on a store link directly
from iGive.com or iGive.com/mobile sites.
(You must be logged in)
- Installing the iGive
Button and shopping online as you normally would
(for more info: iGive Button - How It Works)
- Shopping via the iGive App for
iPhone, iPad or Android (visit the App
Store and search "iGive" - free)
- For faster shopping, create
your own list of favorite stores on your iGive member
home page under My Stores.
Remember follow this link
to set up your account.
Northern Illinois Conference
Repair the Harm to Children
As you may know, the Boy Scouts of America
recently settled a lawsuit related to accusations of sexual
abuse of children. Many churches, including United
Methodists, have chartered BSA troops or packs over the
years. As part of the
settlement, the United Methodist Church has agreed
to raise and give $30 million over a three-year period to a
fund to compensate survivors. The church also agreed to work
for the healing of survivors and recommit to work toward
ending sexual abuse of young people.
We have heard the cries and painful stories of
those abused while in the Boy Scout program, some in troops
chartered at local NIC churches. Our Christian faith calls us
to have an obligation to children – past, present, and future
– to do no harm to them and to repair the breach when harm is
done.
The Repair the Harm to Children campaign
was created to address the needs of the survivors in three
ways; listening and providing healing to the survivors,
contributing our fair share to the survivor fund established
by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, and working to create
safeguards against harm in the future. It was formed by the
Conference Committee on Finance and Administration and the
Conference Board of Trustees in collaboration with Bishop
Schwerin and the conference staff. We seek pledges from
churches and individuals to fund restorative healing for the
survivors.
We care for the survivors financially by
contributing our fair share to the survivor fund established
by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Of the $30 million committed by
the United Methodist Church, the amount allocated to Northern
Illinois is $754,348. The amount is payable over the next
three years, but no reparations will be paid to survivors
until all United Methodist annual conferences have paid their
fair share.
We intend that every church will contribute
and repair the past harm as quickly as possible. We recommend
that the church administrative council discuss their pledge decision with
input from the finance committee and/or the church’s Scouting
liaisons. All pledges are welcome and
meaningful to the healing of victims of sexual abuse. We are
grateful for whatever you are able to do to meet this
financial challenge.
We ask you to consider your commitment during
April and May prayerfully. Our first goal is to receive
initial pledges by the start of Annual Conference this June.
A church or an individual can make a pledge by using this
form here.
You may complete your pledge over three years. As you
consider your ability and duty, we have provided
resources here.
We are asking for payments towards pledges to
start in the fall of 2023. Payments can be made online here or
via check. Please make payments by checks payable to Northern
Illinois Conference mailed to 303 E. Wacker Drive, Suite
2020, Chicago, IL 60601. Please include a note or indicate on
the check that it is for the BSA or Repair the Harm.
All children in the care of the United
Methodist churches should be safe from any kind of harm.
Unless repairs are made to children who have been hurt, we
are not being honest with the present and future children God
brings us. We are speaking to every United Methodist in the
NIC when we ask for your participation in repairing the
damage done to the children of formerly chartered BSA troops
and creating safe spaces for the future.
To safeguard against any future harm, all
churches in the Northern Illinois Conference of The United
Methodist Church (NIC) have committed to having Safe Sanctuary policies
administered by their church leaders and appointed clergy.
Safe Sanctuaries is an overt expression in making congregations
safe places for all within the community of faith. More
information on Safe Sanctuaries can be found here.
If you would like more information, you can
visit the FAQ page here.
Thank you for taking the time to prayerfully
respond with a Christian heart to the harm that has been
done.
Rev. Tammy Scott, CCFA President
Prairie
Central District Informal Gatherings with the District
Superintendent
Beginning
Thursday, September 8 and every second Thursday through May
11. Zoom Links (The links will stay the same for
all meetings, though clergy links and lay links will be different).
Lay Gathering 7:00 pm link.
Lay persons: This is NOT for Lay Leaders only. It
is intended for all lay persons who want to know more about
what is going on and be connected.
Northern
Illinois Conference
Find out
about upcoming events in the Northern Illinois
Conference of the United Methodist Church by clicking
this link
Outreach Opportunities
April Outreach Offering
Caretakers of God's Creation
With Earth Day in April, this is a great month
to support Caretakers of God’s Creation, an
independent, grassroots, nonprofit made up of United
Methodists who write, speak, and organize for better care of
the earth. Our April Outreach Offering partners with Caretakers
of God’s Creation to further their work throughout the USA.
The General Conference of the United Methodist Church, the
denomination's policy-making body, has historically upheld a
strong commitment to God's creation. All creation ultimately
comes from God, and we are responsible for the ways in which
we use and abuse it. Water, air, soil, minerals, energy
resources, plants, animal life, and space are to be valued
and conserved. We live that responsibility through acts of
loving care and respect.
Here’s one action tip Caretakers offer:
Plant
a patch, or a whole garden, full of food for pollinators. Essential
to the growth of food for humans (both body and soul), butterflies,
bees, and birds teeter toward extinction due to human-caused
destruction of habitat and use of pesticides. We plant to
care for creation.
Never doubt that a few people can make a huge difference.
From two people with a concern came the first Earth Day in
1970, which was in the United States. In 2023 over a billion
people in 193 countries have caught the vision. What you do
matters.
Ways
to donate to the April Outreach Offering:
—Check or cash in an Outreach Offering envelope placed in the
Offering Plate in the
—Narthex or in the gold mail slot at the church’s east door.
—Online via our website. Select
“Current Month Outreach” in the drop down menu.
—Text the amount you want to give to 630-449-7121 and select
“Current Month Outreach” in the drop down menu.
Ongoing Opportunities
Suits for Success
There are donation boxes in the hallway by the
coat rack just outside the narthex for both men and women's
clothing. The clothes are picked up, dry cleaned and
then taken to area men and women's prisons for people being
released. NO belts, shoes or underwear.
"Goin' Green"
Shoes & Clothes Recycling Box
Located in the northeast corner of our parking lot,
this receptacle is a convenient place to recycle any shoes
and your clothes that are at or near the end of their
usefulness.
Did you know discarded clothes account for more
total landfill space than any other waste item? The “Goin’
Green” Box helps us reduce our waste.
How is this different from our “Suits for
Success” ministry?
The big difference is that “Suits for Success”
cannot accept shoes of any kind, nor can they accept belts,
ties, or underwear. “Goin’ Green” accepts all shoes and
clothes.
In summary: Keep bringing your gently used clothing
donations to the “Suits for Success” collection boxes in the
hallway.
For all shoes and any other clothes, instead of
throwing them in the trash, put them in the “Goin’ Green”
receptacle in the northeast corner of the parking lot.
West Suburban
Food Pantry
We have a basket that we "inherited"
from the Faith, Lisle church that is waiting for
donations. It sits in the narthex, usually near the
sanctuary doors. They did not stop operating during the
pandemic and there is pending legislation in our state and
nation that might cut their corporate donations in large
amounts. Let's replenish our basket!!!
Used Eyeglasses
There is a
basket also in the narthex for collecting
used eyeglasses. Kendra Manderfield Moore makes
sure that they are recycled to the Lions Club and Gift
of Sight groups. (Prescription eyeglasses only).
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